The NCAA lacrosse brackets were released tonight and both Maryland squads were seeded highly as expected. The men are the #3 seed and take on Hofstra in the first round while a date with Syracuse awaits them in the Final Four. The women are the #1 seed and play Marist in the first round with a potential matchup against Georgetown in the Final Four.
Just some general thoughts on both tournaments. No doubt that this will be one of the most highly viewed tournaments in history because public interest in the sport has significantly increased after the news of Yeardley Love’s death. How will both UVA lacrosse teams respond to murder of player on the women’s team and the charging of a player on the men’s team? These are questions that the public wants to see play out and I think non-lacrosse fans are definitely going to pay attention to this year’s post-season.
More specifically, on the Maryland women, there are NO EXCUSES for not winning this thing, or at least playing a hard-fought, close battle with Northwestern in the title game. I would consider anything else to be a disappointment. This team has been too good during the regular season to not bring home a trophy.
As for the men, I think they have a bit more margin for the error than the women, but not much. A lot of the people that support the program are restless and want a title. I think the big question for the Maryland men is how will the UVA men be affected by one of their teammates being charged with murder? The Cavaliers are unquestionably the team to beat based on their play in the regular season. Only time will tell how rattled they’ve been during the past few weeks.
BRUCE WEIGHS IN : The #1 UVA Men’s team has been given a free ticket to the final four. St Mary’s and Stoneybrook —let’s get real. The only 2 teams that can give UVA a battle are in the other half of the bracket—the Terps and Cuse and UVA is 3-0 versus them this year.
The Terps according to the talking heads have received a good draw except they fail to mention that a ticket to the final four will have to include a road win at Princeton!!! That being said Maryland seems destined for a final 4 matchup with Syracuse. It could turn out that the smartest move Dave Cottle made this year was scheduling a scrimmage against the Orangemen. Of course John Desko made the Terrapins go to the dome to play. Syracuse’s defense manhandled the Terrapins that day but Coach Cottle will have plenty of time to prep for the ferocious d should Maryland get back into the final four. Carcaterra and Kessinich were glowing in their praise of Cottle’s use of virtually the entire squad in Maryland’s games.
Let’s see how successful a season the Terps have had so far. Rivalry wins over UMBC,Georgetown, Duke, Navy, and Johns Hopkins have keyed a #3 Ranking for the tournament and an 11-3 record so far!!!
As for the Lady Terps –Marist and Penn are the vehicles they must pass to the final four. The Terps easily handled Penn earlier in the year at Franklin Field. A semifinal game against ex Terrapin Assistant Coach, Gary Gait , possibly awaits the Terrapins. i agree with Josh – the Lady Terps are so deep that anything less then a NCAA title will be a disappointment.
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