Remember when the 2019 NCAA quarterfinals were supposed to be the best table-setter ever for championship weekend?
Well, 2021 made a run at that honor over the last two days.
Both sets of quarterfinals had three overtime games, though the relative dud of 2019 (Penn State’s 21-14 defeat of Loyola) was more compelling than this year’s dud (Virginia’s 14-3 drubbing of Georgetown). There wasn’t a call nearly as controversial as the 2019 Virginia-Maryland quarterfinal had, nor was there a cap to an epic trilogy like Yale-Penn that year.
Nonetheless, Saturday’s doubleheader at Hofstra and Sunday’s two games at Notre Dame were immensely entertaining, about the most rollicking way possible to produce a chalky final four.
BEST GAME
North Carolina-Rutgers
There’s a case for the two games on Sunday — Maryland-Notre Dame in particular — but the top-seeded Tar Heels’ 12-11 survival against the unseeded Scarlet Knights was tight all the way through.
Only two No. 1 seeds in tournament history have failed to make the semifinals, and North Carolina was flirting with joining 1999 Loyola and 2011 Syracuse in that unwanted company. And it had a lot to do with Rutgers, which got superb goalie play from Colin Kirst, a standout effort from defenseman Bobby Russo on Tar Heel star Chris Gray, and no shortage of answers from seventh-year attackman Adam Charalambides.
What did the Scarlet Knights in was North Carolina’s ability to create havoc in the middle of the field, and the combination of the missed opportunities and the Tar Heels’ uncanny knack for cashing them in was the difference in winning and losing.
Even Connor McCarthy’s winning goal was set up by a change of possession created when Gray — whose ride brought him to the other side of midfield — knocked the ball out of two Rutgers sticks and out of bounds. In the tightest game of the weekend, subtle plays like those made the difference.
NOTABLE NEAR-MISS
Notre Dame against Maryland
The Fighting Irish finally had a quarterfinal on their own campus, and they thoroughly controlled the middle two quarters after allowing Maryland a quick start.
Add on Will Yorke’s goal with 12:01 to go, and Notre Dame led by three and had scored 11 of the previous 15 goals. The chance to complete an all-ACC quartet was so close.
Then Maryland erased the deficit in a mere 46 seconds, started winning faceoffs after getting dominated at the X for much of the day and then needed 39 seconds of overtime to finish a 14-13 victory without permitting Notre Dame a turn in the sudden death period.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Virginia’s utter domination
The Cavaliers’ showdown with Georgetown looked like a toss up. The Hoyas were playing well, having handled Denver and Syracuse in their last two outings. Virginia was uneven at times in its first-round defeat of Bryant, and there were valid questions about its defense.
Or so it seemed.
Pointing out the fourth-seeded Cavaliers were bigger, stronger and faster than Georgetown is to undersell what happened. From the opening minute, Virginia played with a physicality it hadn’t shown since at least the 2019 national title game against Yale. Yet there was an edge to the Cavaliers, especially on defense, that might have gone beyond even that stellar championship showing two years ago.
There was purpose and an intent to Virginia that stood out, especially in the first 20-25 minutes. Even without an injury to faceoff man James Reilly on the first draw of the game, Virginia played a thorough game that would have been enough to beat just about anyone.
SURPRISE THAT WASN’T
Duke playing a tight game
It would be ludicrous to describe second-seeded Duke as a disappointment this season. The Blue Devils are 14-2 and off to their 12th semifinal appearance since 2005. They’ll probably scatter a lot of names across the USILA All-America teams when they’re announced in the next week or so.
Still, Duke is not the dominant juggernaut so many believed it could be in the preseason. Its four victories over ACC teams came by a goal. It beat Denver early in the year by two. It needed overtime to shake off Loyola 10-9 in the latest hint the Greyhounds pulled off one of the most remarkable in-season evolutions in recent memory.
The Blue Devils are very much a threat to win a fourth national title next weekend. But they don’t blow out high-end teams, and no one should anticipate that changing next weekend, either.
BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
Connor Shellenberger, Virginia
Only two Virginia players had scored six goals in an NCAA tournament game: Doug Knight in 1995 against Brown and Mikey Herring in 2019 against Robert Morris.
Add Shellenberger to the list after the redshirt freshman collected six goals and an assist as the Cavaliers pounded Georgetown. Things got a bit repetitive at times; for a while, it seemed like Shellenberger was going to roll in from behind the cage and get a clear look at the goal every few minutes.
