130 replies to this topic

[mabrowndog]

Conference tournaments are in full swing. NCAA D1 tournament play begins May 12, and the finals for all three men's divisions (plus the D1 semis) will once again be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro a few weeks from now (May 26-28).

Best of all, UMass is unbeaten and the unanimous #1 team in the nation heading into Saturday's CAA final vs Drexel in Amherst (7 pm EDT)

The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air on ESPNU at 9 pm this Sunday night.

NCAA.com page
Championship Weekend
D-1 Conference Standings
Scores & Schedules
STIX/USILA D1 Poll
Hymie's D1 Rankings
Inside Lacrosse.com
LaxPower.com
e-lacrosse.com
US Lacrosse.org


Current Top 20
(Rankings as of April 30, W-L as of May 2)

1 UMass (14-0)
2 Notre Dame (11-1)
3 Loyola MD (13-1)
4 Duke (13-4)
5 North Carolina (10-5)
6 Maryland (9-4)
7 Lehigh (14-2)
8 Virginia (11-3)
9 Princeton (10-3)
10 Johns Hopkins (10-3)
11 Colgate (12-3)
12 Denver (8-6)
13 Cornell (9-3)
14 Penn State (9-6)
15 Yale (9-4)
16 Fairfield (12-3)
17 Villanova (8-6)
18 Ohio State (8-7)
19 Drexel (8-7)
20 Bucknell (9-7)

Edited by mabrowndog, 03 May 2012 - 03:07 PM.

[mabrowndog]

* The ACC was decided 2 weeks ago, with UNC beating Virginia 11-9 and Duke edging Maryland 7-6 in the semis. Duke then knocked off the Tar Heels 11-9 for the title. Because only 4 ACC schools field lacrosse programs, there's no automatic bid. However all 4 teams should be in the field of 16.

* In last Friday's Patriot League semis, #11 and top seed Colgate eliminated #20 and 4-seed Bucknell 14-9. Meanwhile at Lehigh, the #7 and 2-seed Mountain Hawks dispatched Army 13-7. This past Sunday, Lehigh earned the automatic bid by beating Colgate 16-14.

* In yesterday's CAA semis, #1 UMass beat Towson 10-3 while #19 Drexel won at #14 Penn State 10-9.

* In yesterday's America East semis, top seed Stony Brook edged Hartford 9-8, while 3-seed Albany destroyed Maryland-Baltimore County on the road 19-8. Albany plays at Stony Brook for the title at 3 pm Saturday, and it will air on tape delay at 10 AM this Sunday on ESPNU.

* Two great games yesterday in Denver, where the #12 Pioneers (the 4-seed) hosted the ECAC semis. They fell short in OT to #3 Loyola MD 14-13, while #16 Fairfield knocked out #18 Ohio State 8-7. In the first semi, Loyola built a 13-6 lead before U-D scored the final 7 goals of regulation to send it to OT. That's when Scott Ratliff won the opening faceoff of OT and scored 4 seconds later to win it for Loyola. In the latter semi, the Buckeyes fell behind 5-1 in the first quarter before rallying back to tie it 7-7. But Sam Snow tossed in the clinching goal for Fairfield with under 3 minutes to play. The 3-seed Stags meet the favored Greyhounds for the crown tomorrow at 6 pm EDT on ESPNU and ESPN3.

* In today's Big East semis in Philly, top seed Notre Dame plays 4-seed St. John's at 4:30 followed by host and 2-seed Villanova vs 3-seed Syracuse. Both semis are on ESPN3 live. The winners square off at noon Saturday on ESPNU.

Edited by mabrowndog, 03 May 2012 - 04:48 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Today's Games (all times EDT)

Big East Semis (hosted by 2-seed Villanova)
1 #2 Notre Dame vs 4 St. John's, 4:30 pm (ESPNU & ESPN3)
2 #17 Villanova vs 3 Syracuse, 7 pm (ESPN3; also on ESPNU at 11 pm)

Edited by mabrowndog, 04 May 2012 - 04:09 PM.

[bsj]

So foreign to not see Syracuse in that top 20.

They've been awful this year.

They played Nova tough at the Dome earlier, and challenged ND at South bend as well, but they are playing some awful lax of late.

Edited by bsj, 03 May 2012 - 03:33 PM.

[mabrowndog]

A shocker in the works: St. John's is up on the #2 Irish 6-3 in the 3rd quarter with 9:00 to go.

EDIT - Make it 7-3, as Fitzgerald finds the net with ~6:00 left in Q3. Notre Dame has 9 turnovers so far.

EDIT - After falling behind 8-3 and shooting just 3 for 19 in the first 3 quarters, it's four unanswered goals in the 4th quarter for the Irish to draw within a goal with 1:30 to play in the game. Notre Dame has really pressed the offense, with Liam O'Connor winning 13 of 17 face-offs and the Red Storm looking a little fatigued and nervous on D.

EDIT - Wild ending with multiple turnovers. Notre Dame got the ball back with 10 seconds to go and rushed the St. John's net to no avail as the Red Storm hang on for the huge upset. The Big East will have 2 of the 16 teams in the NCAA field. This also means Villanova likely needs to win tonight and Saturday to get in.

Edited by mabrowndog, 03 May 2012 - 06:00 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Syracuse takes a 6-4 lead with 10 seconds left in the first half. Villanova gets a 30-second pushing penalty giving the Orange an extra man, and they're able to capitalize.

