UAlbany still “Alive” entering NCAA Tournament

ALBANY, NY ( NEWS10 ) — The song “Alive” by Pearl Jam has been the anthem for UAlbany men’s lacrosse for over a decade. It really resonates right now. The Great Danes are very much alive heading into the NCAA Tournament.

The America East champions will host Sacred Heart out of the MAAC in the play-in game Wednesday night, with the winner moving on to play Notre Dame on Sunday. The Pioneers went unbeaten in league play. Their 13 wins are more than any team in the tournament.

For the Great Danes, a big piece of their motivation is to keep this close knit group together as long as possible. “Just having one more day,” said graduate student Jake Piseno. “Having one more day together with the family, having one more game in front of these fans tomorrow. It’s really a great feeling just coming out to practice. I never want to take this helmet off so it definitely feeds in a lot to the motivation of keeping this thing going.”

“Now that they’ve won a championship and have this opportunity, they do want to see it go a little bit further,” said head coach Scott Marr. “But I think it really helps like, our Binghamton game, we were down 4-1 early. In the Vermont game we were down 4-1 early second quarter. So I think having that bond with each other and playing for each other is huge. I think in those times, in both those games, we really dug down and finished the games the right way. So it’s awesome when your team does mesh and they do like playing with each other and being around each other and.”

It’s shaping up to be quite the week for Piseno. The long-stick midfielder was taken by the Denver Outlaws Tuesday night with the ninth overall pick in the Premier Lacrosse League draft. NEWS10 spoke with Piseno before the draft about what it would mean to hear his name called. “Definitely a feeling that that I’ve been waiting for my whole life,” said Piseno. “When I first heard that the PLL was becoming a thing and that the merger with the MLL was happening, I still remember to this day I poked my head out the window. My dad was doing yard work and I yelled to him, I said, ‘They’re making a new league, a lacrosse league!’ I told him that I was going to play in it one day. So it’s definitely a great feeling that I could possibly hear my name called today and my dad’s going to be here with me and be right there next to me. Same with my whole team.”

Faceoff with Sacred Heart on Wednesday is set for 7:00 PM.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NEWS10 ABC.