Sporting News CT – SNCTTV

HAMDEN, Conn. – Quinnipiac University junior men’s lacrosse goalie Kevin Benzing (Severna Park, Md.) has been named to the All-ECAC Second Team, the league office today announced. For the season, Benzing compiled an 8.69 goals-against average (15th-NCAA) and a .552 save percentage (20th-NCAA) in compiling a 7-6 record. Read the rest of this entry »

Bobcats Finish Season Ranked Seventh In New England

HAMDEN, Conn. – Quinnipiac University senior men’s lacrosse player Alex Marotto (South Windsor, Conn.) has been named the Turfer New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) Player of the Week, the organization today announced. Playing the final game of his career on senior day, Marotto scored a career-high five goals, including the game-winner in overtime to give the Bobcats an 11-10 sudden-victory win over Fairfield on Saturday. In addition, the Bobcats moved up to No. 7 in the final NEILA Top Eight Poll. Read the rest of this entry »

Courtesy Princeton Athletics

What started out as just another frustrating afternoon for the Princeton's men's lacrosse team against Cornell ended up with a mad celebration of Orange and Black in the Schoellkopf Field end zone.

Jack McBride's goal with one second remaining in the first overtime capped a ferocious Princeton comeback and gave the Tigers a 10-9 win over Cornell in the final of the first Ivy League tournament in front of 2,942 fans on a chilly Mothers' Day in Ithaca that began with snow flurries. The win gives Princeton the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

It was also the second 10-9 game that Princeton and Cornell played in eight days, after the Big Red won a week ago at Class of 1952 Stadium. In that game, Princeton was down big as well and had its comeback fall one goal short.

"The second half and overtime," said Princeton goalie Tyler Fiorito, the tournament Most Valuable Player who made two of his 16 saves in the final 1:06 of regulation, "that's where you saw our character."

Princeton was playing Cornell for the fourth time in its last 20 games, and this one started out just like the previous three, as the Big Red won the opening face-off and scored on the way to building a big early lead. Trailing 7-3 late in the third, Princeton turned it all around, tying it at 7-7, taking a lead at 9-8, withstanding seven Cornell shots after it was tied at 9-9 and finally winning it when McBride dodged from behind the goal and scored lefthanded to just beat the clock.

"Obviously, we don't want to play from behind," said Fiorito. "But we'd been in that situation before, and we knew we had a lot of time to come back."

Cornell had the lead for 175:32 of the 180 minutes of the last three games, and Princeton had never even tied the game again in any of those three after falling behind. This time, Cornell scored quickly even by its standards, grabbing a 1-0 lead in 16 second as Austin Boykin won the face-off and got it to Ryan Hurley for the goal.

It was 2-0 after 5:05, 4-1 at the end of the first quarter (Princeton's goal came from freshman Luke Armour's career score), 5-1 in the second and 6-2 at the half, and it got there with the same formula as the three that preceded it. Cornell won face-offs (7 for 10 in the first half, including 4 for 4 in the second), picked up ground balls (20-4 in the first half, including 14-1 in the second) and didn't turn the ball over (twice in the first half), which led to a 26-17 edge in shots after two. Only Fiorito's 11-first half saves kept it close.

"It was 14-1 on ground balls in the second quarter," Princeton coach Chris Bates said. "I've never seen something like that. Plus, it seemed we were man-down the whole time [six first-half penalties]. We needed to get possession, and I thought we did a great job of that in the second half. It started with Peter Smyth, who did a great job facing off in the second half. We had the ball, and that changed things."

Even as the statistical tide started to turn after intermission, Cornell still had a four-goal lead when Jack Dudley made it a 7-3 game with 4:38 left in the third.

But just as Princeton knew Cornell could start fast, Cornell knew Princeton could finish that way. The Tigers have had huge second-half comebacks all season, including the one a week ago that came up just short. In that game, Princeton trailed 4-0 in the first and 9-3 in the fourth before scoring six times in nine minutes, and Princeton had outscored its opponents 48-31 after the third quarter for the year.

Princeton tightened up every phase of its game, winning 8 of 12 face-offs, having a 19-8 edge in ground balls and outshooting Cornell 26-13 in the second half. Cornell also turned it over six times in the third quarter alone.