EDIT - Cuse up 10-6 as the 4th quarter starts, and they've out-shot Nova 30-23 tonight. Despite an underwhelming season, the cards seem to be falling into place for them to still clinch a tournament berth. If they hang on for this win, I believe St. Johns will be easy pickings.

EDIT - 11-6 with 12:00 left as Eilers gets his 4th goal of the night and 19th this season.

EDIT - Less than a minute later it's 12-6. Scotty Loy scores #2 tonight and 4th of the year. Nova's going to finish the season with 3 straight losses, and Syracuse is going to be the one lower-seeded team nobody wants to play in the NCAAs.

EDIT - Hakeem Lecky, from Nantucket and Duxbury (MA) HS by way of Jamaica, makes it 15-6 with 3:00 left with a doorstep goal on a cross-field feed. And that's how it'll end.

Cuse has missed just one NCAA tournament since 1983. I like their chances for keeping it that way.

Edited by mabrowndog, 03 May 2012 - 08:20 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Friday 5/4 (all times EDT)

MAAC Semis (hosted by 4-seed Marist in Poughkeepsie NY)
2 Detroit Mercy vs 3 Canisius, 4:30 pm
1 Siena vs 4 Marist, 7:30 pm
Live updates via Twitter

Ivy League Semis (hosted by 1-seed Princeton)
2 #13 Cornell vs 3 #15 Yale, 5 pm (ESPN3)
1 #9 Princeton vs 4 Brown, 8 pm (ESPN3)
Live updates via Twitter

ECAC Final (hosted by 4-seed Denver)
1 #3 Loyola MD vs 3 #16 Fairfield, 6 pm (ESPNU/ESPN3)
Live updates via Twitter

Northeast Conference Semis (no NCAA bid) (hosted by 1-seed Robert Morris in Moon Township PA)
4 Mount St. Mary's at 1 Robert Morris, 5:30 pm (watch online)
2 Bryant vs 3 Quinnipiac, 8:30 pm (watch online)
Live updates via Twitter

[mabrowndog]

Yale up 5-2 over Cornell heading to the 2nd quarter.
Canisius & Detroit tied 6-6 with 6:00 left in the 3rd.

Further updates spoilered to conserve space.

Spoiler

EDIT - Yale leads 9-4 at the half. Canisius up 10-7 with 6:47 left in the game.

EDIT - Canisius comes back from a 5-2 deficit to win 12-10 over Detroit. Yale now up 13-5 with 10:30 to play. Robert Morris leading MSM 8-6 at the half.

EDIT - Yale wins 14-10. Siena & Marist about to get underway. Out in Denver, Loyola leads Fairfield 7-4 at the half. The Greyhounds' Reid Acton had a SportsCenter Top Plays nominee when he rifled a goal from 75 yards out just as time expired to end the first quarter.

EDIT - Loyola with 4 more in the 3rd to go up 11-4 over the Stags.

EDIT - Andrew Scalley's goal with 2:10 left in OT lifts Mount St. Mary's to a 16-15 upset win over NEC top seed and host Robert Morris. The Mount improves to 6-8. The Colonials fall to 11-4 and have virtually no shot at an at-large bid.

EDIT - Marist up on Siena 4-3 with 10:00 left in Q2. Loyola up 13-7 on Fairfield with 1:14 left. Princeton-Brown just getting started. Bryant-Quinnipiac at the bottom of the hour.

EDIT - Loyola wins 14-7. Fairfield now clearly on the at-large bubble. Princeton & Brown tied 1-1 midway through Q1. Back & forth game in the MAAC has Marist leading 5-4 with 6:00 left until halftime.

EDIT - Marist leads 6-4 at the half. Princeton up 2-1 after one quarter.

EDIT - Brown with 3 goals in 1:10, including a fast break with some sweet Magic-to-Bird-to-Jordan passes. They're tied with Princeton 4-4 with 5:00 left in the half. Siena tied up Marist, but the Red Foxes are back on top 7-6 with 10:00 left in the 3rd.

EDIT - Princeton goes up 6-4 on a pair of Alex Capretta goals, both one-timers from the left point. Rob Castello makes it 7-4 Tigers on an end-to-end rush with 0:22 left in the half, and that's where it stands at the break.

EDIT - Bryant's up 2-1 on QU with 10:26 left in the 1st, but there'll be a delay as lightning is in the area. Game will resume at around 9:20 pm. Siena now leads Marist 8-7 after 3, and they'll have a man advantage starting the 4th.

EDIT - Siena scores on the PP, but Marist answers. 9-8 Saints with 10:40 to play.

EDIT - Siena scores a pair, but Marist gets one back. It's 11-9 Siena with 3:00 left.

EDIT - Siena hangs on for the 11-9 win. Brown tightens things up with Princeton, trailing 8-6 with 14:00 left in the game.

EDIT - Princeton advances with a 9-6 win. They'll meet Yale at noon Sunday. NEC semi #2 has resumed, and Bryant's made it 3-1 over QU with 5:00 left in the 1st.

EDIT - Bryant up 5-4 at the half.

EDIT - Bryant still holding the lead, up 7-5 through 3 quarters.

EDIT - Bryant advances to the NEC final with an 11-6 win over Quinnipiac.

