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The NCAA men’s lacrosse tournaments — 49 of them in all, spread over 50 years — have produced memorable champions, riveting individual performances and on a whole have played a massive role in growing the sport to the point it is one of the few championships to regularly turn a profit.
Yet for every victory lap and net snipped on Memorial Day, there is even more disappointment. In some cases, there is just stunned silence.
The absence of parity didn’t allow for many monster upsets in the tournament’s early days. Neither did an eight-team field. But it grew to 10 (in 1986), then 12 (in 1987) and then 16 (in 2003), and the increased investment in the sport meant more schools cared about being good. In turn, we’ve seen more upsets. A No. 1 seed hasn’t lost in the first round yet, but the day is coming.
10. Maryland 19, Loyola 8 (1998 semifinals)
The Greyhounds had a couple memorable stumbles in the late ’90s, including when they became the first No. 1 seed to lose in the quarterfinals when they fell 17-12 to Syracuse. But for its sheer lopsidedness, top-seeded Loyola’s loss to fifth-seeded Maryland in 1998 noses its way onto the list.
9. Johns Hopkins 12, Duke 11 (2007 final)
It’s the least surprising upset, but easily the most scrutinized in real time. A year earlier, Duke’s program was caught up in false rape accusations against players that ultimately cost coach Mike Pressler his job. The Blue Devils were a media magnet.
Duke needed overtime to get past Cornell on a sweltering semifinal Saturday. Hopkins had cruised to a stress-free 8-3 defeat of Delaware. The better-rested Blue Jays led 10-4 at the half, then held on behind goalie Jesse Schwartzman’s 15 saves to deny Duke its first title. The Blue Devils would wait another three years before claiming one.
8. Delaware 14, Virginia 8 (2007 first round)
Parity became a reality May 13, 2007. Prior to that day, top-four seeds were a combined 19-0 in first-round games since the field expanded to 16 teams in 2003.
That changed when Curtis Dickson scored four goals and Tommy Scherr made 18 saves as Delaware unseated defending national champion Virginia. Hours later, UMBC upended seventh-seeded Maryland to set up what remains the only NCAA quarterfinal between unseeded teams.
7. Johns Hopkins 13, Cornell 8 (1978 final)
Cornell had won 42 straight games — a record that still stands — and was the two-time defending champion. Bob DeSimone scored three goals and championship MVP Mike O’Neill had a goal and three assists to lead Hopkins to a victory.
Hopkins won 20 of 27 faceoffs that day, and it was assumed those would be the last taken in the college game since the faceoff was eliminated in 1979. But it was back in 1980, and continues to be tweaked by the rules committee to this day.
6. North Carolina 10, Johns Hopkins 9 (OT) (1986 semifinals)
The first final four instantly delivered a memorable game. Johns Hopkins had won back-to-back national titles under Don Zimmerman and had blistered North Carolina 16-4 at Homewood Field in early April.
Mike Tummillo scored the game-winning goal in overtime as North Carolina pulled off the surprise. Two days later, the fifth-seeded Tar Heels defeated Virginia in another 10-9 overtime game to become the lowest-seeded team to win the event, a claim that would hold up until seventh-seeded Virginia was the 2011 champion.
5. Maryland 16, Johns Hopkins 8 (1995 semifinals)
It had been eight years since Hopkins last lofted a championship trophy — an eternity by its standards — but this figured to be the team to bring that drought to an end. The Blue Jays rolled into College Park at 13-0 and had demolished Loyola 18-5 in the quarterfinals.
But Maryland goalie had the hot hand. He saved 23 shots as the Terps dealt Hopkins its most lopsided playoff loss at the time. Dougherty would make another 23 stops in a Memorial Day loss to Syracuse, while Hopkins would wait another decade to celebrate its next title.
4. Maryland 6, Syracuse 5 (OT) (2011 quarterfinals)
Syracuse was the No. 1 seed and had won 25 consecutive quarterfinals. Maryland did not stack up athletically. So what did the Terps do? They held the ball for more than 40 minutes.
It’s a game with two lasting legacies. With first team All-Americans John Galloway, John Lade and Joel White, second-teamers Stephen Keogh and Jovan Miller and third-teamer Jeremy Thompson, Syracuse’s 2011 team is arguably the best of the championship weekend era (since 1986) not to reach the semifinals. And there might not be a single game that pushed lacrosse more toward a shot clock than this one.
3. Bryant 10, Syracuse 9 (2014 first round)
Opening weekend already had plenty of carnage. The No. 3 (Loyola), No. 4 (Penn) and No. 8 (Virginia) seeds were already swept aside, only for the biggest upset to wait until the last of the eight first-round games.
The Bulldogs needed to win a play-in game against Siena four days earlier simply to make the trip to face second-seeded Syracuse. Tucker James scored four goals, Kevin Massa won 14 of 23 faceoffs and Gunnar Waldt made eight of his 13 saves in the fourth quarter to knock out the Orange.
2. Johns Hopkins 13, Maryland 8 (1987 semifinals)
Of all the quality Maryland teams during the title drought between 1975 and 2017, this was the best of the bunch. After a rough year for athletics in College Park — most notably the death of Len Bias — a dominant lacrosse team was something to feel good about. Maryland was 12-0 with an average margin of victory of 9.5 goals.
But Hopkins jumped to an early lead and rode Brian Wood’s five goals. It would claim its seventh title since 1974 two days later, while Maryland suffered its most wrenching postseason loss — a category with no shortage of candidates.
1. Army 9, Syracuse 8 (2OT) (2010 first round)
Syracuse was the No. 2 seed, winner of 11 in a row and owner of a 24-1 all-time NCAA tournament record at the Carrier Dome. Army hadn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1993.
When Syracuse built an early 5-1 lead, there was no reason to think the Patriot League champs would be a spoiler. Instead, the Black Knights methodically got back into the game, limiting mistakes and the Orange’s opportunities. Jeremy Boltus tied it with 6:49 left in regulation, then fed Devin Lynch the winner with just five seconds left in the second extra session to seal the stunner.