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Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:

1. Six of the top eight seeds in the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse tournament advanced to the quarterfinals — with two notable exceptions.

Clarke Petterson scored five goals to lead unseeded Cornell to a 10-9 win over No. 8 seed Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in the last game of the first round Sunday. Many pundits and fans argued that the Big Red, the Ivy League champion after upending Yale, should have been the host of the game, given that they also had defeated Syracuse during the regular season. How long before Cornell sheds coach Peter Milliman’s interim tag?

Before Cornell punched its ticket, unseeded Denver denied No. 7 seed Notre Dame a ninth straight trip to the quarterfinals. Ethan Walker and Austin French scored three goals apiece, with French adding three assists in a 9-7 victory in South Bend. Tewaaraton finalist Trevor Baptiste won all five fourth-quarter faceoffs and eight of 10 in the second half, prompting this vote of confidence from Irish attackman Ryder Garnsey, who scored a game-high four goals in the loss.

In other games Sunday, top-seeded Maryland survived a major upset bid by Robert Morris (no one has taken down a No. 1 seed since the NCAA tournament moved to a 16-team format in 2013) and No. 5 seed Johns Hopkins stormed back from a five-goal deficit to defeat Georgetown 10-9 on Shack Stanwick’s goal in overtime, a game in which Kyle Marr exploded for five goals in the fourth quarter.

Saturday’s games, meanwhile, saw No. 2 seed Albany, No. 3 seed Yale, No. 4 seed Duke and No. 6 seed Loyola all advance, the latter in a game against Virginia that was delayed more than two hours due to lightning.

The NCAA quarterfinals will feature the first Yale-Loyola matchup since the 1990 final four and a TD Ierlan-Trevor Baptiste faceoff showdown when Albany plays Denver on ESPN2. Both of those games are at Hofstra on Saturday, with Maryland meeting Cornell and Duke squaring off with Johns Hopkins at Navy on Sunday.

2. Northwestern put up video game-like numbers in becoming one of just two unseeded teams (Navy) to advance to the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse quarterfinals. Selena Lasota and Sheila Nesselbush combined for 31 goals in shootout wins over Richmond on Friday and No. 7 seed Towson on Sunday.

Navy, meanwhile, took down No. 8 seed Loyola for the second time in as many weeks after also upending the Greyhounds in the Patriot League final. The Midshipmen had to get through Johns Hopkins in the first round Friday — a wild night of overtimes, records broken and debut wins.

Stony Brook, controversially dealt the No. 5 seed, appeared to vent its frustration in an 18-5 blowout of Penn and now will hit the road to play at No. 4 seed Boston College, which demonstrated its depth in a 16-10 win over Princeton — which was bounced from the tournament two days after defeating Syracuse in overtime.

NCAA quarterfinal matchups: Navy at No. 1 Maryland, Northwestern at No. 2 North Carolina, No. 6 Florida at No. 3 James Madison and No. 5 Stony Brook at No. 4 Boston College.

3. Merrimack, Seton Hill, Saint Leo and Lenoir-Rhyne advanced to the NCAA Division II men’s lacrosse semifinals  — ensuring that there will be a first-time national champion.

4. Le Moyne rallied in the second half to upend defending national champion Adelphi 14-11 in the NCAA Division II women’s lacrosse tournament. The Dolphins will meet Regis, a 15-14 upset winner over Lindenwood, in the semifinals, while East Stroudsburg will make its first final four appearance after knocking off previously unbeaten West Chester. The Warriors will meet Florida Southern. The semifinals and championship game are this weekend in Tampa.

5. The NCAA Division III men’s lacrosse quarterfinals will be downright juicy. Dickinson, Salisbury and Ohio Wesleyan all advanced in dramatic fashion Saturday, setting the stage for these titanic matchups — Wesleyan vs. Tufts, York vs. RIT, Dickinson vs. Salisbury and Gettysburg vs. Ohio Wesleyan.

6. Wesleyan is making a long stay out of its second trip to the NCAA Division III women’s lacrosse tournament. The unranked Cardinals picked up their first-ever NCAA tournament win Saturday over No. 18 Messiah, then upset No. 8 St. John Fisher on Sunday. Otherwise, chalk mostly held as the field was narrowed to 16.

Updated Brackets
MD1 | WD1
MD2 | WD2
MD3 | WD3

7. Six college champions were crowned over the weekend. Michigan State and North Dakota State claimed the MCLA Division I and Division II titles, respectively, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Michigan and Loyola won the US Lacrosse WCLA Division I and Division II titles, respectively, in Round Rock, Texas. Onondaga Community College fought tooth and nail to defeat Nassau Community College in Syracuse, N.Y., for its third straight NJCAA men’s lacrosse championship and 11th overall. Monroe Community College topped Harford Community College in Rochester, N.Y., to clinch its sixth straight NJCAA women’s crown, extending its winning streak to 95 games.

8. The National Lacrosse League finals, a three-game championship series, will pit the Rochester Knighthawks against the Saskatchewan Rush after both teams advanced with semifinal wins over the weekend. On Saturday, Rochester advanced to the finals for the first time since 2014 with a 9-8 win over the defending NLL champion Georgia Swarm. Matt Vinc made 46 saves, surpassing Pat O’Toole for the most saves all-time in the NLL playoffs. On Sunday, Saskatchewan, in the driver’s seat all season long as the NLL’s top team, held off Calgary 15-13. The Knighthawks were one of the few teams to get to the Rush during the regular season, winning both games.

9. Sunday was a pretty sweet day for the Stanwicks. Senior Shack Stanwick scored the game-winning goal in overtime to complete Johns Hopkins’ comeback win against Georgetown and Steele Stanwick led the Chesapeake Bayhawks with five goals in a 24-22 shootout win over the Denver Outlaws to cap the weekend’s Major League Lacrosse action. Atlanta defeated Boston 17-14 on Saturday — just two days after the Cannons had ended a nine-game slide dating back to last season — and Ohio edged Dallas 14-12 in the other games.

10. The streak is over. Notre Dame Prep (Md.) dealt McDonogh (Md.) its first loss since 2009, defeating the Eagles 10-8 in the IAAM A conference championship game Friday at US Lacrosse. McDonogh had won 198 straight games, a national record unlikely to be challenged anytime soon.

WHAT WE’RE READING

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Bubba Fairman presiding over a baptism at the church of ankles.

WHAT’S ON TAP

  • MLL and NLL notebooks by Phil Shore and Neil Stevens, respectively.

  • More NCAA tournament coverage, including photo galleries.

  • Contents from the May/June edition of US Lacrosse Magazine.