For the third time this season, Lenoir-Rhyne and Limestone will meet. However, the stakes are the highest in this one with the winner moving on to the 2023 NCAA Division II National Championship game in Philadelphia next Sunday.
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Lenoir-Rhyne has been road warriors in the NCAA Tournament, winning games at Tampa (First Round) and at Rollins (Quarterfinal) to earn a third straight road game. All told, the Bears will accumulate 1,371 miles traveled in three stops of the NCAA Tournament but have knocked off the defending national champs and the top seed in back-to-back contests. Limestone earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament thanks to a strong finish to the season. They got a bye to the Quarterfinal round and shook off a slow start to take down UIndy in the Quarterfinals by a final of 11-10.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Each team has won once so far this season. In Hickory, Limestone put together an incredible comeback with three goals in the final 1:23 to erase a 17-14 deficit. However, it was
Riley Seay who was the hero as the senior scored at the 1:39 mark of overtime to give the Bears the victory. In the win,
Rob Pensabene made 22 stops -- a program record -- to earn the win in net with two being game savers. The two would meet again in the SAC Championship with Limestone avenging the regular season loss. The Saints handed LR a 14-8 defeat to win the SAC Tournament for the first time in program history. The eight goals were a season low for LR.
LOOKING TO MAKE HISTORY: Lenoir-Rhyne can be the first No. 5 seed to advance to the National Championship game in NCAA Tournament history. They already have become the first five-seed to make it to the National Semifinal as five seeds have had a 3-6 record heading into this year's tournament. Merrimack advanced to, and won, the 2019 National Championship as the No. 6 seed in the North.
ALL SAC SEMI: The Bears and Saints guarantee that a South Atlantic Conference team will make the National Championship game. This marks the third straight year at least one SAC team has made the semifinals. LR beat Wingate in 2021 and the Saints fell to Tampa last year.
RECORDS UPDATE: LR can tie the program mark for most wins in a season with a 17th victory on Sunday. The Bears have also recently broken a trio of team records for most points in a season, most goals and most assists as they rewrite the record books.
STRENGTH ON STRENGTH: Limestone will enter Sunday's battle with an explosive offense. The Saints average 17.4 goals per game, which ranks fifth in all of Division II. On the Bears side, LR's defense only allows 8.1 goals per game which ranks fourth in the nation. The Bears welcomed back All-American defender
Victor Powell in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament after missing the final six games of the regular season. With Powell back in the lineup, the two NCAA Tournament opponents have scored a combined 17 goals. Powell will have to help limit the nation's top individual goal scorer in Limestone's Zachary Terry who has scored 84 goals in his 20 games. The next closest player is Jake Bowman of Frostburg St. who had 67 in 18 games. With a hat trick on Sunday, Terry can break the Division II record for goals in a season which is currently held by Andrew Kew of Tampa in 2017 with 86.
LAX BLUE BLOODS: Two of the top DII programs in the nation square off on Sunday. Limestone has the second-best all-time winning percentage in DII history with a .780 winning percentage while the Bears rank 10th with an all-time winning percentage of .654.
Facts and Figures:
- The Bears are 6-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament games
- The Bears nine wins against nationally-ranked opponents this year are far more than any single season in program history
- LR is 12-2 when scoring first this season.
- LR is 117-3 all-time when leading after three quarters.
- LR has three of the top seven active goal scorers in DII. Myles Moffat is fifth among active players with 168 goals. Toron Eccleston is sixth at 158 and the injured Joe Venazio is seventh with 154 career goals.
- The Bears are fifth in the nation in man-up percentage, converting at a 46.4 percent clip.
- Rob Pensabene has made 15 saves in each of the first two NCAA Tournament wins for LR. He is 28 saves shy of breaking the mark for most saves in a tournament that has stood since Tim Hart did so in 1977.
- LR is 1-1 all-time in National Semfinal games with the first two coming at home. This will be the first road semifinal game in program history.
- This is also the first tournament -- out of five total -- that LR hasn't played a single game at home.
- LR is 0-1 all-time in games played against teams ranked No. 9 in the nation. The only other time LR played the No. 9 team was this same Limestone team in the SAC Championship on May 1.
- LR is 11-10 all-time in road games against ranked opponents and have won four straight.
