AMHERST — Jon Thompson had plenty of people he could turn to in the week leading up to his first appearance in the national championship game as a head coach.

In the nine years Thompson has been in charge of the Amherst College lacrosse program, four different Mammoths programs have won national championships. That doesn’t include the Amherst women’s lacrosse team that won a title in 2003 under current coach Christine Paradis.

So Thompson has plenty of resources nearby to help him create a plan to keep the Mammoths focused amid their first run to a national championship. When asked if he had reached out to those championship coaches, Thompson mocked surprise at the question.

“You think I’m crazy? Of course I have, that’s one of the first things I did,” Thompson said with a laugh. “We are fortunate to have women’s basketball and men’s basketball and soccer and a lot of NCAA championships over the last handful of years. All of those coaches have been really great resources.”

He also said he reached out to several of his coaching comrades throughout the sport for advice about handling this week leading into the national championship game. He said most of the advice he heard is consistent with what he has tried to preach to his team this week.

Thompson said he wants his team to embrace the moment and savor the experience of playing in the national championship game. And that includes making sure Amherst stays focused on being the best version of itself on Sunday at 4 p.m. and not worry as much about the opponent.

“You’ve got to be fresh, you’ve got to get some lucky bounces and don’t over think it,” Thompson said. “You just have to play you and be you and we sort of embraced that in February. … A lot of it is experience based on what did work, what didn’t work, but most of them say there’s no silver bullet, there’s no one thing that works. Just be simple and be you.”

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE — Just 22 miles separate Cabrini University’s campus from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. If there was a year for the Cavaliers to play in their first national championship game, it would be this year when the game is being played right down the road.

Just nine of the 53 players listed on Cabrini’s roster come from a state other than Pennsylvania or New Jersey.

“I’d be lying to you if I said it wasn’t unbelievable to have the opportunity to play at the Linc where players, coaches, administration have been over the years to see the Eagles play and Eagles win,” Cabrini coach Steve Colfer said. “We’re trying to downplay that as much as possible. We’d be excited to play in any NFL stadium, if they told us if we had to go anywhere to play this game, we’d do it and be excited about it. The fact that is Philadelphia and the majority of our players and coaches are from this area is special, but we don’t want that to be a distraction, we don’t want that to be a reason we look back next week and say we didn’t manage it as well as we should have in hindsight.”

Thompson is not concerned about the crowd imbalance, adding that Amherst does have a sizable alumni base in the mid-Atlantic region. He said he also expects the parents and friends of the program to come down in waves to support the team.

“We’re going to make our way down there and we’re going to take our time getting down there,” Thompson said. “… We’ve got a great mid-Atlantic representation in our alumni group and our friends group and our parents group, so we’re going to get a great turnout. I’m sure they’ll get a great turnout and I hope it’s going to be a raucous crowd.”

KEEPING IT LOOSE — As part of his plan to keep his team fresh for Sunday’s game, Thompson has tweaked the preparation schedule to keep his players off their feet for most of the 48 hours leading to the 4 p.m. faceoff. The Mammoths are scheduled to stop and practice at Rutgers as they make their way down to Philadelphia, and their practices on Friday and Saturday will be roughly two hours combined.

Amherst is also attending the first Division I semifinals on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field between Duke and Virginia.

SCONONE HONORED — UMass senior Sean Sconone won the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s Ensign C. Markland Kelly Jr. Award as the nation’s best goaltender.

Sconone, who also became the ninth Minuteman to receive a first-team All-American honor, is the first UMass player to win a national award from the USILA. He led the nation with a .615 save percentage and ranked third in goals against average at 8.61 per game.

Senior Isaac Paparo was named a second-team All-American as a long-pole midfielder. He is the first Minuteman to earn All-American recognition at two different positions after being an honorable mention honoree last season as a close defender.