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US Lacrosse College Notebook
May 7, 2004
And They're Off
A month of championships in collegiate lacrosse officially got underway with the opening round of the NCAA Division III women's championship on Wednesday. Cortland, Nazareth and Scranton all recorded victories to advance to the round of 16. Some tough match-ups await teams in that round, including No. 6 St. Mary's College against No. 7 Colorado College and No. 5 Gettysburg against No. 11 Washington and Lee. Middlebury, College of New Jersey and Plymouth State all enter the tournament unbeaten.
This weekend marks the first women's championship ever sponsored by the National Junior College Athletic Associations. Catonsville CC, which has won three straight unofficial championships, but Anne Arundel CC has knocked off the Cardinals twice this season, including an 11-10 victory on May 2. Catonsville meets Cayuga in one semifinal on Saturday and Anne Arundel will play Morrisville in the other semifinal at Finger Lakes CC.
CCBC-Essex will host the men's NJCAA championship this weekend and the Knights are looking to complete an undefeated season. Essex plays perennial power Nassau in one semifinal and defending champion Herkimer plays Monroe in the other semifinal. Essex beat Herkimer 21-17 in a rematch of last year's championship on April 24 at Herkimer.
Around the Country
Wild Weekend
The strong crop of automatic qualifiers for this year's NCAA Division I men's tournament will result in a wild final weekend of the regular season as teams jockey for position for a bid. Of the six AQ's this year, only twoAmerica East and the MAACare likely to go to teams outside of the top 11 ranked teams. AQ's have already gone to Navy (No. 2) from the Patriot League, Ohio State (No. 6) from the Great Western Lacrosse League and Cornell (No. 9) from the Ivy League. No. 11 Towson plays No. 14 Villanova in the Colonial Athletic Association final. Despite it's high-ranking, Villanova might need to win the AQ to earn a berth. Other bubble teams with chances to make a strong case this weekend are No. 13 Penn playing at No. 3 Maryland, No. 17 Hobart hosting No. 9 Cornell on Friday night, No. 16 Brown hosting No. 8 Princeton and No. 18 Army hosting Duke.
Earning It
The US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championships begin next week and neither defending champion earned the top seed. The men's tourney begins on Tuesday, May 11 and defending champ Colorado State is the No. 2 seed behind UC-Santa Barbara. The women's tourney begins on Thursday, May 13 and three-time champion Cal Poly is seeded second behind Navy.
Nothing for Granted
Middlebury is ranked fourth nationally and has played in five straight NCAA Division III men's championship games, but they are far from a runaway favorite in this weekend's NESCAC tournament, which the Panthers will host. Middlebury hosts No. 14 Amherst in one semifinal and No. 10 Tufts plays No. 13 Wesleyan in the other. Middlebury beat Amherst by just one in the regular season, Tufts in overtime and lost to Bowdoin, which didn't qualify for the NESCAC tourney. With only two at-large bids for teams that play in AQ conferences, a tournament championship is the only sure bet for any of these teams.
Stick Checks
With 282 career points, Syracuse senior Michael Powell needs just six points to pass his brothers, Casey and Ryan, as the school's all-time leading scorer...the Patriot League has six of the top 11 scorers in men's Division I lacrosse, including top scorer Chris Cara (5.57 ppg) of Bucknell...Army's Jeff Bryan needs four points against Duke to give the Black Knights three 50-point scorers this season. Jim Wagner (53) and John Walker (52) have already passed the mark. Follow all the scores of the collegiate championships on the US Lacrosse Tournament Guide.
US Lacrosse College Notebook is a weekly feature on the US Lacrosse web site. For information about supporting the sport through membership in US Lacrosse, visit our membership page.
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Previous Notebooks
April 30, 2004
April 23, 2004
April 16, 2004
April 9, 2004
April 2, 2004
March 26, 2004
March 19, 2004
March 12, 2004
March 5, 2004
Feb. 27, 2004
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