Rob Engelke started Princeton back with 3:08 left in the third, and McBride scored with 1:25 remaining to make it 7-5 at the break.

The Tigers then did something they hadn't done in an eternity against Cornell - tie the score - when Scott MacKenzie and Chris McBride scored in the first three minutes of the fourth.

McBride's goal also saw Cornell's Max Feely called for a slash, so Princeton went man-up after that. Cornell, though, won the face-off, and Hurley scored his third of the day and seventh of the tournament man-down to make it 8-7 Big Red just 21 seconds after it was tied.

Jack McBride would also score again to make it 8-8, and John Cunningham scored eight seconds later to give Princeton its first lead at 9-8. Roy Lang tied it with 2:51 left, and that set up the wild end of the game.

Cornell won the face-off an had possession for the rest of regulation. The Big Red threw up six shots in the last 2:14, and Fiorito stuffed shots from a wide-open Stee Mock with 1:06 left and again on a good look from Rob Pannell with just 10 seconds to play.

The face-off for overtime was also won by Cornell, and Pannell (one goal in 12 shots, two goals in 31 shots in four career games against Princeton) had a chance to win it off a mad scramble before Jeremy Hirsch dove and just got a piece of Pannell's stick. Princeotn cleared and two shots, but the Tigers then turned it over. Cornell cleared and called timeout, but Pannell's feed to Hurley was high and went over the end line with 24 seconds left.

Princeton cleared, and MacKenzie's shot went wide. McBride took it on the restart with eight seconds left from behind the net.

"I'd had a great battle with Max Feely all game," McBride said. "Rob Engelke told me we didn't have much time, and I thought that I'd gone right all day. I figured I'd go left. Then, I think he thought I was going to roll back, but I went to my left. It's not my best shot, but I think it surprised them."

McBride, Engelke and defenseman Long Ellis joined Fiorito on the all-tournament team.

Princeton is now 11-4; Cornell is 10-5.

HAMDEN, Conn. – Senior Alex Marotto (South Windsor, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal, his career-high fifth of the game, 44 seconds into overtime as the Quinnipiac University men’s lacrosse team defeated intrastate ECAC foe Fairfield, 11-10, on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at the Quinnipiac Field Hockey & Lacrosse Turf Field. Fairfield goalie Joe Marra stopped Basil Kostaras’ (Southlake, Texas) initial shot, before Marotto scooped up the rebound and beat Marra from point-blank range for the sudden victory. With the win, the Bobcats take third place in the ECAC at 8-6 (4-3 ECAC), with the head-to-head tie-breaker over Fairfield, also 8-6 (4-3 ECAC).

“(The seniors) were good leaders today,” said Head Coach Eric Fekete. “We got up and it was pretty much a one-or-two-goal game the whole way. I told the guys at the end of the game, we started winning this year and we finished winning this year. It’s great to win your last game. I give all the credit to the players. Those guys played really hard. It’s tough practicing through the exam week with the schedule we had, and they were determined to win today. I’m really proud of them.”

Marotto closed the regular season with the game-winner for the second straight year, as he also tallied the decision-maker with 17 seconds left in regulation last season at Bellarmine.

In addition to Marotto’s five goals, Jack Oppenheimer (Conshohocken, Pa.) scored twice to finish the season with a team-high 32 goals, 10th-most in program single-season history. Billy Alessi (Branford, Conn.) and Garett Kerr (Caledon, Ontario) chipped in with a goal and an assist each, while Todd Kaiser (Summit, N.J.) and Mike Gast (Grand Rapids, Mich.) also scored goals. Christian Haggerty (West Nyack, N.Y) and Kostaras each added two assists. Haggerty moved into a tie for second in program single-season history with 25 assists for the season. Alex DeAlmeida (Point Pleasant, N.J.) and Kevin Kelly (Redding, Conn.) also added assists.

Making his first start of the season, senior Jamie Prudden (Andover, Mass.) picked up the victory, making 13 stops on 23 opportunities in net. He also picked up a team-high nine ground balls. Marra took the loss, making 10 saves on 21 chances.

Logan Rause, John Snellman and Matt Plominski scored twice each for the Stags, while Graham Bergsma added a goal and four assists. Ryan Mulford had a goal and an assist, while Sean Bannon and Reed Marko also scored for Fairfield. Drew Palmer, Max Trunz and Snellman also added assists for the Stags.

