Cabrini Men's Lacrosse Gets Salisbury In NCAA Quarters

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Cabrini University men's lacrosse team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. On Wednesday night, the Cavaliers will take on the defending national champions Salisbury University down in Maryland.

The Cavaliers are 17-3 and they have earned victories over Colorado College and F & M so far in the tourney.

"The guys have been playing really hard throughout the course of the year and we've been just trying to get better each day in practice and I think they're continuing to embody that as we go forward here in the tournament," Cabrini head coach Steve Colfer tells KYW Newsradio. "It's been fun to be around these guys and hopefully they want to keep practicing."

Listen to the entire interview with Cabrini's Steve Colfer:

The Cavaliers are led by a talented senior from Palmyra manning the midfield.

"We go as Even Downey goes," Colfer says. "He's the (Colonial States Athletic Conference) player of the year two times in a row. He really is our engine. He is one of the best athletes on the field no matter who we're playing each game. He does a lot of the little things, a lot of the dirty work in the middle of the field."

Downey has 39 goals and 17 assists this season for a total of 56 points which is fourth on the team. Sophomore attack Jordan Krug leads the sqaud with 74 points (57 goals, 17 assists).

Salisbury is 19-1 on the season. That loss is especially significant here because it is Cabrini that handed it to them. Back on April 14th, in Radnor, the Cavaliers beat Salisbury in overtime, 11-10. Cabrini rallied from a four-goal deficit in that one.

"When we played them back in April, we were able to kind of handle their pressure," Colfer says. "We were able to play from behind with poise, not feel like the game got away from us. I think when you play good teams like that, in any sport, you've got to really control the runs and not letting them get a run, sense when it's coming and try to get in front of it, either with a longer possession or a critical timeout from the bench and really kind of try to change the flow of the game, if you can. I thought in April we were able to do a good job of that, mix and match our defense and just make critical plays in the moment."

Winner of this game will get the winner of Denison and Lynchburg in the semifinals.