NCAA Division I Women's Bracket Breakdown:
Green Snub, 'Cuse-G'town Part III
by Justin Feil | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
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| Justin Feil puts Lauren Schmidt and Stanford on upset watch, as the Cardinal drew a favorable first-round matchup at James Madison. |
Maryland earned the top seed in the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament, but the nation's attention will likely be on the sixth seed, Virginia, which will host Towson less than two weeks after the murder of defender Yeardley Love.
Here's a more in-depth breakdown of the bracket.
First-round games at higher seed
May 15
Marist (10-7) at No. 1 Maryland (18-1) 12 noon
Navy (17-3) at No. 3 North Carolina (15-2) 12 noon
Boston University (11-8) at No. 8 Penn (14-3) 1 p.m.
Stanford (15-5) at No. 5 James Madison (16-2) 1 p.m.
Syracuse (13-6) at No. 4 Georgetown (13-5) 1 p.m.
Notre Dame (11-6) at No. 2 Northwestern (17-1) 1 p.m.
May 16
Towson (13-4) at No. 6 Virginia (13-5) 12 noon or 1 p.m.
Vanderbilt (12-5) at No. 7 Duke (13-5) 2 p.m.
LAST TEAM IN
Notre Dame
FIRST TEAM OUT
Dartmouth
SNUBBED?
Dartmouth’s 2-4 finish in its final six cost it dearly, but the Big Green (11-5) still had a case. They won at Notre Dame and at Syracuse – two road wins in head-to-head matchups against teams that both got into the field. Both Notre Dame and Syracuse lost two of their final three games. One of the Fighting Irish’s losses was to Rutgers, while two of the Big Green’s last four losses came to eighth-seeded Penn and another was to top-seeded Maryland. Their loss at a desperate Princeton team hurt, but that loss came without one of its top scorers, Kat Collins. Towson also got in ahead of Dartmouth despite a lower strength of schedule and just one win over a tournament team. The Tigers went 5-1 in their final six, but their opponents in those six had a combined 49 losses. Loyola, too, is a tough out. They beat Virginia and James Madison, but like Dartmouth closed weakly. The Greyhounds’ four losses in their final seven games came by a grand total of six goals.
BEST FIRST-ROUND MATCHUP
Syracuse-Georgetown, Part III. These teams have met on each of the past two Saturdays, and the committee must have thought that back-to-back Georgetown wins, including for the Big East championship on Saturday, weren’t enough to prove the Hoyas are better. So they’ll give the Orange another crack at one of the hottest teams in the field. The Hoyas have won 10 straight, including challenging games from Syracuse and Loyola in the last three weeks. Syracuse hasn’t been able to close its games against Georgetown after some promising runs. If the Orange finish stronger this Saturday, all will be forgotten.
UPSET WATCH
Stanford couldn’t have gotten a much more favorable matchup than fifth-seeded James Madison. The Cardinal has played two other Colonial Athletic Association teams. They lost by one goal to Towson and beat Hofstra by one goal. Stanford head coach Amy Bokker coached 12 years in the CAA, and second-year Stanford assistant coach Brooke McKenzie is a 2006 JMU graduate. Experience, or lack thereof for a Cardinal team that is making just its second NCAA tournament appearance, won’t be a problem against James Madison. The Dukes don’t have a player on their roster with any NCAA experience, as they are making their first appearance since 2006. Both of James Madison’s losses are at home. The Cardinal also knows it can play with James Madison. The Dukes beat Stanford, 10-9 in 2007 and 10-9 in 2008. Stanford is playing not just to advance, but to prove that it has arrived on the national scene.
EASIEST TITLE ROUTE
ACC champion and top-ranked Maryland (18-1) gets Marist, who upset the MAAC top seed Fairfield, in the first round. It’s just a start for the Terrapins, who are the top seed for the NCAAs for the first time since 2001, the last time they won the national championship. The Terrapins could face a second-round challenge from a Penn team that has been a tough out in recent tournaments, but hasn’t been able to get over the hump against top seeds. Maryland ruled the draw control in its regular-season 12-6 win at Penn. The Terps also manhandled potential semifinal opponent No. 4 seed Georgetown, 20-11, though No. 5 seed James Madison was a stiffer one-goal win if the Dukes could knock off Georgetown. It’s a path that should take the Terrapins to the finals, where either of last year’s finalists -- Northwestern or North Carolina -- likely will be waiting. Maryland’s been on everyone’s radar since the beginning of the year, and they could just finish on top this season.