The Stags edged the Bobcats in face-offs, winning 13-of-25. However, senior Ben Mullaney (Norwalk, Conn.) came up with the biggest win of the game to start the overtime period. Mullaney won 5-of-8 opportunities on the day. Fairfield scored on its only man-up opportunity of the day, while the Bobcats were 1-for-2. Quinnipiac took a 38-27 advantage in ground balls.

Oppenheimer and Marotto got the Bobcats on the board first with consecutive goals in the opening period. Oppenheimer was the beneficiary of a crisp Alessi pass that left him wide open five yards in front of Marra for the easy, one-on-one score, just less than two minutes into regulation. Marotto struck, unassisted, at the 5:49 mark to put the Bobcats on top, 2-0. The Stags responded with two goals in the final three minutes of the quarter. Bergsma assisted on both goals, the first by Plominski (2:40) and the second from Snellman (1:09).

After 12 scoreless minutes, Kerr broke the 2-2 deadlock with a goal off a Kelly assist at the 3:56 mark of the second. Kerr then fed Marotto for his second of the game at the 1:51 mark. Snellman cut the Bobcats’ lead to one goal, 4-3, heading into the half with the help of a Bergsma assist.

After the break, Oppenheimer gave the Bobcats a two-goal advantage at the 12:50 mark, scoring off a Kostaras assist. Fairfield then seized momentum with three straight goals. Bergsma assisted Rausse at the seven-minute mark, before Mulford scored, unassisted, just over a minute later. Plominski scored his second of the game off a Trunz assist to give the Stags their first lead of the game, 6-5, with 2:36 remaining in the third. But Marotto beat the clock to tie the game at 6-6 with three seconds left in the third off a Haggerty assist, somehow scoring from 10 yards out while being knocked to the ground.

The teams traded the next six goals before Gast scored just as a Fairfield penalty was expiring with 2:43 left in regulation, to put the Bobcats on top, 10-9. Fairfield then caused a Quinnipiac turnover with less than 30 seconds remaining, before Palmer found Bannon, who ripped from 10 yards out into the top-right corner past Prudden for the game-tying goal.

Following Mullaney’s crucial face-off win to start the overtime period, Kostaras took a shot from 10 yards out that Marra stopped, but could not control the rebound. Marotto scooped up the rebound at the doorstep before easily slipping it past the Fairfield goalie for the victory.

ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 7 Cornell men’s lacrosse team went into halftime against No. 17 Brown this evening with a firm lead in every statistic but on the scoreboard. Leading just 6-4 and having allowed the final two goals of the first half had given the Bears reason to believe that they could become the first team to top the Big Red on Schoellkopf Field twice in one season.

Five minutes into the second half, those thoughts were all but gone.

Cornell used a five-goal spurt, many of which were highlight reel tallies, to take a commanding 11-4 lead as the Big Red advanced to the finals of the first-ever Ivy League championship tournament. Cornell finished the game with a thorough and impressive 14-8 victory over Brown and will face No. 2 seed Princeton on Sunday at noon in the finals for the conference's automatic NCAA tournament bid. The victory improved Cornell to 10-4, while ending fellow Ivy champion Brown's regular season at 8-6. It also avenged one of the Big Red's four losses so far, a 13-10 defeat against the Bears just two weeks ago.

“We have a lot of respect for Brown,” said Cornell head coach Jeff Tambroni. “They beat us the last two times we played. I’m thrilled for our seniors more than anyone. The last time we came out and competed on this field, it was Senior Day against this very team and we didn’t play the way we thought we were capable of. Our seniors really responded tonight and put together 60 minutes and gave us a chance.”

In a season where four teams tied for the Ivy regular season crown and a series of tiebreakers was needed to seed the tournament squads, Cornell proved for a night it was slotted correctly with a strong performance on both ends of the field, particularly in the middle in the face-off circle.

Cornell won 20-of-26 face-offs, thanks to Austin Boykin, who took all but one restart for the Big Red, finishing the night with 20-of-25 wins to go along with a game-high 10 ground balls to give the Big Red possession after possession. The home team also held a decisive edge in shots (51-27) and ground balls (37-18).

