Watch NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Final Four Live: No. 1 Notre Dame Vs. 4 Denver, No. 6 Maryland Vs. Johns Hopkins
For the fifth time in the past six years, the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse semifinals will feature a non-seeded team as Johns Hopkins upset No. 2 seed Syracuse in the quarterfinals last week.
Despite being unseeded, John Hopkins is a lacrosse power. The Blue Jays (11-6), who are ranked No. 10 in the USILA Coaches poll, are the winningest lacrosse program with 924 program victories. Johns Hopkins also has the most NCAA tournament appearances (43), Final Four appearances (29), and national championships (nine). Hopkins won its first Big Ten tournament crown this season, its first season in the conference.
Joining Hopkins in the semifinals is Maryland, Notre Dame, and Denver. Maryland has two national titles in 37 NCAA appearances, which ties Virginia for the second most appearances all-time, while Notre Dame is participating in its 20th tournament and Denver is in its eighth tournament. Maryland is the only major lacrosse program to never have a losing season according to the school’s athletic website.
Duke won the 2014 championship, but the Blue Devils struggled this year and didn’t receive a tourney bid. This is the only season in the past six years that all four seeded teams reached the semifinals.
The semifinals take place at Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 23. The games will be televised on ESPN 2 and will be streaming live on ESPN3.
The national championship game is slated for May 25. The rest of the article will preview the upcoming semifinal contests.
No matter which of the four teams win the national title, history will be made according to the Philadelphia Daily News. Since the NCAA started sanctioning Division-I events, only nine schools have won a title and all of them have been located in the East, either geographically or through its affiliated conference. Denver, Marquette, and Air Force are the only Division I programs not from the Eastern time zone.
“When the tournament pairings came out, the thing that struck me was the potential in this thing – for Notre Dame, Ohio State, Denver to potentially be in this situation that we are in,” said Denver’s Hall of Fame coach, Bill Tierney. “It was going to be one of us vs. the old school, the blue-blood programs that have been around for hundreds of year.”
No. 1 Notre Dame (12-2) vs. No. 4 Denver (15-2), Game Time 1 p.m.
This matchup features two regular semifinalist, at least recently. USA Todayis reporting that Notre Dame is in the Final Four for the second consecutive year — first time in time school history — and fourth time in the past six years while Denver is making its fourth Final Four appearance in the past five years. Overall, Notre Dame is participating in its 20th NCAA tournament and Denver is making its eighth appearance in the tournament.
Notre Dame and Denver have met 19 previous times. The Fighting Irish hold a 14-5 edge in the series and have won five-of-the past seven meetings between the squads. Denver won the last meeting (11-10). The last five meetings have been decided by a combined seven goals with three of those contests ending up in overtime.
Notre Dame won the ACC regular season crown in just its second season as a member of the conference and was awarded with a No. 1 seed for the first time in program history according to Notre Dame’s athletic website.
The Fighting Irish are scoring 13.5 goals a game and giving up 9.21 goals a game. Junior Matt Kavanagh leads the way for Notre Dame with 51 points (27 goals, 24 assists), Junior Conor Doyle (30 goals, 20 assists) and freshman Mikey Wynne (33 goals, 36 assists) have topped the 30 goal plateau. Sophomore goalkeeper Shane Doss has a 8.93 goals against average and 55.0 save percentage.
Denver is in the semifinals after earning a 15-13 comeback victory over Ohio State in the quarterfinals. After spotting the Buckeyes a 7-1 lead, the Pioneers outscored Ohio State 9-0 in the second and third quarters.
Denver has won 11 straight games and claimed their first Big East title. The Pioneers average 14.2 goals a game and give up 8.59 goals a game.
Sophomore Connor Cannizzaro, who transferred from Maryland, set a Pioneers single season record for most points in a season with 88 and has produced a team-high 50 goals. Senior Wesley Berg become the school’s all-time leading goal scorer (180) and point producer (247), Freshman Trevor Baptiste has won 285 faceoffs.
Senior goalkeeper Ryan LaPlante has produced a 15-2 record goal and has a 8.45 goals-against average and a 52.6 save percentage.
No. 6 Maryland (14-3) vs. Johns Hopkins (11-6), Game Time 3:30 p.m.
This matchup is the 124th matchup between the two schools as the rivalry dates back to 1895. Johns Hopkins leads the series 64-40-1, including 9-4 during the NCAA tournament according to the Syracuse Post-Standard.
[Photo via NCAA.com]
