Del Val Lacrosse Ready For First Ever Postseason Appearance

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Starting a college athletic program from scratch is not easy.

Regardless of the sport and the level, success in the early years is incredibly difficult.

Of course, the Division III Delaware Valley University men's lacrosse team may beg to differ.

In just their second year of competition, the Aggies have qualified for the MAC Freedom Tournament and they will take on top seed Eastern University in the first round on Wednesday.

After finishing 5-8 in the program's first season in 2015, the Aggies finished the 2016 regular season 8-7. A 4-3 conference record was enough to earn them the fourth and final seed in the tourney.

Del Val's head coach is Gary Mercadante.

"As a staff and as a program," Mercadante tells KYW Newsradio, "we decided from day one, that we wanted to hold our players to the same standard that we expect to hold them to ten years from now. I think because we've done that, because we do have high expectations and our players do for themselves, if you ask them, they're not surprised. They expected to be here. That's the approach we bring everyday. I think, because of that mentality, we've won some great games this season, especially in conference and put ourselves in really good position in year two."

Listen to the entire interview with Del Val's Gary Mercadante

Eastern has had an outstanding campaign. The Eagles went 12-5 during the regular season, including a perfect 7-0 in conference. The Aggies played Eastern once during the regular season back on April 13th, losing in Doylestown, 12-7.

"Eastern's an outstanding team," Mercadante says. "Coach (Kevin) Wallace has done a great job there. They are very athletic, very talented."

Del Val and Eastern will get underway at 4:00pm on Wednesday. The winner advances to the MAC Freedom title game on Saturday.