FIVE BURNING QUESTIONS
1. How will Virginia react?
Some initial reports had the Cavaliers considering sitting out the NCAA tournament following the tragic loss of Yeardley Love. Instead, Virginia has chosen to play to honor Love, and the Cavaliers have to be a sentimental favorite. The Delaware men’s team rallied around its goalie Noah Fossner, who lost his mother days before the conference tournament, to go on and capture the conference title. It’s impossible to predict how 18-22 year olds will react to Love’s shocking loss. The Cavaliers have been working back into practicing, and leaning on each other for support. They could raise their level in Love’s memory, or it could be too tough to return to the field only two weeks after her murder.
2. Is Northwestern even more dangerous with one loss?
Hard to term the five-time defending champions a dark horse, but there’s been less attention given to second-seeded Northwestern since it lost its 41-game winning streak at the hands of North Carolina on April 18. The Wildcats responded to the loss with a 27-goal outburst against a top-10 Vanderbilt team. They also squeaked by Virginia in overtime before running away with another ALC title. The Wildcats have experienced winners in seniors Katrina Dowd and Danielle Spencer, but they also have a slew of freshmen, and just as assuredly, at least one of them will step up. High-scoring sophomore Shannon Smith did it last year. “Every single year in our program we’ve had freshmen make a major impact by tournament time,” head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller told the Daily Northwestern. Freshmen Erin Fitzgerald, Amanda Macaluso and Ali Cassera combined for nine goals in the demolition of Vandy in the regular season. Opponents know the big scorers. If the freshmen help out, Northwestern could have too much to deny a sixth straight national title.
3. What happened to Princeton?
After 12 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament, Princeton
could not overcome the loss of nine graduated seniors in its
pursuit of a 13th straight berth. The Tigers got off to a slow
start with losses in their first five home games. Princeton’s
youth showed in its inconsistency. The Tigers lost to Temple, but
defeated Georgetown and played James Madison into overtime and
pulled off a late win over Dartmouth. Picked 10th in Lacrosse
Magazine’s preseason poll, don’t expect the Tigers to
stay down for long. Their top scorer is a junior, and their third-
and fourth-leading scorers are sophomores. Another sophomore led
the team in ground balls, draw controls and caused turnovers, and
goalie Erin Tochihara will return for her senior year. It
won’t be a one-bid season for the Ivy League next year.
4. How did economic restrictions affect this year’s
final bracket?
Economic concerns force the committee to try to keep first-round
matchups within 400 miles of each other to limit the number of
flights that teams take. With it, some seeded teams have tougher
challenges than would be expected, as opponents are moved to fit
their geographical matchup rather than their true seeding.
Northwestern is seeded second, but draws Notre Dame, a team it beat
March 30, but one that has the potential to play with the Wildcats.
Penn is just the 8th seed, but it gets an easier matchup against
Boston University. Duke hosts a Vanderbilt team that looks for
revenge after an early season loss to the Blue Devils. Stanford has
to fly to James Madison in one fresh matchup. The committee could
have made Stanford fly anywhere, and used it to create some more
unique first-round games. Instead, it saw fit to make Georgetown
beat Syracuse for a third time this season to move on.
5. When will parity hit women’s lacrosse?
We’ve seen greater parity in some of the big-money sports like football and basketball (save notably for the UConn women), but when is it coming to women’s lacrosse? Last year’s NCAA tournament had one upset in it. Can anyone even remember it now? It was in the semifinals when third-seeded North Carolina beat second-seeded Maryland. Through the first and quarterfinal rounds, the results followed the seedings exactly. In the first round, there were only two games decided by fewer than six goals. There are a lot of familiar names in the tournament, so it’s good to see upstart Navy there in just its third season. We’ve seen Florida and Jacksonville added to the ranks of Division I lacrosse, and maybe one of them can make an appearance next year for some real southern flavor. Western risers like Denver and Oregon are still scratching at the door. The state of Texas can’t be far behind.
