NCAA Men's Lacrosse Quarterfinals Set After Riveting First Round

The NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse quarterfinals are set after a doozy of an opening weekend to the tournament.

Five of the eight first-round games went down to the wire, including four decided by just one goal and one that went to overtime.

Two seeded teams fell. They happened to be the two teams that met last Memorial Day, as Army eliminated defending NCAA champion Maryland on Saturday and Michigan continued its historic run by bouncing NCAA finalist Cornell in overtime Sunday.

Top top it off, fifth-seeded Penn State erased a six-goal deficit Sunday night to defeat Princeton 13-12, meaning none of the four teams that made it to Memorial Day weekend in 2022 will return in 2023.

Scroll for recaps and links to more coverage of all eight first-round games.

FIRST-ROUND RESULTS

(1) Duke 12, Delaware 11
Michigan 15, (8) Cornell 14 (OT)
(5) Penn State 13, Princeton 12
Army 16, (4) Maryland 15
(3) Notre Dame 20, Utah 7
(2) Virginia 17, Richmond 8
(6) Johns Hopkins 22, Bryant 8
(7) Georgetown 19, Yale 17

QUARTERFINALS

Saturday, May 20 (Albany, N.Y.)

Michigan (10-6) vs. (1) Duke (14-2) - 12 p.m.

(7) Georgetown (13-3) vs. (2) Virginia (12-3) - 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 21 (Annapolis, Md.)

Army (13-3) vs. (5) Penn State (10-4) - 12 p.m.

(6) Johns Hopkins (12-4) vs. (3) Notre Dame (11-2) - 2:30 p.m.

(2) VIRGINIA 17, RICHMOND 8

Xander Dickson Becomes UVA's Single-Season Goals Leader in Win Over Richmond

A little bit of rain — OK, a lot of rain — did little to slow down second-seeded Virginia Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Payton Cormier scored six times and Connor Shellenberger had two goals and four assists as the Cavaliers defeated Richmond 17-8 at Klöckner Stadium.

Xander Dickson scored twice to take sole possession of the school single-season goals record for Virginia (12-3), which will meet either seventh-seeded Georgetown or unseeded Yale next Saturday.

Derrek Madonna scored three times and Dalton Young had two goals and two assists for the Atlantic 10 champion Spiders (11-5), who were making their second NCAA appearance in a row and fifth overall.

The game was delayed 35 minutes because of lightning after Virginia concluded the first quarter with a 5-2 lead. There was plenty of rain once the teams returned to action, and the downpour left Klöckner’s grass surface with plenty of puddles — especially around and in front of the crease. It didn’t stop Virginia from pushing the lead to 10-4 at the half and 14-6 by the end of the third quarter.

Dickson entered the day with 56 goals, tied with Doug Knight’s 1996 season for the most in Cavaliers history. He scored Virginia’s second goal with 12:35 left in the first quarter, then tacked on another later in the period. Now he’ll have a chance to pad his lead further as Virginia plays in the quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive tournament. ... [READ MORE]

(3) NOTRE DAME 20, UTAH 7

Faceoff Excellence, Last Year's Snub Fuel Notre Dame in 20-7 Rout of Utah

It was sweet retribution for Notre Dame — and not toward its opponent, Utah, which was making its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

Instead, the Irish were out to prove a point, a year-long revenge tour after last year’s NCAA tournament snub. It was all Irish from the jump, as Notre Dame handed Utah its worst loss of the campaign, 20-7.

It’s the ninth time this season that Notre Dame handed an opponent its worst loss of the spring. Notre Dame plays either Bryant or (6) Johns Hopkins in the NCAA quarterfinals next Sunday in Annapolis at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Jake Taylor scored five goals, Pat Kavanagh had three goals and four assists, and Reilly Gray had three goals. Liam Entenmann stopped 13 shots.

The Irish led 8-0 at the end of the first quarter but surrendered the first three goals of the second quarter to the Utes. Just as Utah looked like it might be figuring things out, Notre Dame scored another eight straight for a 16-3 lead with 10:51 left in the third quarter. ... [READ MORE]

(7) GEORGETOWN 19, YALE 17

Georgetown Outlasts Yale 19-17 in a High-Scoring Thriller

Defense wins championships but offense wins fans.

Lacrosse surely gained a few new followers Saturday afternoon, as seventh-seeded Georgetown and Yale staged a high-scoring thriller in a nationally televised NCAA tournament first-round game at Cooper Field.

