Via Tampa Men’s Lacrosse website: http://tampaspartans.com/article.asp?articleID=5147

Bilak’s Career Day and Stifling Defense Help Spartans Advance

May 10, 2014 Will Face Limestone in National Semi-Finals Box Score TAMPA, Fla. – Matt Bilak netted a career-high five goals, while Andrew Failla made 12 saves as the No. 3 University of Tampa men’s lacrosse team defeated No. 5 Mercyhurst 11-9 in the NCAA Division II South Region Semi-Finals Saturday afternoon at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex. The Spartans, who never trailed in the game, advance to the NCAA National Semi-Finals against Limestone Sunday, May 18 at 1 p.m. in Gaffney, S.C. Both teams started the game with strong defensive efforts with the game remaining scoreless until ten minutes into the opening period.  Tampa struck first as Bilak netted an unassisted goal to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead with 4:17 remaining in the first quarter. Mitch McAvoy won the ensuing faceoff, picked up the ground ball, and netted the equalizer six seconds later.  A minute later Conor Whippleput a bounce shot past the goalie to give Tampa a 2-1 advantage after the opening period. Just over a minute into the second quarter Kyle Hemrick scored an unassisted goal to extend the Spartans lead to 3-1.  Nick Ferreiro won the ensuing faceoff and on Tampa’s possession Bilak scored his second goal of the contest to give the Spartans a 4-1 lead.  Mercyhurst responded scoring three unanswered goals to even the score 4-4 with 5:27 remaining in the first half.  The two teams traded goals, before Bobby Calhoun connected with Bilak in front of the cage for a goal to give the Spartans a 5-4 lead at the break. Tampa took advantage of a Lakers penalty as Hemrick found Bilak for a man-up goal five minutes into the third quarter.  The Lakers responded scoring back-to-back goals to even the score at 6-6 with 6:05 remaining.  The score remained tied until 39 seconds, when Mike Morris found Bilak for a man-up goal to give Tampa the 8-7 edge after three quarters of play. The Spartans won the opening faceoff of the final period and on their possession Ferriero connected with Whipple for a goal to extend the lead to 9-7.  Two minutes later Cory Becker netted an unassisted goal for Mercyhurst to cut the lead to 9-8. The score remained  9-7  until the 2:37 mark when Whipple found Morris for a goal to give Tampa a `10-8 lead. Both teams scored one more time for the 11-9 final. Bilak’s five goals topped his previous best performance in the win over Wingate on March 5, 2013 where  he netted four goals.  Whipple finished the game with two goals and an assist, while Morris, Calhoun, and Hemrick each tallied two points apiece.  Ferreiro went 15-19 on faceoffs and picked up five ground balls. The Spartans back line of Larry Gress, Marty Heyn, and Nate Tembi combined for seven ground balls, while limiting the Lakers attackers to five goals.  Failla improved to 12-2 in the cage this season and made seven of his twelve saves in the second half.  Riley Piper tied for the team-high with five ground balls. In the other South Region match-up, top seeded Limestone defeated Queens 17-6. Click here for the official web page for the NCAA Division II Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans), Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans), YouTube (youtube.com/utathletics) and Instragram (tampaspartans). UT also offers blast, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.