By Tim Glon

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team will host Aurora (Ill.) the first round of the 2025 NCAA III Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm at Dial-Roberson Stadium.

The two winners will play in the second round on Saturday at No. 3-ranked RIT (N.Y.) at Noon.

The Polar Bears (15-4 overall) are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

Ohio Northern earned the Ohio Athletic Conference's automatic bid with a thrilling 10-9 victory at Baldwin Wallace in the OAC Tournament finals on Saturday.

The Spartans (14-5) qualified for the NCAA III Tournament by defeating Concordia (Wis.) 14-9 in the finals of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament.

ONU is ranked No. 44 in the NCAA's RPI, while AU is ranked No. 77.

RIT will host the second and third rounds Saturday and Sunday.

No. 13 Ohio Wesleyan (15-3) and No. 20 Saint John Fisher (N.Y.) (15-4) will play in the other second round game on Saturday at 3 pm at RIT.

Sunday's third round game will start at 3 pm.