Once Boykin secured the ball, the usual suspects and a fresh face did the rest. Rob Pannell (two goals, three assists) and Ryan Hurley (four goals, two assists) spearheaded the offensive charge, while rookie Steve Mock added a career-best four goals, with each coming in the middle two periods.

With his four goals and two assists, Hurley moved into third place all-time in Cornell history for career goals (129) and sixth overall for career points (164). Pannell’s three assists moves him into seventh place for single season assists (42) and sixth place for career assists (84).

Defensively, goalie AJ Fiore overcame a slow start to finish with nine saves and Max Feeley caused a pair of turnovers. The Cornell ride was also impressive, forcing Brown into eight turnovers as the Bears cleared the ball successfully just 14-of-22 times.

Brown was kept in the contest through the strong play of its goalie, Matt Chriss, who finished with 18 saves, 13 of which came in the first half. Offensively, the Bears were led by Reade Seligmann with one goal and three assists, while David Hawley added a pair of tallies.

“Let’s give a tremendous amount of credit to Jeff Tambroni, his staff and the Cornell Big Red lacrosse team,” said Brown head coach Lars Tiffany. “Simply put, they played great lacrosse tonight. In the first half, Cornell dominated us on the face-off X, they dominated us in their riding game and we really struggled as a team to clear the ball and get it to our offense. All year Brown has proved we have a very potent offense, but were not potent if we don’t have the ball and give a tremendous amount of credit to Cornell to prevent that from happening.”

After Hurley got Cornell on the board early in the first quarter, back-to-back goals by Seligmann and Roger Ferguson gave the Bears their one and only lead in the game, 2-1, at the 9:38 mark of the first quarter.

Cornell scored the next four goals, thanks mostly to Hurley who scored once and assisted on two others to go up, 6-2, but two late goals by Hawley sent the Big Red into the half with a slim 6-4 lead.

The Big Red’s five goal spurt gave the home team an 11-4 lead just over five minutes into the third quarter, but saw its run ended when Collins Carey scored an unassisted goal at the 7:13 mark.

Back-to-back goals by Mock over a span of 28 seconds ended the scoring for the quarter, giving Cornell the 13-5 lead.

The Bears outscored the Big Red, 3-1 down the stretch, but it was too little, too late, as Cornell earned the 14-8 victory.

Familiar rivals Cornell and Princeton will meet in the first-ever Ivy Tournament final thanks to the Tigers' 7-6 escape against Yale. The Bulldogs made a frantic comeback from five goals down to get within one in the final two minutes, but could not convert the equalizer in the first game of the championship.

If there's any team that knows that no fourth-quarter lead is safe, no matter how comfortable it seems, it's the Princeton men's lacrosse team.

The Tigers have seen it time and again this season, and the first-ever Ivy League tournament game was different only for one reason: Princeton was the team that was hanging on for dear life at the end.

Princeton used an amazing defensive effort for the first 51 minutes and then withstood a furious Yale comeback over the final nine to hold on for a 7-6 win at Cornell's Schoellkopf Field. The win advanced Princeton to Sunday's final (noon, ESPNU, WPRB FM 103.3) against the winner of the second semifinal between Cornell and Brown, and the tournament winner will claim the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Princeton, Cornell, Yale and Brown will be considered league quad-champions, regardless of who wins the tournament.

Princeton and Yale are both 10-4 on the season. Princeton defeated Yale during the regular-season, also by a 7-6 score.

"We had a great opportunity to host this tournament," said Princeton goalie Tyler Fiorito, who made 11 saves. "We lost two games the last two weeks that took that opportunity away. It was good to get a win."

Princeton led 7-2 with nine minutes to play after completely wiping out the Yale offense to that point. And then, the Bulldogs caught fire, scoring four straight goals to make it 7-6 with 1:59 left. Yale then won the face-off and had two possessions after that, but Princeton did not allow another shot.

The Tigers are no strangers to such games this season, with huge comebacks against Penn and Rutgers to win games and North Carolina that came up a goal short. And that doesn't include the one a week ago, when Princeton trailed Cornell 9-3 in the fourth quarter only to lose 10-9.

The first Princeton-Yale meeting saw neither team ever lead by more than one and Jeff Froccaro score the game-winner with 37 seconds left. This one may also have finished 7-6, but it got to the end much differently.

