Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. NCAA championship season began in earnest yesterday, highlighted by 16 games in the men’s Division III bracket. As usual, there were plenty of early round mismatches, with seven teams pouring in at least 20 goals – led by RIT’s 29-8 victory over John Carroll. But there were also some great battles.
No. 8 Franklin & Marshall escaped Elizabethtown with an 11-8 victory, picking up its first NCAA tournament win since 2003. The Diplomats got three goals from Mike Rama and outscored the Blue Jays 4-0 in the final quarter.
No. 12 Amherst scored the first five goals of the second quarter to break a 4-4 tie and held off Springfield for a 14-11 victory. Cody Tranbarger made 16 saves in the victory.
No. 18 Lynchburg pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 14-12 win over Sewanee in a game that took more than four and half hours to finish due to a lightning delay. Andrew Thomas had five goals for the Hornets.
One of the most impressive victories of the night was No. 19 Stevenson routing No. 13 Nazareth 19-6. Tyler Fuhrman and Kyle D’Onofrio each scored four times for the Mustangs.
The NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship got underway last night and Bryant defeated Monmouth 10-7 to advance to play at No. 1 seed Maryland on Sunday. Bryant scored three goals in the opening nine minutes, forcing a Monmouth team playing in its first NCAA tournament to play from behind.
Bryant is no stranger to NCAA Tournament upsets, having beaten No. 2 seed Syracuse in 2014 to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals.
PHOTO BY BILL DANIELEWSKI
Tucker James had a goal as Bryant downed Monmouth 10-7 in a NCAA play-in game on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs advance to play No. 1 Maryland on Sunday..
2. The US Lacrosse Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Associates (WCLA) Championship opened in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, and featured two upsets. No. 14 North Carolina beat No. 3 UCLA 14-13 on senior Paige Harrell’s goal with 1:07 left in the game. They’ll meet the other team that pulled an upset in Thursday’s quarterfinals when they square off with Michigan. The No. 11 Wolverines edged No. 6 Boston College 8-7 on Taylor Rick’s free position goal with 1:51 remaining.
The WCLA also awarded the 2017 Amtahcha Awards to Caroline Youngs of Georgia and Kelley Dingens of the University of Denver as the players of the year in the US Lacrosse Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Associates (WCLA). Both players were honored during ceremonies on Wednesday evening that also recognized the league's All-Americans.
3) What’s it take to win a national championship? Former Virginia coach Dom Starsia, who won four of them with the Cavaliers, says forget about hot goaltenders and dominant faceoff specialists. There’s another key ingredient that championship teams often have.
4) A lacrosse program established through the Boys & Girls Club in Seattle and supported by US Lacrosse is the first step towards opening the doors for young players.
5) The first game in MLL history featured Baltimore and Long Island. Those franchises, now Chesapeake and New York, and another original six team — Boston, have created great rivalries.