Edited by mabrowndog, 04 May 2012 - 10:34 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Friday's results
ECAC Final - Loyola MD 14, Fairfield 10 (Greyhounds earn automatic NCAA bid)
Ivy - Yale 14, Cornell 10
Ivy - Princeton 9, Brown 6
MAAC - Canisius 12, Detroit 10
MAAC - Siena 11, Marist 9
NEC - Mount St. Mary's 16, Robert Morris 15
NEC - Bryant 11, Quinnipiac 6

Saturday's Games
12 pm - Big East Final - Syracuse vs St. John's (in Philadelphia PA) (ESPNU)
3 pm - America East Final - Albany @ Stony Brook (ESPN3 / airs on ESPNU Sunday at 10 AM)
7 pm - CAA Final - #19 Drexel @ #1 UMass

Sunday's Games
12 pm - Ivy League Final - #15 Yale @ #9 Princeton (ESPNU / ESPN3)
12 pm - MAAC Final - Siena vs Canisius (in Poughkeepsie NY) (MAAC-TV)
1 pm - NEC Final - Mount St. Mary's vs Bryant (in Moon Township PA) (NEC.TV)
9 pm - NCAA Selection Show (ESPNU)

Lacrosse is unusual in that there are still three scheduled non-conference games to be played tomorrow in the midst of Championship Weekend. All of them could affect NCAA tournament seeding:

1 pm - #6 Maryland @ #11 Colgate (Time Warner Cable Sports)
2 pm - Army @ #10 Johns Hopkins (ESPNU)
7 pm - Michigan @ #5 North Carolina (ESPN3)

Edited by mabrowndog, 05 May 2012 - 02:19 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Inside Lacrosse did a bracketology exercise to project this year's field:


1 Loyola
Stony Brook

8 Lehigh
Maryland

4 Duke
Penn State

5 Virginia
Colgate

6 Johns Hopkins
Cornell

3 Notre Dame
Princeton

7 North Carolina
Syracuse

2 UMass
Siena

Last 3 in: Colgate (12-3), Penn St (9-6), Cornell (9-3)
Last 4 out: Denver (8-6), Fairfield (12-3), Villanova (8-7), Bucknell (9-7)

[mabrowndog]

Predictably, Syracuse is up 7-0 over St. John's at the half. This one was over before the opening face-off.

Updates spoilered to conserve space

Spoiler

EDIT - Colgate grabs an early 4-1 lead over Maryland, but the Terps battled back. Red Raiders up 5-4 after a quarter.

EDIT - 'Cuse now up 9-2 after 3 quarters. It should be A LOT worse, but Red Storm goalie Jeff Lowman has made 12 unfreakingbelievable saves so far.

EDIT - The Orange win it 12-4 and advance to the NCAAs. St. John's has no shot at a bid. Cuse's Kieran McArdle with 11 points on 12 goals in the tournament. Meanwhile Colgate & Maryland are knotted 6-6 at the half.

EDIT - Colgate up 12-10 on the Terps with 1:47 left. Hopkins struggling with Army, leading just 4-3 at halftime. Albany-Stony Brook just getting underway.

EDIT - Colgate wins it 13-11, perhaps securing home field for the first round in the NCAAs if Hopkins loses today. Maryland will likely travel. Stony Brook gets on the board first with 6:10 left in the first. Seawolves lead the Great Danes 1-0.

EDIT - Army's still hanging tough, scoring midway through the 3rd to make it 7-5 Hopkins. Stony Brook got out to a 4-1 lead, but Albany got one back. It's 4-2 with 8:30 left in the 2nd.

EDIT - Hopkins gets a pair of goals late in the 3rd, but Army tallies with :05 left to make it 9-6 Blue Jays. Albany with 3 unanswered goals to tie Stony Brook 4-4 with 3:30 left in the half.

EDIT - Jeff Tundo with a sweet score, his 2nd of the game, to put the Seawolves ahead of Albany 5-4 approaching halftime.

EDIT - Albany ties it with 8 seconds left as Lyle Thompson hits Ty Thompson with a great pass, and Ty hammers it home. 5-5 at the half.

EDIT - Zach Palmer intercepts a lazy Army clearing pass and scores on the breakaway. 10-6 Hopkins with 11:00 left in the 4th. They've held Army's Garret Thul, one of the nation's top scorers with 39 goals, to just one today.

EDIT - Hopkins pouring it on now. 13-6 with 5:00 to play, and Palmer's got a career-high 8 points.

EDIT - Hopkins running out the clock with under a minute left. They'll win 13-6 and get an at-large bid as an independent, most likely hosting in the first round. Stony Brook goes ahead of the Great Danes 6-5 a few minutes into the 3rd.

EDIT - Seawolves push the lead to 8-5 with 7:30 left in the 3rd.

EDIT - Stony Brook dominating possession and aggression now. It's 11-5 heading to the 4th.

EDIT- Albany answers with a pair, but it's not enough. Stony Brook advances 14-8 and takes the America East title.

Edited by mabrowndog, 05 May 2012 - 04:05 PM.

[RedOctober3829]

Stony Brook defeated Albany 14-8 to win the America East title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

[mabrowndog]

UMass-Drexel Game Notes (PDF)

And they're underway in Amherst. Minutemen take a 1-0 lead on a Ryan Hollenbaugh goal, but Drexel gets scores from Ryan Belka and Brendan Glynn to go ahead 2-1.

Spoiler

EDIT - Connor Mooney from Will Manny ties it up 2-2 with 5:21 to play in the first.