Princeton did not score for the first 27:47, but it was only a 1-0 Yale lead when the Tigers finally broke through, thanks to incredible defensive efforts and goalie play by both teams. In fact, the 1-0 score was achieved without a stall warning called against either team.

Scott MacKenzie scored for Princeton with 2:13 left in the half to finally break through, and that was followed just 24 seconds later with a goal by Mike Grossman. It was 3-1 Princeton when Jack McBride completed the three goals in 55 seconds run, but Greg Mahony scored his first with 24 seconds left in the half to make it 3-2 Tigers at the break.

By the time Yale would score again, it was 7-2, as Rob Engelke and Alex Capretta scored the only goals of the third quarter and McBride scored twice to start the fourth.

It seemed that Princeton was cruising, as Yale offensive possessions were ending with with turnovers, Fiorito saves and missed opportunities. And then, the Bulldogs hit the on switch, scoring twice to force a Princeton timeout and then twice more after that.

"We called timeout to settle everyone down," Princeton coach Chris Bates said. "We were tired. I thought we played a great defensive game to that point, and we were able to hold on."

Mahony and Matt Fuchs would score twice each during the run, and Max Rodman won six of seven fourth quarter face-offs. Suddenly Princeton was on its heels, but the Bulldogs would have those two late turnovers.

Fiorito, the first-team All-Ivy goalie, made several tough stops among his 11 saves.

"I've said this a lot," said McBride, whose three goals gave him 30 for the year and 84 for his career, "but Tyler is the backbone of our team. He's unbelievable."

Chad Wiedmaier shut out Yale's Matt Gibson, who came into the game with 26 goals a team-best 44 points. Long Ellis had two caused turnovers and four ground balls.

Princeton outshot Yale 29-25, and there were only 33 combined ground balls in the game (Yale had 17 to Princeton's 16). Johnathan Falcone made seven saves for Yale.

HAMDEN, Conn. – Christian Haggerty (West Nyack, N.Y.) and Alex Marotto (South Windsor, Conn.) tallied three points each, but the Quinnipiac University men’s lacrosse team was edged by Bryant, 7-6, Saturday afternoon at the Quinnipiac Field Hockey & Lacrosse Turf Field. With the loss, the Bobcats fall to 7-6, while the Bulldogs improve to 11-5.

Haggerty led all Bobcats goal scorers with two to go along with an assist, while Marotto scored once and added a team-best two assists. Garett Kerr (Caledon, Ontario) added a goal and an assist, while Jack Oppenheimer (Conshohocken, Pa.) and Ted Dimond (Marblehead, Mass.) scored once each for the Bobcats.

Kevin Benzing (Severna Park, Md.) made nine saves on 16 opportunities in net for the Bobcats to take the loss. He also picked up a game-high eight ground balls. Bryant’s Jameson Love took the win, stopping 14 of 20 Quinnipiac shots on net.

Peter McMahon scored three goals to lead the Bulldogs, while JK Poirier scored once and added an assist. Matt Larson, Evan Roberts and Gary Crowley also added goals, while Mason Poli had an assist.

For the game, the Bulldogs’ Andrew Hennessey gave the Bobcats fits at the face-off x, winning 11-of-16 opportunities. Bryant edged the Bobcats in ground balls, 31-30, while Quinnipiac committed 14 turnovers to the Bulldogs’ 18. Quinnipiac took 33 shots to the Bulldogs’ 30, while finding success on 19-of-21 clearing attempts and 1-of-4 extra-man opportunities to Bryant’s 15-of-20 and 1-of-6, respectively.

The Bulldogs came out firing in the first quarter, outscoring the Bobcats, 3-0. Roberts struck first at the 12:13 mark, before Poirier scored with 7:40 left and Larson connected with 3:09 remaining in the first quarter. All three goals were unassisted.

Haggerty broke the momentum with a score off a Marotto feed at the 11:41 mark of the second quarter. After McMahon countered less than a minute later, the Bobcats scored three straight to tie the game at 4-4. Kerr took a Marotto pass and beat Love at the 3:52 mark, before feeding Dimond at the 2:14 mark to cut the deficit to one. With a Harrison Tull penalty tacked on following Dimond’s goal, Oppenheimer beat Love on the man-up off a Haggerty assist at the 1:13 mark.

