GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The 20th-ranked Gettysburg College men's lacrosse team will make its ninth straight appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament and its 22nd overall when it hosts the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops at 2 p.m. on Wednesday in the first round.

The two teams will meet for the 10th time, with the Bullets holding a 5-4 edge. They last played in 2009, with Gettysburg earning an 11-6 regular-season victory. Neither team is any stranger in the tournament, as Ohio Wesleyan is second among current Division III schools with 26 appearances while the Bullets are fourth. Gettysburg is 21-21 all-time in the NCAA tournament while the Battling Bishops are 18-25. The two teams have combined to post seven national runner-up finishes.

Ohio Wesleyan and Gettysburg have met twice in the NCAA Division III tournament, with each team winning one game on its home field.  The teams most recently met in the postseason during the 2005 tournament, with the Bullets taking a 16-9 decision.

Ticket prices for Wednesday's game are $5 for adults, $3 for students and senior citizens, and $1 for children ages 3-12.

The winner advances to the second round on Saturday to face the winner of the first-round game between No. 5 Stevenson University and Birmingham Southern College.

Gettysburg (10-6) received a “Pool C” at-large berth in the tournament after its 10-5 loss to 13th-ranked Dickinson College in the Centennial Conference (CC) semifinals this past Friday at Washington College. Sophomore Martin Manilla leads the Bullets with 34 goals while freshman Robby Maddux has added 21 goals. Senior Caldwell Rohrbach is tops on the team with 14 assists while freshman Bijan Firouzan has contributed 13 helpers.

Defensively, a pair of goalies have split time for the Bullets, though sophomore Jon Maddalone has started the last two games. He is 5-3 with a 7.80 goals-against average while junior #J.T. McCook has gone 5-2 with an 8.70 GAA. Senior defenseman Billy Grayson leads the team with 19 caused turnovers while junior long-stick midfielder Ian Casella is close behind with 16. Junior Nick Avedisian# has won 54.5 percent of his face-offs and leads the Bullets with 42 ground balls.

Ohio Wesleyan is 11-4 on the season and received one of three “Pool B” invitations after finishing 3-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). One of the top-scoring teams in the nation, OWU enters Wednesday's game ranked 15th in Division III goals per game (13.4). The team boasts a pair of 40-goal scorers in junior Pat Bassett (41 goals) and sophomore Spencer Schnell (40 goals). Junior Colin Short has added 21 goals and leads the team with 42 assists, which ranks fifth in Division III.
Freshman Ryan McMahon has been the goalie of record in every game for Ohio Wesleyan and has recorded a 6.76 goals-against average and a .631 save percentage. Senior Jesse Lawrence has taken nearly all of Ohio Wesleyan's face-offs, winning 64.7 percent of his attempts at the X while scooping a team-leading 132 ground balls.

The Battling Bishops are led by second-year Head Coach Mike Plantholt '01, a two-time All-American at Gettysburg and the 2001 Division III Defenseman of the Year. He served as an assistant coach at Gettysburg from 2003-06.