EDIT - Aaron Prosser lights the lamp for the Dragons with 3:02 left. 3-2 Drexel. And now UMass takes a roughing penalty. Awesome. They'll be a man down for 60 secs.

EDIT - UMass kills it off and Ryan Izzo ties it up 3-3 with 1:07 left. Fast pace so far. UMass needs to knock off the sloppy play.

EDIT - And Kyle Smith scores goal #30 to give UMass the lead with 28 secs left in the quarter. Nice momentum grab as they head to Q2.

EDIT - North Carolina leads Michigan 6-3 through one quarter.

EDIT - Robert Church ties it for Drexel 4-4 a minute into the 2nd.

EDIT - UMass retakes the lead on a Steve D'Amario goal with 11:15 left in the half, but Kyle Bergman ties it again for Drexel 20 seconds later.

EDIT - Holy shit. And 7 seconds after that, Art Kell gives UMass the lead again. 6-5 Minutemen with 9:30 to play.

EDIT - Kyle Smith make it 7-5 with #31. 8:34 left in the half.

EDIT - Hollenbaugh from Smith makes it 8-5 with 7:00 left.

EDIT - Smith's 3rd & 4th goals of the game 7 seconds apart make it 10-5 UMass at the 5:00 mark.

EDIT - Drexel breaks the drought as Brendan Glynn scores with 1:14 left in the half. UMass gets an offsides penalty and they'll be down a man for 30 secs.

EDIT - Halftime at Garber Field, UMass leading 10-6. Meanwhile UNC leads Michigan at the half 9-3.

Edited by mabrowndog, 05 May 2012 - 06:57 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Huge 2nd period for UMass, winning 8 of 10 faceoffs and 13 of 18 ground balls while outshooting the Dragons 14-8 with an 11-5 edge in shots on net.

[mabrowndog]

UMass adds 2 more goals just 6 and 22 seconds into the 2nd half to make it 12-6, as Anthony Toresco and Greg Rushing do the honors.

Spoiler

EDIT - Will Manny scores to make it 13-6 with 11:13 left in the 3rd. They've outscored Drexel 8-1 in the last 15 minutes of play

EDIT - Drexel gets one back as Andrew Vivian makes it 13-7 with 9:16 left in the quarter.

EDIT - Slashing call on Drexel with 6:42 left. UMass gets an extra man for a minute.

EDIT - And it takes just 15 seconds for Art Kell to net one off a sweet feed from Kyle Smith. 14-7 UMass.

EDIT - Bergman scores for Drexel with 5:41 left

EDIT - The unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were matching calls against both teams. No power play there.

EDIT - But now there's a slashing call on Drexel. A minute with an extra man for UMass with 4:36 left in Q3.

EDIT - Will Manny with his 42nd goal of the season makes it 15-8 UMass with 3:47 left in the 3rd.

EDIT - The quarter ends with no further scoring, but Ryan Izzo took a cross-checking penalty with 16 secs left. UMass will be down a man for 44 secs starting the 4th.

EDIT - N. Carolina leads Michigan 16-4 heading to the 4th quarter.

EDIT - Robert Church scores for Drexel to make it 15-9 with 11:27 to play. UMass's Greg Anderson gets called for slashing and the Dragons get an extra man for 60 secs.

EDIT - UMass kills it off, but Art Kell gets another slashing call with 8:30 left. Power play for Drexel and Aaron Prosser scores to make it 15-10.

EDIT - On the ensuing faceoff, Anthony Toresco wins it and scores. 16-10 Minutemen.

EDIT - A slash call on Drexel and UMass takes advantage. Will Manny with goal #43 makes it 17-10 with 6:00 left.

EDIT - Drexel's Nick Saputo scores off the face-off with 5:54 left to make it 17-11.

EDIT - Cross-check on Drexel with 3:34 left. UMass gets a 30-second man advantage and Colin Fleming scores 21 seconds later. 18-11 Minutemen.

EDIT - Drexel storms the net with 5 shots in 25 seconds. The 5th one counts as Brendan Glynn makes it 18-12 with 2 minutes left.

Edited by mabrowndog, 05 May 2012 - 08:07 PM.

[mabrowndog]

UMass clinches the CAA's automatic NCAA berth beating Drexel 18-12. It wasn't pretty, but after a really slow start they turned on the jets at the 5-minute mark of the 2nd period and didn't look back.

[mabrowndog]

Saturday's Results
Big East Final - Syracuse 12, St. John's 4
America East Final - Stony Brook 14, Albany 8
CAA Final - #1 UMass 18, #19 Drexel 12
#11 Colgate 13, #6 Maryland 11
#10 Johns Hopkins 13, Army 6
#5 N. Carolina 19, Michigan 5

Sunday's Games
12 pm - Ivy League Final - #15 Yale @ #9 Princeton (ESPNU / ESPN3)
12 pm - MAAC Final - Siena vs Canisius (in Poughkeepsie NY) (MAAC-TV)
1 pm - NEC Final - Mount St. Mary's vs Bryant (in Moon Township PA) (NEC.TV)
9 pm - NCAA Selection Show (ESPNU)

[JHU Sox fan]

