Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. The NLL semifinals are set after a pair of playoff games last night.
In the East, Toronto downed Georgia 16-14 behind four goals from Tom Schreiber and three goals and six assists from Adam Jones. The Rock will meet Buffalo, a 13-6 winner over New England on Saturday, in the East Division final on Saturday. Here’s a rip from Schreiber for one of his four goals:
In the West, Calgary trailed for much of the game, but a fourth quarter tally from Curtis Dickson gave the Roughnecks a 12-11 win over San Diego, ending the Seals' debut season. Calgary will host Colorado in the West Division final on Friday. The Mammoth upset No. 1 seed and defending champion Saskatchewan 11-10 in overtime on Saturday.
2. The NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship starts today with two opening round games coming just 43 hours after Sunday night’s selection show. Jeremy Fallis, who correctly picked the at-large teams for the third year in a row, breaks down the bracket.
3. Cornell, Denver, High Point and Ohio State fans might not agree, but this was comparatively one of the easier NCAA men’s lacrosse fields to figure out, ironic given the unpredictable nature of the regular season. Here's Patrick Stevens’ breakdown of the bracket.
4. As we enter the NCAA tournaments, US Lacrosse Magazine did one more set of rankings for the six divisions before we release our year-end rankings later this month.
5. Major League Lacrosse has turned to one of its own, naming Mark Burdett as chief revenue officer on Monday. Burdett, who has a host of experience in professional sports and television, was most recently president of the Chesapeake Bayhawks.
6. A late night from Utah ended with two dramatic games in the MCLA tournament. No. 12 seed Florida State upset No. 5 Arizona State 10-9 in double overtime on an absolute laser from Davis Crayner.
New Hampshire, making its first tournament appearance in 17 years, beat Cal Poly 10-9 on 6-foot-8 Sam Stanton's overtime goal. UNH will play top-seeded Cal in the quarterfinals.
7. Interesting observation from Stanford coach Amy Bokker on the Pac-12’s home-and-home scheduling. Three Pac-12 teams got in the field this year, and the multiple opportunities to play the top teams in the league certainly paid off this year.