Northwest Nazarene men's lacrosse defended their 2024 PNCLL title last weekend with ease, cruising to a 24-5 victory over Western Oregon in the semifinals and a 12-6 win over Montana in the title game.

The Nighthawks are now an incredible 15-2 on the season, with the only losses coming to teams ranked second and third in the nation. NNU is currently ranked fourth in the latest MCLA Coaches Poll and will enter the MCLA National Tournament on a 13-game win streak.  

"It's an incredible blessing to be able to win back-to-back conference championships," said head coach Tom Blanchard. "I am extremely honored and privileged to lead this group of young men, they are truly a special group, I honestly couldn't be more proud of what this team has done these past two seasons. We had two early season losses at home which could have taken the wind out of our sails but instead our senior leadership doubled down and continued to put the time in, and we found our rhythm after those two home losses and we've put together a win streak of thirteen in a row heading into nationals."

Following the conference tournament, the PNCLL released the 2025 All-Conference teams, which were filled with Nighthawks. Rayce Neill was named the PNCLL MVP, while Keaton Bean earned Offensive Player of the Year honors. Along with Neill and Bean, Bodie Jones, Loy Howard, and Colton Safley also earned First Team All-PNCLL honors. Second Team representatives included Caleb Johnson and Kyle Ireland, while Riley Phillips was named Honorable Mention.

With the PNCLL's automatic bid in hand, NNU was given the three-seed in the sixteen-team bracket for the MCLA DII Championships. Florida Atlantic is the top seed, followed by Grand Valley State as the two. St. Thomas and Cal State San Marcos round out the top five.

"We are excited to go to Nationals and represent the PNCLL as conference champions," added Blanchard. "We got a taste at last years' nationals of what is needed to go the distance, and this year I think we are built for a deep run. We will see how it plays out next week."

The Nighthawks will open the tournament with 13-seed Rhode Island in the opening round. All first round games are set to take place on Monday, May 5 in Round Rock, Texas, with NNU and Rhode Island's matchup scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Central / 2:30 p.m. Mountain.

Rhode Island earned their berth in the championships by winning the Continental Lacrosse Conference tournament. They enter the championships with a 7-6 overall record and went 5-1 in conference play during the season.

The rest of the championships schedule includes the quarterfinals on Tuesday, May 6, semifinals on Thursday, May 8, and championship game on Saturday, May 10.