All of this information from Laxpower forum this morning. According to poster ALR the final RPI would be the following if the favorites (Princeton, Siena, and Bryant) win today:
1. Loyola .6482
2. UMass .6375
3. Hopkins .6306
4. Duke .6284
5. Notre Dame .6186
6. Lehigh .6157
7. Virginia .6099
8. Colgate .6092
9. Princeton .6089
10. Maryland .5968
11. N. Carolina .5926
12. Fairfield .5784
13. Denver .5772
14. Cornell .5721
15. Penn State .5719
16. Syracuse .5643
17. Yale .5633
18. Drexel .5623
19. Ohio State .5508
20. Bucknell .5486
21. Villanova .5462
22. Navy .5330
23. Robert Morris .5294
24. Georgetown .5278
25. Bryant .5276

Based on this RPI poster humb le has predicted the following bracket:
#1 Loyola v Stony Brook/Canisius
#2 Johns Hopkins v Siena/Stony Brook
#3 UMass v Syracuse
#4 Notre Dame v Cornell
#5 Duke v Maryland
#6 Virginia v Penn State
#7 Lehigh v Princeton/Yale
#8 Colgate v UNC

In past years humb le's record of predicting the teams that get into the tournament is excellent although he freely admits that he is much better at picking who gets in and not the actual matchups and rankings. His full post can be found here.


I can't see the committee putting Hopkins over UMass this year despite UMass' lack of quality wins. I also think the committee will pick Denver over Cornell as the final at large bid. Denver has a better quality win (top 5) over Duke. I'm going to predict the following bracket:

#1 Loyola v Stony Brook
#2 UMass v Siena
#3 Hopkins v Penn State
#4 Duke v Maryland
#5 Notre Dame v Denver
#6 Virginia v Princeton
#7 Lehigh v Syracuse
#8 Colgate v UNC

Whatever the outcome tonight this tournament should be most exciting in years, since there is so much parity this year. Going into the tournament year in and year out you know there are usually only 3 or 4 teams that can actually win the whole thing. This year I'd say there are 10 teams that could get hot and win the whole thing. I had to change my bracket to only allow two flights UNC to Colgate and Denver to ND.

Edited by JHU Sox fan, 06 May 2012 - 05:51 AM.

[mabrowndog]

MAAC and Ivy finals underway. Siena leads Canisius 5-3 after one quarter, while Yale is off to surprising start at Princeton leading 4-0 heading to the 2nd. A win by the Elis would mean only one debatable at-large bid up for grabs between Denver, Penn State, Fairfield and Cornell.

EDIT - Tigers get on the board on a Mike McDonald goal 1:30 in.

EDIT - Jimmy Haney ties it up 5-5 for Canisius, but Chris D'Alberti scores for a hat trick to give Siena back the lead, 6-5. Ten minutes left in the half.

EDIT - Princeton gets a goal from Froccaro and another from McDonald (behind the back!), and it's 4-3 Yale with 6:00 left in the half. Momentum clearly with the Tigers now and the crowd's into it.

EDIT - D'Alberti gets his 4th of the day and Chris Roth adds another to make it 7-5 Siena with 5:42 left in the half.

EDIT - Matt Gibson scores for Yale to make it 5-3 Bulldogs with 4:00 left.

EDIT - Danny Martinsen (Siena) and Simon Giourmetakis (Canisius) trade goals and it's 8-6 Siena with 2:00 left in the half.

EDIT - Martinsen joins Alberti on the hat trick list, and it's 9-6 Siena at the half.

EDIT - Yale really slowed down the tempo in the final minutes. No further scoring and they head to halftime still leading Princeton 5-3. Meanwhile the NEC final is minutes away.

Edited by mabrowndog, 06 May 2012 - 11:57 AM.

[mabrowndog]

Crunch time in Poughkeepsie as Canisius has scored 4 unanswered goals to take a 10-9 lead over Siena with 1:27 left in the game. Golden Griffins call time-out to set their defense.

Meanwhile in Moon Township PA, Bryant is cremating Mount St. Mary's 8-1 with 6:53 left in the half.

Yale has upped their lead to 11-5 over Princeton with 6:05 left in the game on a Deron Dempster goal.

EDIT - Siena takes a timeout with 32 seconds left. It doesn't help as the Griffs force a turnover and run out the clock to win the MAAC and head to the NCAAs. They held the Saints scoreless over the final 30 minutes of the game. Siena's leading scorer Bryan Neufeld (37 goals) was held scoreless in both games of the tournament.

EDIT - Bryant boosts their lead to 9-1 with 3:20 left in the half. And now it's 10-1 with 1:13 remaining.

EDIT - Yale closes out its upset over Princeton, 15-7. A lot of nervous bubble teams now await the selection show with only one lottery ticket to be handed out.

EDIT - MSM starts the long climb back with a goal by Christian Kellett 2 minutes into the second half. Bryant still in command 10-2.

EDIT - Mount continues to cut into the Bryant lead as Anthony Golden makes it 12-6, but they're running out of time with just 5:37 left in the game.

EDIT - No NCAA bid to look forward to, but Bryant wins the NEC Championship as the 12-6 score holds up.

Edited by mabrowndog, 06 May 2012 - 02:21 PM.

[JHU Sox fan]

Wow Yale has looked really good this afternoon. I think Princeton will now grab the last at large bid, but the last two spots are really up in the air between Penn State, Princeton, Fairfield, Cornell, and Denver. Revised bracket prediction:

#1 Loyola v Stony Brook
#2 UMass v Canisius
#3 Duke v Princeton
#4 Hopkins v Yale
#5 Notre Dame v Maryland
#6 Virginia v Penn State
#7 Lehigh v Syracuse
#8 UNC v Colgate

[mabrowndog]

The win by Canisius probably means they head to Loyola in a 1-16 matchup. The Griffs' RPI is 53 while Stony Brook's at 36, so the Seawolves appear destined for Amherst and a first-round 2-15 date with the Minutemen.

