Starting with tomorrow’s NCAA Division I quarterfinals, will be exactly 29 games left in the U.S. college season. Games from Vermont to Chicago to Florida and everywhere in between will be contested to identify three champions on Memorial Day Weekend.
We’ve touched on some themes already in the last few days, but we’ll sum up our thoughts in today’s blog entry:
1. The Navy-Maryland game should be an absolute classic. And this, despite the fact that the Terps are 3-0 lifetime against their neighbors to the east. When the two teams met up in The Lacrosse & Field Hockey Complex (yep, we’re calling it that) in May 2018, it was a taut, tough match that the Terps won 19-16. I’m expecting this to be a lot closer this time around. Navy has had two enormouse comebacks in their last two games against Massachusetts and Syracuse. If the ball is not denied to Navy attackers Maggie DeFabio and Alyssa Chung, the same fate might befall Maryland.
2. Is Stanford going to be the “upset special?” The Cardinal have played splendid lacrosse all season and are 60 minutes from its first Final Four. Standing in the way, however, is your defending national champion, North Carolina, and their offensive talisman, Chloe Humphrey.
3. The lone outlier. The weekend schedule for women’s lacrosse is pretty well set. Four Division I games on Thursday, eight Division III octofinal games on Saturday, three Division II quarterfinals on Saturday, and four Division III quarterfinals on Sunday. This leaves one game with an entire day to itself. Friday, in the Division II tournament, undefeated Flagler has to travel to Florida Southern, with each team 60 minutes away from the Final Four.
4. Who’s home again? In the South region of the NCAA Division II Tournament, Florida Southern, with an 18-1 record, has the host duty because it has a higher ranking in the South Region than 20-0 Flagler. How? Well, here’s that metric again: according to numbers calculated April 26th, the Moccasins’ Ratings Percentage Index (that formula that calculates strength of schedule by figuring in won-loss record, opponents’ won-loss record, and the record of their opponents’ opponents) was .716, and Flagler’s was .672.
5. The NESCAC ascendancy. Friday, we’ll get to see how many guaranteed bids there will be for the New England Small College Athletic Conference. It is possible, at the end of play Saturday, that up to six NESCAC teams will play Sunday in the quarterfinals — meaning that there will be three NESCAC teams guaranteed to be in the Division III semifinals.
6. The NESCAC vs. NJAC pod. One quarter of the bracket in Division III will see your four-time defending national champion Middlebury take on Rowan University out of the NJAC. In the other quarter, Amherst will take on The College of New Jersey, which won its 15th conference title a few weeks back. But what TCNJ also brings is the coaching legacy and acumen of Sharon Pfluger. She is coaching her 83rd season combining field hockey and lacrosse at TCNJ and single seasons at Montclair and Kean. During her Hall-of-Fame career, she has amassed 1,314 wins in combined field hockey and lacrosse coaching.
There will be even more storylines as the teams cut down to 12. Have fun watching the games.