ROUND ROCK, Texas - The Concordia University Irvine men's lacrosse team passed two tough tests to open up the 2023 MCLA National Tournament and has advanced to the semifinals for the first time against this caliber of competition.

As a No. 7 seed in the 16-team field this May, CUI first defeated No. 10 seed Northeastern and then stunned No. 2 seed Georgia Tech on back-to-back nights.

On Monday evening in the first round, Drew Buckley scored the game-winner with under two minutes to play in the fourth quarter.  His goal came off an assist from Eric Obispo and helped CUI snatch a 12-11 win from Northeastern. Buckley and Obispo were among the eye-popping 11 Golden Eagles to earn All-Conference recognition last week from the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference (SLC).

The Golden Eagles then came right back on Tuesday evening and earned revenge against the Yellow Jackets by a count of 14-11.  The win was extra sweet because these two programs faced off last spring in the first round of the MCLA Tournament and CUI lost by a narrow margin.

Concordia now gets a rematch with Liberty this Thursday, May 11 at 5:45 p.m. PT (7:45 p.m local Central Time) on the main field in Round Rock.  The Flames and Golden Eagles needed overtime to settle the score earlier this season when Concordia traveled out east. Liberty ultimately won that contest 12-11.

Top-seeded Virginia Tech and Concordia's local rival Chapman are the other two semifinalists on the other side of the bracket.  This means that CUI and Chapman are both representing the SLC very well after finishing as the top two teams in their league and splitting their two contests earlier this season.

This is a very unique opportunity for this year's Concordia men's lacrosse program on the national stage.  Earlier this semester, Concordia men's lacrosse was approved to become a NCAA-sponsored sport next season and was accepted as an associate member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) in that sport.  

Concordia won the MCLA DII National Tournament back in 2017 and then moved up to the top club division the following spring.

The Golden Eagles have been nationally-ranked consistently over the course of the past few seasons and specifically scheduled a ton of games this year against top-level MCLA opponents to test their mettle. This included two tough contests with Chapman (CUI won on Senior Day and then Chapman returned the favor in the SLC Championship Game) and Virginia Tech (The Hokies prevailed 14-11 in a tight battle out east as part of that road trip that including the stop at Liberty).

CLICK HERE for the current MCLA Bracket

CLICK HERE for the updated CUI men's lacrosse schedule