My opinion of the Division III lacrosse landscape went through many machinations this year, but the one thing that I always came back to was this: nobody, at least up north, was going to beat RIT. Well, as we stand just days away from the national championship game, the Tigers are nowhere in sight. In their place is Tufts, having earned the right to face Salisbury, the top seed in…
As fans of the sport, we all love to see underdogs make their way from the bottom of the Selection Sunday pile to the pinnacle of the sport. Last year we saw a six-loss Western New England team make a run to the quarterfinals before bowing out to Cortland. There has been no such magic this year. Instead, the eight teams left standing after the weekend’s second round contests are…
All of the games have been played, all the trophies have been handed out, and we are now left with 30 teams vying for the 2014 Division III Men’s Lacrosse National Championship. Leading the way are the usual suspects with RIT getting the top seed and bye in the North Region, while Salisbury sits atop the South. Let’s dive right into this by looking at the best first-round matchups, top…
There are now just three days worth of lacrosse left before we establish the field for the 2014 Division III Men’s Lacrosse Tournament and they promise to be among the best three days of the season. Automatic bids up for grabs, Pool B teams looking to solidify their place among the non-AQ programs, and Pool C dreams rising and falling with every goal scored by a lower-seeded team. Is there…
For the most part, we got what we bargained for on Wednesday with a full slate of Division III conference semifinal matchups. Top seeds advanced to the finals to face No. 2 seeds in almost every conference that played yesterday, making Franklin & Marshall‘s 11-9 win over Dickinson that much more of a highlight. The Diplomats could have asked for a better start, falling behind 4-1 after the first quarter,…
If Tuesday was a day of dipping our toes in the water, then Wednesday is full-blown cannonball. Eleven conferences will be playing semifinal contests today, including such power conferences as the Centennial, SUNYAC, Empire 8 and Commonwealth Coast. Each conference features several teams that entered the season with NCAA Tournament hopes, and even some may now stand as long shots. The beauty of the tournament format is that every team…
On Sunday night we will find out which 30 teams will be competing for the 2014 NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse National Championship. Among them will be powerhouses and underdogs, bid stealers and unchallenged champions, unbeaten teams and teams we left for dead a few months back. Despite all of these differences, they will all have one thing in common: the thrill of conference championship week. This is the week where…
Wednesday gave us a taste of conference tournament action, but this weekend will give us some insight into who could be making noise come NCAA Tournament season. Some tournaments will be kicking off, others will be continuing, while everyone else finishes up their regular seasons in preparation for next week’s cement mix of tournament play. NESCAC Tournament Kicks Off Welcome to Thunderdome. Eight teams enter, one emerges with an automatic…
Matt Tarrant, St. Mary’s (Photo Credit Flickr/gomustangs) It’s that time of year, sports fans. Conference tournaments are kicking off this week as we pare down the Division III ranks until we have our 30-team NCAA Tournament field. Some tournaments mean more than others, but with only five “Pool C” at-large bids out there winning is still of the utmost priority (ask last year’s NESCAC squads). Many of the tournaments won’t…
Easter weekend yielded the annual matchup between Salisbury and Stevenson with the teams entering play among the top three in the land. The Seagulls emerged victorious, 11-9, and with the win leapt them past the Mustangs into the No. 2 spot in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll. Stevenson now finds itself the No. 3 team in the country behind the two teams that have felled it in 2014: RIT and…