LOUDONVILLE, NY – In a rivalry split evenly down the middle for wins, Marist and Siena Men's Lacrosse will get together for a regular season finale full of playoff implications on Wednesday at 4 p.m. from Hickey Field.
The Red Foxes and Saints are jockeying for positions that could range from the No. 1 through No. 4 seeds.
The loser of the game will likely be in Sunday's quarterfinal round while the winner will find themselves earning a bye and a spot in next Thursday's MAAC Semifinals.
The Saints (8-4 overall, 6-1 MAAC) extended its winning streak to six consecutive games after last Saturday's 16-10 road conference win at Canisius.
Siena has drawn enough attention to warrant receiving votes in the latest Inside Lacrosse Kane Division I Men's Lacrosse Media Poll in back-to-back weeks for the first time since April of 2012.
The Saints can lock up at least the No. 2 seed with a victory of Wednesday and potentially the top seed if Sacred Heart were also to lose against Manhattan on Wednesday.
Marist (7-6 overall, 5-2 MAAC) has won each of the last two games, topping Merrimack 15-7 last Saturday and also got past Manhattan 14-10 on the previous Saturday.
It did defeat Canisius earlier in the season 14-10 back on March 26 that would break a potential tie-breaker if it had one with Siena and Canisius for the No. 2 seed should Sacred Heart defeat Manhattan.
The Saints and Red Foxes have split the all-time series history 22-22 while Siena broke Marist nine-game win streak against the Saints in last year's MAAC Quarterfinals with a 12-9 win in Poughkeepsie.
Siena sports the leader in goals per game at 3.58 from senior
Pratt Reynolds as well as the assist leader in the conference in
Ryan McCarthy, who is averaging a league-best 3.0 assists per game.
Marist counters with the league's best points per game scorer in sophomore Patrick Collin (3.85 points per game).
The game can be watched on
ESPN+ with broadcasters Kelly O'Donnell and Tom Schwan on the call and live stats can be followed
here.
For live updates, highlights and other news, follow Siena Men's Lacrosse on "X"
@SienaLacrosse.
In the face off "X", the match up will be one to watch as it features two of the conference's best at what they do in Siena freshman
Logan Banek and Marist senior Dylan Bedell.
Banek is the MAAC's top win percentage taker with those who have taken at least 100 face offs (.656 with 185-of-282 won) while Bedell also wins at a better than .600 winning clip with 167-of-272 won (.614).
Protecting the cage, the projected goalkeepers match up features Saints graduate student
Andrew Arcuri (9.48 GAA, .556 save percentage and 140 saves) against Red Foxes freshman goalkeeper Adam Wachholder (9.54 GAA, .523 save percentage and 80 saves).
Reynolds is the reigning MAAC Offensive Player of the Week after a six-goal performance. Bedell won this past week's MAAC Face off Specialist of the Week honor after winning 17-of-23 in the circle with nine ground balls and Wachholder was named the MAAC's Defensive Player and Rookie of the Week awards after an eight-save performance in which he allowed just six goals and added four ground balls.
