Bradford, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men’s lacrosse club team will play its first-ever game at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 23, an exhibition matchup with the Newtown Masters.

The game will be played on the new turf field at the Kessel Athletic Complex. With the field complex remaining under construction, bleachers are not available for spectators. However, anyone attending the game can bring chairs and sit on the concrete walkways around the field or stand outside the fence.

Parking for the game is available in the lot between the tennis courts and the baseball field.

The Panthers are spending the 2023-24 season as a club team before becoming an NCAA-sponsored program for the 2024-25 year. The Newtown Masters are a men’s club team made up of successful former professional and semi-professional lacrosse players from the Allegany and Cattaraugus, N.Y., Reservations.

“This will help our program in multiple ways,” said head lacrosse coach Scott Gwyn. “It will help us on the field, as the game will allow our players to learn from the Masters’ experience in the game of lacrosse, and also give our players the opportunity to build their own network of veterans in the sport who may be able to mentor them as we grow as a program.”

In addition to the game, the team will be supporting Every Child Matters, a movement that raises awareness of the individual, family, and community intergenerational impacts of residential schools on indigenous communities.

Off the field, the Panthers will be selling T-shirts for $15 to raise awareness and funds for Every Child Matters, and information on the movement will be available at the field. All T-shirt transactions will need to be made in cash, and proceeds will benefit Every Child Matters.

“As a program we realize how important our sport is to the culture of our neighbors in the Seneca Nation,” Gwyn said. “As we are playing the sport that comes from their heritage, we want to understand and care about many other aspects that affect their culture.”