NCAA lacrosse championship sites are predetermined for a multitude of reasons: creating an even playing field, forming a fan destination on Memorial Day weekend, selling tickets in advance and – in essence – having a festival of sorts to celebrate the game.

But there’s not always the ability to keep that neutral-site aspect intact. Hometown teams push through, perhaps motivated by the chance to play at a stadium they only dreamed of appearing in.

Step in Cabrini, which will face Amherst Sunday at 4 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The Cavaliers, this year’s sole Pool B entrant to the Division III NCAA tournament upon switching to the Atlantic East Conference, are from nearby Radnor, Pa.

Despite being a 25-mile drive northwest of “The Linc”, they too must stay at a hotel in the City of Brotherly Love and take buses to and from events. They own the biggest home field advantage you’ll find this Memorial Day weekend, and head coach Steve Colfer acknowledged that comes with pros and cons.

“We don't want that to be a distraction and we don't want that to be a reason next year we're looking back and saying we didn't manage that as well as we should have in hindsight,” Colfer said. “We're really trying to keep the focus on Amherst and the game as much as we can.

“Hopefully Sunday night after the result is determined we can be a bit more reflective. I'd be lying to you if I said that hasn't crossed each and every one of our brains and that it's a unique element of this championship game.”

Cabrini and Amherst are both making their first appearance in a D-III final, and this is the former’s 18th straight appearance in the NCAA tournament. Senior attackman Jordan Krug and junior defenseman Tommy DeLuca, each named USILA Second Team All-Americans on Thursday, agreed that it’ll be “special” playing before a hometown crowd. But much of their focus also turned to Cabrini’s path to reach this point.

The Cavaliers, in switching conferences, won’t be eligible for an automatic qualifier until 2021. So began a mentality of going 1-0 as each game neared, all to receive the Pool B bid. Colfer’s group did exactly that, eventually knocking off Capital Athletic Conference powerhouses York and Salisbury in the national quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

Eventually, Krug said, Colfer’s mantra became second nature.

“That started way back in last May and every guy, it took some time, but they bought in and understood the message he was sending,” Krug said. “You can tell it's working really well. It's win or lose everything on Sunday, so it'll be in full effect them.”

There has also been a laundry list of injuries on the offensive end, especially to attackmen Matt LoParo and Timmy Brooks, both of whom were All-Americans in 2018. Brooks has returned late this season, but it’s otherwise been a defense-first approach that’s allowed 6.61 goals per game, the fifth-fewest in all of D-III.

“You want to stay positive and assume the next guy up is going to be just as good as the guy who went out,” DeLuca said, “but when the season starts and you have three returning All-Americans on attack and that quickly turns to one, it's a little diminishing. You want to look at that and ask what we do now, but more than anything the guys that did step up get all of the credit.”

As much as the spotlight falls on Cabrini, Amherst is no slouch. The NESCAC program has knocked off three conference foes – Wesleyan, Tufts and Williams – in the NCAA tournament to reach Memorial Day weekend and features arguably the top offense in all of D-III.

The Mammoths’ head coach, Jon Thompson, doesn’t expect the home crowd to impact matters too much. In fact, he embraces the challenges it might present.

“When it’s all said and done, as far as I can tell, the field is the same size as the fields up there, the goals are the same size as the goals up here, the 80-second shot clock is the same time as the 80-second shot clock up North,” Thompson said. “I think we're going to get a great turnout and I'm sure they're going to get a great turnout. I hope so. I hope it's a raucous crowd.”

While Amherst calls New England home, it also rosters a small handful from the Philadelphia area, with none holding a bigger profile than senior attackman Evan Wolf. He was recently named the USILA D-III Player of the Year and used to attend Final Four games at The Linc when we was younger.

Now Wolf, who enters Sunday with 277 career points, gets to play before family and friends. But his focus remains on Amherst and the ability to bring another national championship to the NESCAC.

“There are so many good team each year and you need to get some luck or leave some things up to chance fall your way,” Wolf said. “Still, I think getting here, it’s just a testament to the coaches and how strong of a culture and program coach Thompson has built here. This was more than luck.”

And now, whoever executes their game plan better and has some bounces go their way will, for the first time in program history, be crowned a national champion.