Professional PLL
06:00 PM
Jul 19
Phi
Den
Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Seven of eight seeded teams advanced to the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse quarterfinals. And the lone upset of the weekend — Maryland’s 14-13 overtime triumph Sunday at sixth-seeded Towson — isn’t exactly a case of David slaying Goliath.
Nevertheless, an entertaining first round included spectacular performances by the four Tewaaraaton Award finalists competing in the NCAA tournament.
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Pat Spencer became the NCAA’s all-time assists leader and keyed a seven-goal run in eighth-seeded Loyola’s 15-13 win over Syracuse.
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TD Ierlan won 31 faceoffs, one shy of an NCAA record, in defending champion and fifth-seeded Yale’s 19-16 victory over Georgetown.
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Grant Ament added five assists to his NCAA single-season record and scored three goals in Penn State’s 25-10 drubbing of UMBC, the Nittany Lions’ first-ever NCAA tournament win.
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Jared Bernhardt scored the game-tying goal with 3.7 seconds left in regulation, rewarding Maryland coach John Tillman for a late-game gamble.
In other results:
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Mikey Herring scored a career-high six goals, Ryan Conrad added a career-high five goals, and Matt Moore doled out a career-high seven assists in third-seeded Virginia’s 19-10 win over Robert Morris.
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Kyle Gallagher won 22 of 25 faceoffs and Simon Mathias scored four goals in fourth-seeded Penn’s 13-8 win over Army.
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Nakeie Montgomery, who broke out in the NCAA tournament last year, scored three goals and added two assists, providing timely offensive punch in second-seeded Duke’s hard-fought 12-11 win over Richmond.
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Ryder Garnsey returned to the Notre Dame lineup after sitting out the regular season due to academic eligibility issues, and he promptly contributed, giving the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish another offensive weapon in their surprisingly lopsided 16-9 win over Johns Hopkins.
Saturday’s quarterfinals in Hempstead, N.Y.:
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Maryland vs. (3) Virginia – 12 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
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(7) Notre Dame vs. (2) Duke – 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
Sunday’s quarterfinals in East Hartford, Conn.
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(8) Loyola vs. (1) Penn State – 12 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
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(5) Penn vs. (4) Yale – 2:30 p.m ET (ESPNU)
2. Seven of the top eight seeds also advanced in the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse tournament. The lone unseeded team in next weekend’s quarterfinals will be Denver, which brought the best version of its zone defense in a smothering 9-5 win Sunday at eighth-seeded Michigan.
The Pioneers, who got by USC in overtime on Friday, advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in program history.
Four of the eight teams still standing — Boston College, North Carolina, Syracuse and Virginia — are from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The quarterfinals will be played on campus sites Saturday at times to be determined. The matchups:
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Denver at (1) Maryland
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(7) Princeton at (2) Boston College
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(6) Virginia at (3) North Carolina
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(5) Syracuse at (4) Northwestern
3. Fourth-year program Indianapolis is one of four teams that advanced to the NCAA Division II men’s lacrosse semifinals.
UIndy advanced in dramatic fashion Saturday, rallying from three goals down in the final five minutes of regulation and then defeating Belmont Abbey 14-13 on Drew Billig’s goal 39 seconds into overtime. The Greyhounds will play unbeaten Limestone next Sunday. Le Moyne and Merrimack meet in the other semifinal Saturday.
4. Adelphi upended Le Moyne in the NCAA Division II women’s lacrosse quarterfinals, assuring that there will be a new national champion crowned this weekend in Allendale, Mich.
Kole Pollock punctuated a wild quarterfinal with massive momentum swings, scoring the game-winning goal with 4.6 seconds left in double overtime to clinch a 12-11 Panthers victory Sunday. Adelphi will play unbeaten Regis in the semifinals Friday, followed by West Chester vs. Queens (N.C.).
5. The Division III men’s and women’s lacrosse brackets are narrowing rapidly, with few surprises.
The men’s quarterfinals Wednesday will pit Amherst at Tufts, Denison at Salisbury, Williams at RIT and Cabrini at York. RIT edged Union 10-9 in one of the more suspenseful round-of-16 games, as the Dutchmen stormed back from a 10-4 deficit and had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds.
The women’s field is down to 16 teams.
6. The Buffalo Bandits and Calgary Roughnecks will meet in the NLL finals, a best-of-three series that starts Saturday in Buffalo.
The Bandits defeated the Toronto Rock 12-8 in the East Division final Saturday. The Roughnecks stymied the Colorado Mammoth in an 8-4 win in the West Division final Friday.
7. Six non-NCAA national champions were crowned over the weekend.
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Pittsburgh and Loyola Club claimed the US Lacrosse WCLA Division I and II titles, respectively, in Virginia Beach, Va.
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South Carolina and St. Thomas prevailed in the MCLA Division I and II championship games, respectively, in Salt Lake City.
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Reinhardt and SCAD took home NAIA men’s and women’s lacrosse invitational titles , respectively, in Grand Rapids, Mich.