The University at Albany lacrosse team went down on Saturday, in the first round of the Division I men's lacrosse NCAA tournament, losing 19-14 to Denver.

It still was a great year for the Great Danes, which had the top offense in the country and sophomore Lyle Thompson is still a candidate for the Tewaaraton Trophy.

Rich Clarkson and Associates

ALBANY - Lyle Thompson has had an incredible season for the University at Albany.

The sophomore attacker leads the country in scoring and hopes to lead the Great Danes far in the NCAA tournament. On Thursday, Thompson was named one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy, given annually to the best play in college lacrosse.

Thompson, who is seven points shy of setting a new single-season NCAA record, was chosen along with North Carolina's Marcus Holman, Syracuse's JoJo Marasco, Cornell's Rob Pannell and Princeton's Tom Schreiber.

One of those men will win the award on May 30.

UAlbany meets Denver, in the NCAA tournament, on Saturday, at 7:30 p.m., on ESPNU.

J.S. Carras/The Record

The Siena men's lacrosse team takes to the field Friday evening in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinals.

The Saints play the Dolphins of Jacksonville in a game that can be seen on ESPN3.com, and on tape delay on Time Warner Cable Sports.

In the other semifinal, top-seed Marist takes on Detroit.

The championship game is on Sunday, at 1 p.m., and can be seen live in the Capital District on Time Warner Cable Sports.

The Siena women's team is also in the MAAC semifinals, held at Marist College. The Saints play top-seeded Canisius on Friday afternoon.

Below, is video of junior midfielder Mike Battaglia, a Shaker High grad, talking after practice on Wednesday, about the upcoming tournament.

Siena posted its first win ever over a Top 10 team on Tuesday, downing UAlbany 10-9 in Loudonville.

The Great Danes (10-4) played without the nation's leading scorer Lyle Thompson and his brother, Miles Thompson.

J.S. Carras/The Record

The Saints (6-8) got four goals from sophomore Conor Prunty, including the game-winner, with 50 seconds remaining.

Below is the final sequence, where Siena goalie Matt Sharp makes a save to preserve the victory.



Below Prunty talks about the big Saints victory.

Former Siena men's lacrosse coach Brian Brecht was suspended with pay, on Friday, for allegations of verbal abuse.

Brecht, who is in his second season at Rutgers, becomes the second coach at the New Jersey school to be suspended this month. Basketball coach Mike Rice was suspended on April 2 and fired the next day for video of him physically and verbally abusing, which became national.

Brecht (below, in yellow) was the coach at Siena for seven years, where he posted a 65-49 record and got the program to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, in 2009, and again in 2011.

The Scarlet Knights are 8-20 in Brecht's two seasons as coach.

Here is a link to the statement from Rutgers.

J.S. Carras/The Record