The Aurora University men's lacrosse team will represent the Midwest Lacrosse Conference in the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championships. The Spartans received a Pool A berth after winning the MLC tournament championship over Concordia University Wisconsin 16-3.
 
The Spartans will travel to Ohio Wesleyan (15-3) and take on the Battling Bishops on Wednesday, May 9. Game time will be released as soon as it is announced by the host team. The match-up will be the fifth all-time between the schools and a rematch from the 2013 season and the Spartans first NCAA appearance. In the four previous match-ups, AU is 1-3 with that one win coming in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. The Spartans shocked the Division III men's lacrosse world with the 13-9 victory. The last match-up between the two teams came in the 2014 season opener, a 7-5 AU loss at Ohio Wesleyan.

The Spartan men's lacrosse program, under the direction of Head Coach Kylor Berkman, will make its sixth NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championships appearance in the program's eighth season. Four of the previous five appearances for AU resulted in AU reaching the Sweet 16 after winning the programs and State of Illinois' first NCAA contest in 2013, defeating Ohio Wesleyan University 13-9 before falling to SUNY - Cortland 14-8. In 2014, AU defeated Adrian College 22-13 before falling to Denison University 11-8 and in 2015, AU defeated Otterbein University 8-6 before falling to Lynchburg College 19-8. In 2016, the Spartans defeated Albion College 12-11 in overtime before falling at Denison University 12-3. Last season the Spartans hosted the NCAA contest for the first-time and fell to Illinois Wesleyan on Vago Field 19-15.
 
AU will enter the NCAA tournament with a 19-1 record, a school record for wins and having won 16 games in a row. The Spartans were the Midwest Lacrosse Conference regular season and tournament champions with a 9-0 regular season record and 2-0 in the MLC tournament. AU was dominant in the MLC Tournament, winning by a combined score of 36-5.
 
This season, AU is led by seniors Joey Lucchesi, JK Torres, Trevor McNamara and Corey Segall and juniors Bryce Wallgard and Tyler Lombardi. Lucchesi leads AU with 61 goals and 14 assists, Torres has 37 goals and 23 assists, McNamara has 43 goals and 22 assists and Segall is 267-of-375 in face-offs with 153 ground balls. Wallgard anchors the AU defense as he has forced 35 turnovers and picked up 36 ground balls and Lombardi is 19-1 in net with a 6.30 gaa.

The winner of the AU vs. Ohio Wesleyan contest will then play the winner of the game between Illinois Wesleyan University at Denison University. There are 36 teams in the NCAA Division III championships with 25 automatic bids and 11 at-large selections. The national championship game will be on May 27 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. AU has played two other NCAA bound teams this season with a 2-0 record in those games.

NCAA championship release
NCAA championship bracket (interactive)
NCAA championship bracket (printable)