Let’s dance: NCAA D-I tournament pairings
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- May
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Hofstra pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the men’s lacrosse season when it defeated defending Division I national champion Johns Hopkins 8-7 in overtime on March 8.
Can the Pride, whose roster includes three former Yorktown players, do it again?
After suffering an upset loss to Hofstra early in the season, Matt Bocklet and Johns Hopkins will get a chance for some revenge in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Johns Hopkins University athletics)
That’s among the intriguing story lines for the opening round of the NCAA tournament, which gets under way on Saturday.
Seedings and pairings for the 16-team event were announced last night.
Hofstra, with former ’Huskers Tommy Dooley (junior attackman), Pat Watson (junior defenseman) and Tom Interlicchio (sophomore midfielder), plays at No. 5 Hopkins in a first-round game on Sunday, May 11 at 2:30 p.m.
Former John Jay star Matt Bocklet, a senior defenseman, is one of Hopkins’ leading players. He has 22 ground balls in the Blue Jays’ last two games.
The top eight teams in the tournament are seeded and play at home in the first round.
Seven of the 16 teams are automatic qualifiers as a result of winning conference championships. The nine other teams invited received at-large bids.
The NCAA semifinals will be played May 24 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. The championship game is May 26.
Of the teams that didn’t get invites, Georgetown has to be the biggest surprise, especially since the Hoyas dealt Duke its only loss — and beat Navy.
How about three teams from the Great Western Conference getting in?
Let’s hear your thoughts.
There are quite a few players from the LoHud on the teams listed below, too. Be sure to talk about them as well as postseason action in Divisions II and III.
NCAA Division I tournament
First-round games
(All games on ESPNU)|
Saturday, May 10
Denver (10-6) at No. 7 Maryland (9-5), noon
Loyola, Md. (7-6) at No. 1 Duke (15-1), 2:30 p.m.
Ohio State (10-5) at No. 8 Cornell (11-3), 5 p.m.
Navy (9-5) at No. 4 North Carolina (8-5), 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 11
Colgate (11-5) at No. 6 Notre Dame (13-2), noon
Hofstra (10-5) at No. 5 Johns Hopkins (8-5), 2:30 p.m.
Maryland-Baltimore County (12-3) at No. 2 Virginia (12-3), 5 p.m.
Canisius (10-5) at No. 3 Syracuse (12-2), 7:30 p.m.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 8:45 pm by Joe Lombardi. 
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Mike Dougherty has been covering sports in the Lower Hudson Valley for the last 20 years. After writing extensively about local high school and college athletics for The Journal News and LoHud.com, he spent a decade on the Knicks beat. Mike has also filed stories from the Final Four, NBA Finals, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and World Series. He graduated from Slippery Rock University after spending two years at Kennedy Catholic in Somers and now lives in Brewster.
wow, lax is spreading to the big schools throughout the country.
Damn man. Canisius? That place is beyond cold. I played against them one year and I thought I was going to die or have limbs break off. C’mon SU … let’s get out act together now …
Looking forward to some great games and also probably a few upsets.
BTW. When former John Jay star Matt Bocklet, got the
22 ground balls, he broke the all time season record
for Hopkins 74 for the season (old record 72).
Of the three Great Western Lacrosse League teams, ND and OSU are no surprise. My Alma Mater Denver, was ranked as high as 16th early in the season and may be a bit of a surprise. But they do have wins over Colgate (15-5), Notre Dame, at Stony Brook, Brown, Penn & Harvard as well as a one goal loss to UNC. Historically though, they do have a tough time when coming to the east coast to play.
Hey Syracuse – Losing to Colgate back-to-back years, bet that never happened back in the day. Red Raiders have a good program, but that has to hurt.
Could have upstate NY lax showcase on second weekend:
Cornell v. Duke
Colgate v. Cuse
Joe,
Do you regard Colgate’s upset of Syracuse as more surprising than Hofstra’s of Hopkins?
I would say Colgate’s is bigger because Hofstra is a more established lacrosse program than Colgate and was ranked No. 2 in the nation as recently as two years ago.
What really surprised me though was that Colgate beat ‘Cuse for the second straight season. Other than Hopkins and maybe a Virginia, how many programs can say that?
It was a costly loss too, dropping the Orange to a No. 3 seed.
I say bring Colgate on in the second round. BRING IT!
yorktown will win it all
I am still feeling the pain of Colgate beating SU for the second year in a row…wow, parity is the word for lax in the 2000’s…
Love it Ric B. Still selling lax apparel?
Ricky –
Don’t fret. I think you and ‘Cuse will both like my prediction about SU on “the podcast we did today.”:http://boyslacrosse.lohudblogs.com/2008/05/06/lax-roundtable/