ALBANY – Denver senior Trevor Baptiste is widely considered the greatest FOGO ever.
University at Albany sophomore TD Ierlan is producing the position's greatest season ever.
So who wins when they, literally, face off?
Baptiste vs. Ierlan. The best FOGO of all time vs. the best FOGO in 2018. Which side are you on?
— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) May 16, 2018
https://t.co/uVFDiPcDol #NCAALAX pic.twitter.com/b2Y0NI6Gyw
That gets found out Saturday when the two faceoff specialists – and their teams – meet 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals in Hempstead.
"It is going to be an awesome battle," UAlbany senior Connor Fields said.
RELATED: Denver's Trevor Baptiste sets new DI NCAA men's lacrosse faceoff record
Here are 10 numbers to know about the impending matchup between Baptiste and Ierlan.
1,143: Baptiste's total faceoffs won in his career, which ranks No. 1 in NCAA history. Earlier this season, Baptiste passed Kevin Massa, who won 1,117 faceoffs playing for Bryant from 2012 to 2015. For his career, Ierlan has won 649 faceoffs.
326: Ierlan's total faceoffs won this season, which is 13 away from matching the NCAA single-season record Brendan Fowler set at Duke in 2013. Baptiste has won 264 faceoffs this season, and his single-season high for his career was set as a freshman in 2015 with 310 wins.
With his ground ball on the opening faceoff of the second half, TD Ierlan has set a new UAlbany Division I record. pic.twitter.com/7t2GRCd7nJ
— UAlbany Lacrosse (@UAlbanyMLax) March 29, 2018
240: Ierlan's ground ball total this season, which is an NCAA single-season record. Ierlan set that mark last game, passing Massa's record of 231 set in 2013.
83.4: Ierlan's faceoff winning percentage this season. That ranks No. 1 in the nation. The NCAA single-season record is 77.6 percent and belongs to Mark Goers, who set that mark playing for Towson in 1994.
76.5: Baptiste's faceoff winning percentage this season. That ranks No. 2 in the nation.
71.8: Baptiste's career winning faceoff percentage heading into Saturday's matchup. The NCAA career record is 70.7 percent and belongs to Steve Shaw, who played for Delaware from 1983 to 1986.
Baptiste and Walker Named 2018 @Tewaaraton Award Nominees - https://t.co/J64ODDKMBT #DU1NATION pic.twitter.com/z6UZtQkq0x
— Denver Mens Lacrosse (@DU_MLAX) April 26, 2018
55: Baptiste's weight advantage in his matchup with Ierlan. While the 5-foot-10 Baptiste is only an inch taller than the 5-foot-9 Ierlan, Baptiste weighs 230 pounds and Ierlan weighs 175.
14.1: Ierlan's ground balls per game average this season, which has him on track to set an NCAA single-season record in that category. That records belongs to Bryant's Massa, who averaged 12.2 ground balls per game in 2013.
5: The combined games the two players have faced off at less than 50.0 percent in their NCAA careers. Baptiste has two of those games, while Ierlan has three. In their careers, Baptiste and Ierlan have played in a combined 103 games.
4: The combined games Baptiste and Ierlan have recorded perfect faceoff efforts in their college careers. Each of those four games have occurred this season. Baptiste went 22 for 22 in a game earlier this season, while Ierlan had three perfect games this season. Twice, Ierlan has gone 24 of 24; once, he went 20 of 20.
This article is written by Michael Kelly from The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y. and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