A year after they were stunned by Delaware in their postseason opener, the Hoyas summoned just that much more offensive firepower in a 19-17 victory over the punch-drunk Bulldogs in front of 1,683 sun-soaked fans.

Tewaaraton finalist Tucker Dordevic scored six goals, four of which came in the second quarter as the Hoyas stormed back from an 8-3 deficit. The graduate transfer from Syracuse set the school’s single-season record.

Georgetown (13-3) will play second-seeded Virginia in the NCAA quarterfinals next Saturday at Albany. ... [READ MORE]

ARMY 16, (4) MARYLAND 15

Army Knocks Out Defending NCAA Champion Maryland

Gunnar Fellows scored three goals and Jacob Morin delivered the go-ahead score with 3:36 remaining as unseeded Army upended fourth-seeded Maryland 16-15 in the first round of the NCAA tournament at SECU Stadium. 

Braden Erksa had four goals and an assist for the Terrapins (10-6), who became the first defending champion to be ousted in the first round since North Carolina in 2017.

Army jumped to a 7-2 lead, only for Maryland to tie it at 8 by halftime. The teams remained for almost the entire second half, with Fellows opening a 16-14 lead with 53 seconds remaining.

Maryland’s Daniel Kelly got a goal back with 36 seconds left, and Luke Wierman won the ensuing faceoff. The Terps took three shots in the final 30 seconds but could not put one on Knox Dent (16 saves), who helped Army win an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 2010.

Army plays either Princeton or (5) Penn State in the NCAA quarterfinals next Sunday at Navy. ... [READ MORE]

(6) JOHNS HOPKINS 22, BRYANT 8

Records Fall in Johns Hopkins' 22-8 Rout of Bryant in Round 2 of NCAA Tournament

Johns Hopkins started moving the ball at a high level in the second quarter of Sunday’s game against Bryant. It wasn’t long before it was clear the sixth-seeded Blue Jays would be moving on to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals for the first time since 2018.

Russell Melendez had five goals and four assists to set a Hopkins postseason record for points in a game, and Jacob Angelus had two goals and five assists in a 22-8 rout before 1,458 at Homewood Field.

The Blue Jays (12-5) collected 16 assists, including 11 during a 15-0 run during which they blew the game open. ... [READ MORE]

MICHIGAN 15, (8) CORNELL 14

Michigan Magic: Wolverines Upset Eighth-Seeded Cornell in Overtime

Michigan isn’t done making history.

Fresh off a surprise run to the Big Ten championship, the Wolverines upset eight-seeded Cornell 15-14 in overtime Sunday at Schoellkopf Field.

Graduate transfer Peter Thompson was the unlikely hero, scoring his fourth goal on Michigan’s first possession of overtime to send the Wolverines to the NCAA quarterfinals in their first appearance in the tournament.

Neither team led by more than two goals during regulation, and though Michigan took a 14-13 lead into the final minute of play courtesy of a Michael Boehm lefty wraparound, Cornell's Billy Coyle scored the equalizer with just 59 seconds remaining to force overtime. ... [READ MORE]

(1) DUKE 12, DELAWARE 11

Duke Survives First-Round Scare from Delaware

Delaware, just a handful of days after dropping 25 goals on Marist in the NCAA tournament’s play-in game, had top-seeded Duke on the ropes. A No. 1 seed had never fallen in the first round of the tournament since the tournament field expanded in 2003.

Duke was nearly the first.

But the Blue Devils escaped with a 12-11 win, willed largely by the second-half performance of Andrew McAdorey. He scored all three of his goals in the third quarter, a period that Duke opened with four goals. Combined with Dyson Williams’ goal to end the first half, Duke turned an 8-5 deficit into a 9-8 lead. ... [READ MORE]

(5) PENN STATE 13, PRINCETON 12

Legacy Game: Ethan Long, Jack Fracyon Star in Penn State's Comeback Win

A team accustomed to turning things around saved perhaps its best 180 for Sunday night.

Penn State, winner of just three games a season ago, won the Big Ten’s regular season championship this spring. In the first round of the NCAA tournament, the fifth-seeded Nittany Lions found themselves down by six early against visiting Princeton — a quarterfinalist last year on a hot streak after winning the Ivy League tournament as the No. 4 seed.

The tide started to turn when Penn State settled full time into a zone at the end of the second quarter, limiting Princeton and buying some time for the offense to come alive. That’s just what happened, and with Jack Fracyon tying a program postseason record with 16 saves, Penn State is advancing to the quarters after a 13-12 win.

Ethan Long entered the game with 11 goals on the season but scored five on seven shots against the Tigers. ... [READ MORE]