* The 7 auto-bids (latest RPI ranking in brackets) are:
ECAC - Loyola MD, 14-1 (1)
CAA - UMass, 15-0 (2)
Patriot - Lehigh, 14-2 (6)
Ivy - Yale, 11-4 (15)
Big East - Syracuse, 9-7 (17)
America East - Stony Brook, 7-9 (36)
MAAC - Canisius, 5-7 (53)
* The 8 teams that are virtual at-large locks:
Johns Hopkins, 11-3 (3)
Top 5 Ws: Loyola
Top 10 Ws: Virginia
Top 20 Ws: Syracuse, Princeton

Duke, 13-4 (4)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: Virginia, Maryland
Top 20 Ws: North Carolina, North Carolina, Syracuse

Notre Dame, 11-2 (5)
Top 5 Ws: Duke
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Drexel, Denver, Ohio State, Syracuse

Virginia, 11-3 (7)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: Maryland
Top 20 Ws: North Carolina, Syracuse, Ohio State, Cornell, Drexel

Princeton, 11-3 (9)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Yale, Cornell

Colgate, 13-3 (9)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: Lehigh, Maryland
Top 20 Ws: Fairfield, Bucknell, Bucknell

Maryland, 9-5 (10)
Top 5 Ws: Duke, Johns Hopkins
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: None

North Carolina, 11-5 (11)
Top 5 Ws: Johns Hopkins
Top 10 Ws: Virginia, Maryland, Princeton
Top 20 Ws: Penn State
* Only 4 schools appear to be viable candidates for the final at-large bid:
Fairfield, 12-4 (12)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Denver, Ohio State

Denver, 8-6 (13)
Top 5 Ws: Duke
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Penn State

Cornell, 9-4 (14)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Denver, Syracuse, Yale

Penn State, 9-6 (15)
Top 5 Ws: Notre Dame
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Ohio State, Drexel
A really tough call here, as both Denver and PSU have a Top 5 win while Denver holds the head-to-head edge over the Nittany Lions. But PSU also has the extra Top 20 win. Then you've got Cornell and Fairfield both holding wins over the Pioneers. Inside Lacrosse gives the edge to Penn State, but I think I'd give the nod to Denver.


* Teams likely on the outside looking in, with Nova holding a clear edge in quality wins:
Drexel, 8-8 (18)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Penn State

Ohio State, 8-7 (19)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Denver, Fairfield

Bucknell, 9-7 (20)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: None
Top 20 Ws: Penn State, Drexel

Villanova, 8-7 (21)
Top 5 Ws: None
Top 10 Ws: Lehigh
Top 20 Ws: Syracuse, Bucknell, Drexel

[mabrowndog]

I'll project:


#1 Loyola v Canisius
#2 UMass v Stony Brook
#3 Notre Dame v Denver
#4 Hopkins v Princeton
#5 Duke v Syracuse
#6 Virginia v Yale
#7 Lehigh v Maryland
#8 UNC v Colgate

[RedOctober3829]

If Stony Brook plays Loyola, it will be SB coach Jim Nagle coaching against his alma mater.

[DukeSox]

If Duke ends up playing and then losing to Lehigh, I'm going to be furious.

Edited by DukeSox, 06 May 2012 - 04:16 PM.

[mabrowndog]

A mild surprise as Hopkins is a 2-seed. Loyola, as expected, is #1.

Edited by mabrowndog, 06 May 2012 - 08:10 PM.

[RedOctober3829]

Shockingly, UMass finished 15-0 and is the #6 seed.

Top 4
Loyola
Hopkins
Duke
Notre Dame

[mabrowndog]

Yes, UMass's schedule was on the weaker side, but a 6-seed is a fucking joke.

[mabrowndog]

Denver gets the bubble berth. Playing at #8 UNC.

[mabrowndog]

I have a feeling Syracuse is heading to UMass. Fuck...

[mabrowndog]

So far we've got...


1 Loyola MD
16 Canisius
8 North Carolina
9 Denver

4 Notre Dame
13 Yale
5 Virginia
12 Princeton

2 Johns Hopkins
15 Stony Brook
7 Lehigh
10

3 Duke
14
6 U.Mass
11


I penciled in Lehigh as the 7-seed by process of elimination, as 1-6 and 8 have been announced. Also added Stony Brook at 15 since it would be preposterous for them to be any higher.

Now it's just a matter of where they put Maryland, Syracuse and Colgate. I'm guessing 10, 11 and 14 respectively.

Edited by mabrowndog, 06 May 2012 - 08:21 PM.

[RedOctober3829]

Bracket

All seeded teams are home for the first round.

#1 Loyola vs. Canisius Saturday 5 pm ESPNU
#8 UNC vs. Denver Saturday 7:30 ESPNU

#4 Notre Dame vs. Yale Sunday 5:15 ESPNU
#5 Virginia vs. Princeton Sunday 1 pm ESPN

#3 Duke vs. Syracuse Saturday Noon ESPN
#6 UMass vs. Colgate Saturday 2:30 ESPNU

#2 Johns Hopkins vs. Stony Brook Sunday 3:00 ESPNU
#7 Lehigh vs. Maryland Sunday 7:30 ESPNU

Quarterfinals sites are Navy and PPL Park in Philadelphia May 19th-20th. Final Four is at Gillette Stadium

[mabrowndog]

I assume they'll have the 1-8 and 2-7 brackets slated for Annapolis. Big crowds for Hopkins & Loyola, as well as Maryland should they win this weekend.