Bryant got a late goal from Crowley before the halftime horn to take a 5-4 advantage into the break.

Marotto’s tally at the 3:46 mark of the third quarter knotted the game at 5-5, but the Bulldogs took the lead for good on consecutive McMahon goals within nine seconds of each other at the 40-second and 31-second marks of the third.

Haggerty pulled the Bobcats to within one with a goal at the 8:26 mark of the fourth. Billy Alessi (Branford, Conn.) streaked to the cage for an opportunity to tie with 14 seconds left before being held by Matt Murnane to put the Bobcats on the man-up. But Mike Gast’s (Grand Rapids, Mich.) shot with two seconds left was knocked aside by Love, preserving the Bryant victory.

The Bobcats conclude the 2010 regular season with a 1 p.m. ECAC Lacrosse contest against intrastate foe Fairfield next Saturday.

April 24, 2010 - HAMDEN, Conn. – Jack Oppenheimer (Conshohocken, Pa.) scored a career-high six goals to lead three Bobcats who tallied hat tricks as the Quinnipiac University men’s lacrosse team cruised past ECAC foe Bellarmine, 20-7, Saturday afternoon at the Quinnipiac Field Hockey & Lacrosse Turf Field. Kevin Kelly (Redding, Conn.) and Billy Alessi (Branford, Conn.) also scored three goals each for the Bobcats, who improved to 6-5 (3-3 ECAC), while the Knights fall to 8-6 (2-4 ECAC).

Christian Haggerty (West Nyack, N.Y.) dished out a career-high five assists, while Todd Kaiser (Summit, N.J.) scored twice. Kelly also added two assists, while Basil Kostaras (Southlake, Texas) added a goal and two assists. Zach Pall (Setauket, N.Y.), Garett Kerr (Caledon, Ontario), Jake Emms (Victoria, British Columbia), Jay Binkowski (Bethany, Conn.) and Jimmy Gianfelice (Wilbraham, Mass.) also netted goals for the Bobcats, while Pall, Sean Damboise (Southington, Conn.) and Ted Dimond (Marblehead, Mass.) had assists.

Derek Hopcroft and Shane Andersen scored twice each for Bellarmine, while Chase Williams added three assists. Jarrett Davis, Luke Acton and Colton Clark also scored goals, while Austin Bright, Hopcroft and Devin Arruabarrena had one assist each.

Pall was once again outstanding at the face-off x, winning 11-of-13 opportunities. Kevin Benzing (Severna Park, Md.) was stingy in net, stopping 12 of 18 chances. Jamie Prudden (Andover, Mass.) and Tim Yost (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) also made one save each in the final minutes of the fourth quarter for the Bobcats. Dillon Ward played the first three quarters for the Knights, allowing 15 goals while stopping nine shots. Scott Bowles played the final quarter, allowing five goals while making three saves.

For the game, the Bobcats outshot the Knights, 46-33, picked up 46 ground balls to the Knights’ 24, won 17-of-28 face-offs and caused 26 Bellarmine turnovers while coughing it up 21 times. Both teams were successful on the man advantage, with the Bobcats converting 3-of-4 and the Knights scoring on 2-of-3.

The Bobcats never trailed in the game, immediately barraging the Knights with 10 of the game’s first 12 goals. Alessi got the scoring started at the 10:53 mark. After Bellarmine responded within the next minute on Hopcroft’s first of the game, Kaiser and Kelly scored at the 9:00 and 7:18 marks, respectively to give the Bobcats a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Kostaras and Dimond assisted on the goals.

After Andersen countered off a Bright assist at the 6:45 mark, Quinnipiac went on the offensive with seven straight goals. Oppenheimer scored four times in the span, while Alessi, Kelly and Kostaras also found the back of the net. Hopcroft and Andersen scored to cut the deficit to six goals at 10-4 prior to halftime.

The Bobcats once again came out firing in the third quarter, outscoring the Knights, 5-1, to take a 10-goal lead. The lead swelled to as many as 14 goals on Pall’s marker at the 3:17 mark of the fourth. Davis accounted for final tally, beating the final horn with one second left.

Quinnipiac returns to action Tuesday, when its travels to Fairfield to face intrastate foe Sacred Heart. Opening face-off from Campus Field is scheduled for 7 p.m.