If this weekend was any indication of how the championship game should look, it’s going to be a good one.

RIT squeezed past Tufts and Salisbury handled Christopher Newport to advance to the title game next weekend. RIT’s win over Tufts was as tough a game as the Tigers played in all season, and Salisbury will no doubt be in the same situation.

Before the semis, there were a few other solid contests; Colorado College played tough against RIT, and Christopher Newport pulled off the upset over Lynchburg in overtime to get to its first-ever Final Four.

The Tigers and Seagulls will play for the Division III national championship on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

Best game
RIT-Tufts

This feels like the matchup we’ve been waiting for all season. RIT took down Tufts, but not without a fight. Neither squad had lost all season.

RIT’s attack unit has been clicking all postseason, and it continued to look potent against Tufts. The Tigers led 16-11 going into the fourth quarter, and the Jumbos made it a 16-14 contest with 7:48 to play but ultimately fell 18-16.

Jack Boyden made it a two-goal game with 52 seconds to play, but by then, any comeback possibility was too late as RIT held on. RIT led for the final 27 minutes. Tufts took a 9-5 lead in the second quarter, and it looked like it might roll into the second half, but the Tigers knotted it up at 9 at the break.

Tufts defeated York to get to the quarterfinals. The Jumbos offense was on a torrid pace the past few games especially, and RIT may have been the only team that had the skill to defeat them.

Biggest surprise
Christopher Newport over Lynchburg

Christopher Newport had been playing well down the stretch, but Lynchburg had been borderline dominant.

It took overtime for the Captains to take down a Lynchburg team that hadn’t lost since April 2. In the Captains’ bid for their first-ever Final Four berth, Alex Brendes scored in overtime with 2:48 remaining.

Lynchburg went ahead 4-1 in the first quarter but led by just one goal heading into the second half. CNU had a four-goal third quarter and went ahead 11-9 before Lynchburg forced overtime, when the Captains secured their biggest win in program history.

Best individual performance
Larson Sundown, RIT

Sundown was projected for all sorts of postseason honors but wasn’t the most dominant force on a Tigers team loaded with superstars. He had a tremendous weekend, though, and finished with six points in the semifinal win over Tufts.

Sundown tallied two goals with four assists to go with Dawson Tait’s five goals. It was really the entire first attack unit, along with five more points from Quinn Commandant, that dominated the Tufts defense.

With five goals and six points, Sundown also had a great quarterfinal against Colorado College. Leading into the title game with Salisbury, he’s playing the best he has all season.

Numbers of note

30

Number of goals scored by Salisbury in a 30-5 win over Illinois Wesleyan. They led 11-0 after the first quarter and held a 20-1 lead at halftime.

4

How many times Salisbury has defeated Christopher Newport this season after a semifinal win on Sunday.

7

Points apiece for Bryce Adam and Mac Bredahl in Tufts’ quarterfinal win over York.

16

Points combined from RIT’s first attack unit of Dawson Tait, Larson Sundown and Quinn Commandant in its quarterfinal win over Colorado College.

5

Individual hat tricks from Salisbury players — Cross Ferrara, Griffin Moroney, Isaac Thrasher, Josh Melton and Logan Posner — against Illinois Wesleyan.