Edited by mabrowndog, 06 May 2012 - 08:48 PM.

[RedOctober3829]

I assume they'll have the 1-8 and 2-7 brackets slated for Annapolis. Big crowds for Hopkins & Loyola, as well as Maryland should they this weekend.

You are correct.

[mabrowndog]

Maryland MLax @MDTerpsLacrosse
Last time Maryland was in the 7:30 Sunday game was 2007 - lost to UMBC when Terps were No. 7 seed.

Maryland MLax @MDTerpsLacrosse
All ACC teams in separate parts of bracket. All could reach Final Four in Foxborough.

Maryland MLax @MDTerpsLacrosse
Terps have been unseeded five other times and made it to two NCAA title games - 1997 & 2011.

Maryland MLax @MDTerpsLacrosse
The last time Maryland was at a No. 7 seed was 2009. The Terps beat undefeated Notre Dame.

Edited by mabrowndog, 06 May 2012 - 08:56 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Inside Lacrosse @Inside_Lacrosse
UMass coach Cannella on No. 6 seed: "We're really not concerned about that."

[mabrowndog]

The Div. II tournament is a 4-team setup:

Semifinals - May 19
South/North Region: Limestone (16-1) @ Le Moyne (17-0)
Central Region: Dowling (11-2) @ Mercyhurst (13-0)

Final - May 27, 1 pm, Gillette Stadium, Foxboro MA

The Div. III selection show is tonight at 10:30 pm, streaming on NCAA.com

Edited by mabrowndog, 06 May 2012 - 09:15 PM.

[JHU Sox fan]

I'm confused by the committee as always. Usually quality wins are the most important factor that explains UMass getting the sixth seed. But then Princeton makes the field with fewer quality wins than Penn State or Denver. The only reason they can justify Princeton over Penn State or Denver is using the RPI. So why didn't UMass' RPI ranking give them a higher seed?

First glance at the brackets I like UNC, Virginia, Duke, and Hopkins to the final four.

[mabrowndog]

Oops... And it's a big one. There's no effing way they can hold the game on the same day.

Terry Foy @TerenceFoy
16m
Greg Cannella says UMass and NCAA will have to work out scheduling—they put in to host Sunday; graduation on campus is Saturday.

[mabrowndog]

The D3 field is just a tad more involved than D2. First round starts on May 9th. Final is May 27, 4 pm, Gillette Stadium. Bracket here

Top 4 seeds get first-round byes in a 28-team field: Cortland, Tufts, Salisbury & Lynchburg

Lynchburg (17-1) - BYE
Denison (13-1) vs. Adrian (17-1)

Stevenson (14-2) vs Birmingham Southern (14-4)
Gettysburg (10-6) vs. Ohio Wesleyan (10-4)

Salisbury (19-0) - BYE
Washington College (11-5) vs. Goucher (17-1)

Dickinson (14-3) vs Kenyon (10-4)
Cabrini (15-2) vs Eastern (13-4)

Tufts (16-2) - BYE
Eastern Conn. State (12-5) vs. Trinity (12-5)

RIT (14-2) vs New England College (12-6)
Western New England (12-4) vs Conn. College (10-6)

Cortland (18-0) - BYE
Stevens (16-2) vs. Springfield (16-3)

Bowdoin (13-5) vs Mt. Ida (15-4)
Union (11-4) vs. Montclair St. (11-5)

[DLew On Roids]

If Cabrini's team name isn't the Green, I'll be really disappointed.

[mabrowndog]

Still no word on whether the NCAA will reschedule the UMass game. To clarify, stadium ceremonies at Warren McGuirk are this Friday. But the individual schools and colleges are holding their honor ceremonies at other campus venues all day Saturday (including the Mullins Center, Fine Arts Center, Campus Center, Bowker Auditorium, etc.) So traffic and parking all over Amherst and the campus are going to be an absolute bitch.

Duke & UNC requested and received Saturday game dates, since both are holding graduations on Sunday. Big shocker there.

I have no idea what's so difficult about swapping UMass's slot with Johns Hopkins (3:00), Notre Dame (5:15) or Lehigh (7:30), all of which hold commencements on 5/20 or later. TV wouldn't be affected, since all are slated for ESPNU.

[mabrowndog]

Weekend D-1 Schedule (all times p.m. EDT)

Saturday 5/12
12:00 - #3 Duke vs. Syracuse, ESPN
02:30 - #6 UMass vs. Colgate, ESPNU
05:00 - #1 Loyola vs. Canisius, ESPNU
07:30 - #8 UNC vs. Denver, ESPNU

Sunday 5/13
01:00 - #5 Virginia vs. Princeton, ESPN
03:00 - #2 Johns Hopkins vs. Stony Brook, ESPNU
05:15 - #4 Notre Dame vs. Yale, ESPNU
07:30 - #7 Lehigh vs. Maryland, ESPNU

[mabrowndog]

This week's D-III roundup:

Four of the 12 first-round games were one-goal nailbiters, with Stevens Institute (NJ) needing overtime to beat Springfield (MA) College 13-12 and Denison (OH) requiring double-OT to eliminate Adrian (MI) 12-11. All of the USILA's higher-ranked schoos advanced, including road teams WNEC (MA) and Goucher (MD). Four New England schools remain in the field. Five others lost, three in intra-region matchups.

