Since 1991, just four teams have won Division I championships. With Johns Hopkins, two-time defending champion Syracuse and Princeton all falling last weekend in the quarterfinals, now, just one of those teams remains alive in this year’s tournament.
Virginia.
The Cavaliers, the lone “Big Four” team still alive in this year’s “Big Dance,” faces Stony Brook at 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU) in an NCAA quarterfinal doubleheader at Stony Brook University. In the day’s other game, 2009 national finalist Cornell takes on Army at noon (ESPNU).
There’s a lot at stake today besides the possibility of having no “Big Four” team in the Final Four this coming weekend in Baltimore. Imagine the prospect of having Army play on Memorial Day Weekend. Now that would be something.
In another sign emblematic of the parity we are seeing throughout all of the lax world, for the first time since 1971, neither Hopkins or Syracuse will be playing in the quarterfinals.
Here’s a look at the updated bracket for the Division I tournament, including a rundown of yesterday’s finals (with Notre Dame edging Maryland and Duke handling rival UNC), today’s game and this weekend’s potential matchups.
Meanwhile, in Divisions II and III, title-game matchups will be determined today.
You can check out the Division III bracket by clicking here.
For the Division II bracket, click here.
And, oh by the way, folks. North Carolina, which beat Towson 18-13 in the 1991 final, was the last team other than Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton or Virginia to win a national title in D-I.
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NCAA quarterfinal result today from Stony Brook:
Cornell 14, Army 5
(Cornell will play Notre Dame on Saturday, May 29 at either 4 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. in the semifinals in Baltimore.)
Next up at Stony Brook:
Virginia vs. Stony Brook (ESPNU)
(The winner of that game will play Duke on Saturday, May 29 at either 4 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. in the semifinals in Baltimore.)
Virginia and Stony Brook are now tied at 8-8 with 5:35 left in regulation.
Final from the Division III semifinals – Tufts upsets defending national champion Cortland State 10-9 and Salisbury beat Stevenson 14-13.
Tufts will face Salisbury for the title at noon on Sunday, May 30 for the national championship in Baltimore. (The game will be broadcast live CBS College Sports.)
Here’s the updated D-III bracket:
http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2010/ncaa_bracket_DIII_lacrosse_men.html
The D-I final four is now set. It will be Virginia, Duke, Notre Dame and Cornell. Here is the latest NCAA quarterfinal result today from Stony Brook:
Virginia 10, Stony Brook 9
(Virginia will play Duke on Saturday, May 29 at either 4 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. in the semifinals in Baltimore.)
From earlier today. …
Cornell 14, Army 5
(Cornell will play Notre Dame on Saturday, May 29 at either 4 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. in the semifinals in Baltimore.)
Former Rocky Point stars Tom and Matt Palasek have decided to transfer from Johns Hopkins.
You can read more in this report by Terry Foy of InsideLacrosse.com:
http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/05/24/tom-and-matt-palasek-granted-release-transferring-johns-hopkins
Joe:
Very interesting news…that has to at least open things up a bit for KI I would think..I wonder if ptero needs to have a really good season next year before the alum start yakking?
Bear – This is certainly big news for anyone who follows college lax. For Hopkins, it’s a big blow. Tom Palasek was the Blue Jays’ fourth-leading scorer as a sophomore. Matt Palasek played sparingly as a freshman, but I believe would have been a key contributor.
There could be more changes to come. If you recall a few years back, Syracuse made some major changes in both its personnel and on its coaching staff after missing the NCAA tournament and falling in the first round to UMass in back-to-back years. The Orange came back to win back-to-back national titles.
You mentioned the Hopkins alum, and, of course, they are not happy. But as we’ve said repeatedly, fans at many of the tradition-rich programs, both college and HS, need to realize this is a new era of lacrosse where parity reigns supreme.
Some still refuse to accept this new reality, but that’s just the way it is now. And that trend will become more and more evident each year as lax continues to grow.
Only one team in this year’s final four, Virginia, has won a national title since 1990, and the Cavaliers, though the No. 1 seed, barely beat Stony Brook in the quarterfinals to get there.
BigBadBear
Agree. From what I hear the alum are already “yakking”.
I think the AD’s of JH, UVA, UNC, Duke, etc should be ALL OVER the lacrosse coaches to produce big time results given the # of AA’s that are admitted every yr to these schools!! What is it this season? UNC is getting 6-8 Under Armour AA”s in Sept (some of whom they “locked up” in their soph yrs) to go along with the other 20+ they already have?
Dont get me wrong. These are all great academic schools and I love to read about the Section 1 kids that are doing great at these places. Congrats to them and I want them to do great.
But I gotta say I have a warm spot for all the non “AA”, “blue collar” kids (inc kids from NY, LI, Minn, Texas, Ca, etc) and teams like Army, Delaware, Cornell, Stony Brook, Notre Dame, Hofstra, ete, etc, etc that are either beating these teams or coming very close. Great coaches at the very TOP D1 schools but it’s the coaches of the “blue collar” schools that bring out the best in the great kids they have that I think should be in the running for coach of the yr type awards.
SL –
Good point about the AA’s, but I think with the new era of parity, we are seeing plenty of non-AA’s proving they are as good, and in some cases, better than many of the publicized incoming recruits. And when that’s not the case, another thing I have always believed, especially when it comes to the playoffs, is that hustle beats skill almost every time.
The top D1 schools may get a ton of talented AA recruits, but there are many kids who are not highly recruited out of high school but are extremely talented and the top D1 schools end up passing on them. Stony Brook found a hidden gem in Canada with Crowley, I believe their best 2 players are Canadian who are more talented than most of these Under-Armour AAs but end up being overlooked a little by the top American schools.
Believe it or not, Crowley ALMOST played MCLA and SFU…the mere fact that the 8 seed, ‘Brook, gave the #1 so much trouble tells you a lot…10 years from now, I bet we have a 32 team field…
Hopkins cant really compete with the other schools in terms of quality of life, and Lax is the only D1 sport on campus, so quite different than ‘Cuse, Va, and Duke..if they stop winning championships, there will be major changes soon
As for this year’s team’s, Duke looks the best to me..
Joe,
The cliche is, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
And with due respect to my friend sla, college ADs have no problem telling all of their coaches in all sports about how important winning is not only for prestige, but for monetary support from alumni. Were I an alum of one of these lax tradtional powers, the question I’d want the AD to be asking is, ‘Do we have any George Huguelys on our team and how the hell do we get rid of them?’ Similarly, those ADs saw Craig Littlejohn of UVA on nationwide TV admitting he didn’t know about Huguely’s criminal past, never mind the alcohol and anger issues. They’ll be damned if they are ever going to put on the spot like that.
Lax Novice,
Good points. Puts the whole thing in perspective in terms of what is really important.