May 4, 2008

by Matt DaSilva, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

If Georgetown needed an easy way out of its perpetual NCAA quarterfinal misfortune, the Division I men's lacrosse committee provided it Sunday. In the wake of their season-ending loss Saturday to lowly Penn State, the Hoyas were left out of the NCAA tournament altogether.

Despite being the only team to beat Duke, which garnered the No. 1 overall seed, Georgetown was edged out in favor of Denver and Navy, presumably the final two teams to qualify. The Hoyas had qualified for every NCAA tournament from 1997-2007, which was the second-longest streak behind Johns Hopkins, including six consecutive quarterfinal losses.

Proponents of parity will find that three teams from the Great Western Lacrosse League - conference champion and No. 6 seed Notre Dame, runner-up Ohio State and Denver - were selected, while No. 8 seed Cornell represents the only participant of the Ivy League.

Brown, the Ivy League co-champion, did not qualify. Nor did Princeton, the team the Bears defeated Saturday.

As expected, all four ACC teams earned at-large berths and were seeded entries. Automatic qualifiers were Colgate, whose win over No. 3 seed Syracuse in the season finale Saturday probably bolstered fellow Patriot Leaguer Navy, Canisius (MAAC), Cornell (Ivy League), Hofstra (CAA), Loyola (ECAC), Notre Dame (GWLL) and UMBC (America East).

The first round of the NCAA tournament commences with four games Saturday and four games Sunday. All games will be broadcast live on ESPNU. A brief look at first-round match-ups:

Loyola (7-6) at No. 1 Duke (16-1) - Saturday, 2:30 p.m.
The Blue Devils pasted the Greyhounds, 21-8, in Baltimore back on March 8. Then again, who hasn't Duke pasted in 2008? (Oh yeah, Georgetown.) Loyola attackman Collin Finnerty has already met his former teammates, but it will mark his return to Durham for the first time since rape and sexual assault charges against him and two others were dropped a year ago.

UMBC (12-3) at No. 2 Virginia (12-3) - Sunday, 5 p.m.
The Retrievers' remarkable comeback from nine goals down in the America East championship game Saturday to defeat Albany gives them plenty of momentum in a pairing that probably had as much to do with geography as it did UMBC's lacking in strength of schedule. Despite 11 straight wins to close the season, the Retrievers have the unenviable task of facing the Cavaliers in Charlottesville, where they nearly usurped Duke for the ACC title a week ago.

Canisius (10-5) at No. 3 Syracuse (12-2) - Sunday, 7:30 p.m.
Again, geography. With three GWLL teams requiring flights for their competition, the NCAA's travel policy gives the Orange an opportunity to host the weakest team in the tournament, despite dropping to a No. 3 seed after its surprising loss to Colgate. The Golden Griffins hail from downtown Buffalo, where Canadian, NLL prospect and freshman Adam Jones has created some buzz. Syracuse's defense is much better prepared to handle big finishers inside.

Navy (9-5) at No. 4 North Carolina (8-5) - Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
The Mids back into the NCAA tournament after losing four of their last five, thanks to Army's choke job Saturday against Penn and the aforementioned Colgate factor. The Tar Heels couldn't win an ACC game, but that never hurts as much as wins over teams like Cornell, Hopkins and Hofstra helps.

Hofstra (10-5) at No. 5 John Hopkins (8-5) - Sunday, 2:30 p.m.
On March 8, the Pride defeated the Blue Jays on Jay Card's goal in overtime, setting off a five-game, mid-season losing streak for Hopkins - the first such spell in school history. The defending champion Jays, in typical fashion, finished strong. Pride head coach and former Hopkins assistant Seth Tierney has all the knowledge necessary to win at Homewood, however.

Colgate (11-5) at No. 6 Notre Dame (13-2) - Sunday, 12 p.m.
The Irish never missed a beat without Will Yeatman, and there are still those who call their lightning-delayed, overtime loss to Hopkins in first round last year the de facto national championship game. The Raiders certainly turned it on late, didn't they? Great faceoff battle between Colgate's Chris Eck and Notre Dame's Taylor Clagett, two of the nation's best and veterans of the position.

Denver (10-6) at No. 7 Maryland (9-5) - Saturday, 12 p.m.
The Pioneers' second NCAA tournament appearance commences in the same place as their first - College Park. The Terps net a seed despite losing three of their final five games. Denver's defense will have its hands full with 6-foot-5, 240-pound attackman Grant Catalino. How will Catalino and the rest of Maryland's freshmen handle NCAA tournament pressure, however?

Ohio State (10-5) at No. 8 Cornell (11-3) - Saturday, 5 p.m.
The Big Red does not have the firepower it used to advance to the NCAA semifinals in 2007, but Cornell has found ways to win in 2008. Both teams favor up-tempo play.