Now that we’ve taken a day to digest NCAA Tournament bracket for men’s lacrosse, let’s do a quick rundown of the Terps’ path to the Final Four.
The Terps (11-3) got an expected No. 3 seed but a somewhat unexpected first-round opponent in Hofstra.
The Pride (9-4) are No. 11 in the latest media poll (the voting was completed before the selection show). However, they didn’t make their conference tournament after some tough Colonial Athletic Association losses that had some questioning their merits. But it doesn’t matter now – they’re in, and the Terps will have to contend with a top-5 offense at Byrd Stadium on Saturday at noon.
If the Terps make it past Hofstra, two potential revenge matches could be in store.
The quarterfinals would bring the winner of Sunday’s game between No. 6-seed Princeton and Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish (7-6) would probably like the chance to avenge their 7-3 upset loss to the Terps in South Bend, Ind., in the last year’s first round – though first they’d have to get by the Ivy League champs.
Still, although they were a controversial selection considering their losses to Georgetown and Drexel, both teams left out of the May madness, Notre Dame matches up well against the Tigers, according to Inside Lacrosse analyst Mark Dixon, and could see the “surging” Terps in the second round in Princeton. N.J.
If the Terps dodge the Pride and the Tigers or Fighting Irish and chalk also rules on the top half of their side of the bracket, they would get their own chance for vengeance against No. 2-seed Syracuse. No Final Four could be sweeter for the Terps than taking another shot at the Orange team that knocked them out of the quarterfinals last season.
While all three of the Terps’ ACC rivals are in the top five seeds, they are also on the other side of the bracket, so the Terps could not face them unless they reached the final game.
Johns Hopkins, too, is on the opposite side of the bracket, taking on No. 5-seed Duke in the first round. The unseeded berth could be a shock to the perennially powerful Blue Jays, but after a rocky season, just keeping their NCAA-record streak of 39 straight tournament appearances intact is enough.
But the Terps won’t get to watch their rivals play – the Hopkins-Duke game also is in the noon timeslot on Saturday, a bad draw for state lacrosse fans. But they could watch two other Maryland teams in the tournament – Loyola travels to No. 7-seed Cornell for a 2:30 p.m. game on Saturday, while Mount St. Mary’s plays No. 1-seed Virginia at 7:30 p.m. later that night.
Kate Yanchulis is the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team beat writer for The Diamondback. She can be reached at kyanchulisdbk@gmail.com.