First Round Scores - Wed 5/9 (# = USILA poll ranking)
#20 Gettysburg (PA) 7, Ohio Wesleyan 4
#8 Denison (OH) 12, Adrian (MI) 11, 2OT
#10 Goucher (MD) 5, #18 Washington (MD) 4
#11 Dickinson (PA) 15, Kenyon (OH) 6
#7 Rochester Inst. (NY) 18, New England College (NH) 4
#15 Western New England (MA) 6, Connecticut College 5
#17 Trinity (CT) 13, Eastern Connecticut 9
#6 Cabrini (PA) 19, Eastern Univ (PA) 3
#14 Union (NY) 12, Montclair St (NJ) 5
#11 Bowdoin (ME) 16, Mount Ida (MA) 5
#9 Stevens Inst (NJ) 13, #13 Springfield (MA) 12, OT
#5 Stevenson (MD) 13, Birmingham Southern (AL) 2

Second Round - Sat, 5/12 (# = USILA poll ranking; * = first-round bye)
12 pm - #15 Western New England (MA) @ #7 Rochester Inst. (NY)
1 pm - #11 Bowdoin (ME) @ #14 Union (NY)
1 pm - #6 Cabrini (PA) @ #11 Dickinson (PA)
1 pm - #17 Trinity (CT) @ #4 Tufts* (MA)
7 pm - #10 Goucher (MD) @ #1 Salisbury* (MD)
7 pm - #9 Stevens Inst (NJ) @ #2 SUNY-Cortland* (NY)
7 pm - #8 Denison (OH) @ #3 Lynchburg* (VA)
7 pm - #20 Gettysburg (PA) @ #5 Stevenson (MD)


.

Edited by mabrowndog, 12 May 2012 - 12:27 PM.

[mabrowndog]

Duke took an early 4-1 lead over Syracuse, but the Orange have regrouped to draw within 5-4 at halftime.

[mabrowndog]

WNEC giving RIT a battle, trailing just 10-8 with 3:00 left in the 3rd.

After one quarter: Cabrini up on Dickinson 5-2, Tufts leads Trinity 3-1, and Bowdoin & Union knotted up 2-2.

[SumnerH]

Duke took an early 4-1 lead over Syracuse, but the Orange have regrouped to draw within 5-4 at halftime.

Syracuse pulled even at 5-5, but Duke went on a 4-goal unanswered tear to get up 9-5 and cruised to a 12-9 win.

Colgate upsets UMass 13-11 to give UMass their first loss of the season--UMass was up 7-2 at one point, and Colgate didn't take a lead until the 4th quarter of the game. Credit to Colgate's goalie for a solid 2nd half after looking kind of porous early.

EDIT: #1 Loyola handling their business so far, up 4-0 on Canisius in the 1st.

Edited by SumnerH, 12 May 2012 - 04:36 PM.

[RedOctober3829]

Canisius scored 3 goals in the 2nd quarter and trail Loyola 4-3 at the half.

[mabrowndog]

Great game, and yeah Murphy played huge in net for Colgate. Just a huge disappointment not to advance past the first round. I really thought that after giving up 3 unanswered goals to end the first half, their energy starting the second half would leave them in command the rest of the way. I mean, first they kill off the Colgate power play that carried over from the first, and then they score the first two goals to make it 9-5. But then Murphy started stopping nearly everything thrown his way, and Colgate did a great job of running, evading UMass's physical pressure on D, and moving the ball on offense with some awesome passing. Next thing you know the Red Raiders have scored four in a row to tie it with about a minute left in the 3rd. UMass dominated both faceoffs (17-10) and groundballs (29-19), but Colgate ended up out-shooting them 46-37. Toresco answered the tying goal 4 seconds later for a 10-9 UMass lead after three, and again I was pretty confident they'd step on the throat. No such luck. Colgate took their first lead with 7 minutes were left in the game. Their final goal, by Baum, was just a ridiculous move.

Pretty bummed out right now.

Edited by mabrowndog, 12 May 2012 - 05:26 PM.

[RedOctober3829]

Great game, and yeah Murphy played huge in net for Colgate. Just a huge disappointment not to advance past the first round. I really thought that after giving up 3 unanswered goals to end the first half, their energy starting the second half would leave them in command the rest of the way. I mean, first they kill off the Colgate power play that carried over from the first, and then they and then score the first two goals to make it 9-5. But then Murphy started stopping nearly everything thrown his way, and Colgate did a great job of running, evading UMass's physical pressure on D, and moving the ball with some awesome passing. Next thing you know the Red Raiders have scored four in a row to tie it with about a minute left in the 3rd. UMass dominated both faceoffs (17-10) and groundballs (29-19), but Colgate ended up out-shooting them 46-37. Toresco answered the tying goal 4 seconds later for a 10-9 UMass lead after three, and again I was pretty confident they'd step on the throat. No such luck. Colgate took their first lead with 7 minutes were left in the game. Their final goal, by Baum, was just a ridiculous move.

Pretty bummed out right now.

Yeah it sucks for sure from a UMass perspective. Hopefully, they'll schedule up next year.