The University of Maine at Farmington men’s lacrosse team enters the playoffs playing its best lacrosse of the season, according first-year coach Jon Evans. The Beavers will have to prove that if they hope to advance in the North Atlantic Conference tournament.

No. 8 UMF (2-10, 1-7 NAC) plays today at top-seeded New England College (9-6, 8-0). The Pilgrims beat UMF 18-0 on April 14 and outshoot the Beavers 60-1.

Junior attacker Brandon Melville of Farmington leads the Beavers in points with 22 (18 goals, 4 assists), while junior attacker Matt Roy has 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists). Sophomore midfielder Tennessee Peters has 12 goals and three assists.

Sophomore Hunter Rowell has seen most of the time in net for UMF. He has a 11.32 goals against average in nine starts. Defensively, Mike Foley has 55 ground balls and 21 caused turnovers for UMF.

Brian Gillis leads the Pilgrims with 41 goals and 20 assists. Steve Parsons, who scored four goals against the Beavers in the regular season, has 27 goals and 14 assists.

Nick Acquaviva has started all 14 games in goal for the Pilgrims with a 6.92 goals against average.

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The Thomas College men’s tennis team takes on Johnson State today in the North Atlantic Conference East semifinals. Johnson State won the regular season meeting between these schools, 7-2, on April 15.

No. 1 singles player Eric Morin is 7-4 this season for the Terriers (5-6, 2-2), and had won five matches in a row. Malcolm Neville and Tom Bird are Thomas’ other top singles players.

Morin and Bird were the two Terriers to earn wins over Johnson in the regular season match.

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The UMF women’s lacrosse team is seeded fourth in the NAC tournament, and will play in the East Division semifinals tonight at No. 1 Castleton. This is the third straight season the Beavers (5-5, 3-3) are in the semifinals.

Castleton won the regular season meeting with UMF, 19-6. Emma Morrison leads UMF with 27 goals and 32 points, while Readfield’s Alyssa Neptune has 18 goals. Amie Daniels, the leading scorer in UMF history, has 11 goals and four assists.

Hannah Goodenow has 106 saves in 10 games for the Beavers, and a goals against average of 12.50.

Katie Auer had five goals for Castleton when they beat UMF, and has 37 goals on the season for the Spartans.

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Gardiner Area High School graduate Kaylee Heath is one of eight St. Joseph’s College field hockey players to earn Gladiator by SGI/NFHCA Division III National Academic Squad honors. To be named to the all-academic team, a field hockey player must have a grade point average of 3.30 or better in the first semester of the 2011-12 school year.

The St. Joseph’s College field hockey team was one of 106 Division III programs to be honored for carrying a team GPA of 3.0. Nine North Atlantic Conference programs garnered the academic honor, including Husson and the University of Maine at Farmington.

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The UMF baseball teams recently had a few players selected to the all conference team.

In baseball, Lawrence High graduate Matt Woodbury, a freshman catcher, and junior outfielder/pitcher Dale Winchenbach were named to the All-North Eastern Athletic Conference East Division first team. Woodbury hit .320 this season, with six double and 15 runs batted in. Winchenbach batted .303 with six doubles, a home run, and a team-high 18 RBIs. On the mound, Winchenbach was 4-0 with a 3.00 earned run average.

The UMF baseball team was awarded the conference’s Team Sportsmanship award.

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UMF junior pitcher Casey Ashey earned honorable mention for NCAA Division III Pitcher of the Week for April 16-22 from National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Ashey played a part in all three of the Beavers’ victories last week, earning a win at Lyndon State College and saves against Thomas and New England College. Ashey did not allow a run over 9 1/3 innings, with six hits and seven strikeouts.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com