The midfielder’s best attribute remains a sublime ability to feed. But now with 30 goals in his debut year, Shellenberger’s own assertiveness is something for North Carolina to keep an eye on in the semifinals.
BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE, RESERVE ROLE
Lance Tillman, North Carolina
Tillman scored five goals in North Carolina’s first 14 games. He had four in Saturday’s victory over Rutgers, including a back-to-back pair in the fourth quarter to erase a 10-8 Rutgers lead. At the very least, Tillman wins the Good Timing Award for the quarterfinals.
GAME-WINNERS
Connor McCarthy, North Carolina: The Princeton graduate transfer waited a few seconds for traffic to clear out, then he fired one just past Colin Kirst to send the Tar Heels to the semifinals for the first time since 2016.
Joe Robertson, Duke: The Blue Devil attackman had the highest degree of difficulty of the weekend’s three overtime winners, nudging his way inside a defenseman and then uncorking a bouncer as he was falling down to clinch Duke’s latest spot in the semifinals.
Anthony DeMaio, Maryland: It’s sometimes easy to forget about the season DeMaio has enjoyed this year given the attention provided to Jared Bernhardt and Logan Wisnauskas. He won’t be overlooked this week after firing in the overtime winner — his 20th goal of the season — to punch Maryland’s ticket to East Hartford.
GOALIES OF NOTE
Liam Entenmann, Notre Dame: The sophomore had 13 saves in the first three quarters and 16 for the game, playing a huge role in first keeping the Irish in the game and then helping to hold Maryland at bay until the last 10 minutes or so of regulation.
Colin Kirst, Rutgers: Maybe the best player on the field in the fantastic North Carolina-Rutgers quarterfinal, which is saying something. Kirst made 16 stops a week after a stellar showing against Lehigh in the first round of the tournament.
Sam Shafer, Loyola: The Greyhound senior followed up a career-high 16 saves against Denver by topping that with a 17-save showing against Duke. Loyola couldn’t have asked for much more from Shafer or the entire defense while keeping the Blue Devils to nine goals in regulation.
TEWAARATON WATCH
Jared Bernhardt, Maryland: Scored five goals on seven shots, and Notre Dame’s best defense on the Terrapin star was winning faceoffs and, failing that, guarding him closely enough to prevent him from even accepting a pass. Bernhardt now has 64 goals and 23 assists in 14 games this spring.
Jake Carraway, Georgetown: Limited to just one assist in his final college game, Carraway closed out the year with 51 goals and 17 assists.
Chris Gray, North Carolina: While he had three assists, Gray was held without a goal (thanks in part to Rutgers’ Bobby Russo) for the first time in two seasons with the Tar Heels. He has 46 goals and 40 assists entering the semifinals.
Pat Kavanagh, Notre Dame: Matched up with Maryland’s Nick Grill, the Irish sophomore had one goal and two assists and closed out his season with 26 goals and 38 assists in 12 games.
Michael Sowers, Duke: The Princeton grad transfer had one goal and three assists against Loyola and heads into the semifinals with 35 goals and 44 assists on the season.
NUMBERS OF NOTE
3
There are three ACC teams in the semifinals this season, the first time since 2014 that one conference had three teams play on championship weekend. That year, Duke, Notre Dame and (in its ACC swansong) Maryland all made it to the semifinals, with Duke defeating Notre Dame for the national title.
8
The combination of North Carolina-Virginia and Duke-Maryland made up the semifinals of eight ACC tournaments when the Terrapins were still in the league. The Memorial Day weekend bracket mirrors the ACC tournaments from 1989, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2012.
8-1
Maryland is 8-1 in NCAA quarterfinals under coach John Tillman after Sunday’s 14-13 overtime defeat of Notre Dame. The Terrapins have advanced to the semifinals in all but two of the full seasons they’ve played under Tillman.
14
Maryland is the first undefeated team in 14 years to reach the NCAA semifinals. The last unblemished semifinalist before the 14-0 Terrapins was 2007 Cornell, which was 15-0, seeded fourth and lost to top-seeded Duke 12-11.
35
Duke coach John Danowski has won 35 NCAA tournament games in his career — 31 of them at Duke. Sunday’s victory moved Danowski past Syracuse’s John Desko and Roy Simmons Jr., who both have 34 career postseason wins, for sole possession of third place on the career list. Only Bill Tierney (44) and Dom Starsia (36) have more.