WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – In the first nine years that Lycoming College fielded a men's lacrosse team, the squad made four appearances in the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship final. It didn't happen again in the next 13 years.
 
Stevenson University has had a different history in men's lacrosse. Since joining the MAC Commonwealth in 2013, it has won 56 straight MAC Commonwealth regular season games and the last six conference championships.
 
So it's all right if you call Lycoming an underdog when it heads to the MAC Commonwealth Championship final at Stevenson on Saturday, May 4, at Mustang Stadium.
 
It's nothing new to the Warriors.
 
Take the case of senior Michael Tenant (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall) – the MAC Commonwealth Defensive Player of the Year. In high school, Tenant didn't play varsity lacrosse with the powerhouse Calvert Hall program, biding his time behind three keepers that all received college offers. At Lycoming, the starting goalkeeper job was his alone by the start of his sophomore year. Since then, he has won a school-record eight conference player of the week awards and this year he set school records for career saves (675) and saves in a season (233).
 
Or the case of senior Andy Ream (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel), who wasn't named to the all-conference team after posting 29 goals and 22 assists in the regular season. A Second Team All-MAC Commonwealth attackman as a junior, Ream delivered seven goals and two assists in Lycoming's 15-12 win over Messiah in the conference semifinals on Wednesday night.
 
Or the case of head coach Chris Scanlon. In September 2013, Scanlon was weeks away from leaving the coaching profession, interviewing at businesses in Upstate New York after he was let go as an assistant coach when Hobart made a head coaching change. He applied for the head coaching position at Lycoming College, knowing little about the school and no one at it. Shortly after he met with the student-athletes during the interview, Director of Athletics Mike Clark met with Associate Director of Athletics Joe Guistina, and the two marveled at what they had just learned about the game of lacrosse in 30 minutes.
 
So go ahead and call them the underdogs. It's a tale as old as the program itself. Williamsport is hours away from the lacrosse hotbeds of Maryland, New Jersey, Long Island and Upstate New York. There are always obstacles in the way of success.
 
After a 10-7 season in 2018 on a squad that lost just two seniors, it appeared like a corner had been turned. Coach Scanlon was named the MAC Commonwealth Coach of the Year. The team had three returning 50-point scorers and Tenant, who it became clear was the best goalkeeper in the conference by the end of the year.
 
Things don't always go as they look like they will, though. One of those 50-point scorers transferred. A talented flux of freshmen joined the team and proved they were ready to earn playing time. But the early results were discouraging – one-goal losses to Susquehanna and Gwynedd Mercy due to an offense and clearing game that couldn't find any rhythm. Bigger losses to nationally-ranked Ithaca and Ursinus. What looked like a breakthrough season started with a 2-7 record.
 
Underdogs have bite, though. A five-goal fourth-quarter rally against Widener, with four of those goals coming from freshman Owen Zimmerman (Stevens, Pa./Cocalico), who only had one goal in his career at the time, changed everything.
 
A win over Albright followed before the Warriors took a trip to Stevenson and were within five goals entering the fourth quarter of an eventual 16-8 loss. That was the last time the Warriors were unhappy on the ride home, as they ran through their last four conference opponents before avenging an earlier loss to Messiah in the semifinals.
 
At this point, there's no denying the momentum built up by this squad of Warriors. They have scored 59 goals in the last three games, with a grand total of zero of those goals coming from an all-conference player. Freshman Justin Joseph (Exeter, Pa./Wyoming Area) has won 73 percent of his faceoffs in that stretch and the defense has caused 32 turnovers.
 
Sure, Stevenson will roll out with seven first team all-conference selections, including Offensive Player of the Year Ethan Christensen and the school's all-time leading scorer in JT Thelan. Sure, it will be played under the lights at Mustang Stadium on Saturday night. It isn't supposed to be easy to win a conference title.
 
Go ahead. Call the Warriors underdogs. They wouldn't want it any other way.
 
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About the Game
MAC Commonwealth Championship Final
No. 3 Lycoming (9-7) at No. 1 Stevenson (11-7)
When: Saturday, May 4, 7 p.m.
Where: Mustang Stadium, Owings Mills, Md.
Tickets: Must be purchased at the gate. Adults are $5, seniors $4, students $2 and children under six are free. Conference championship T-shirts will be available at the each venue for $15.