To no one's surprise, defending national champion Maryland earned the No. 1 seed for the 27-team NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship field announced Sunday night. The Terps, winners of the Big Ten title, went 18-1 against one of the nation's toughest schedules.
North Carolina, the only team to beat Maryland this season, earned the No. 2 seed. The Tar Heels went 15-3 and handed Boston College its only loss of the season in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
James Madison, which set a school record with its 18th win earlier in the day - beating Towson 16-10 in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game - earned the No. 3 seed. The Dukes opened their season with a win over North Carolina and suffered just one loss - to Maryland - all season.
Boston College, last year's national runner-up, won its first 19 games before falling to UNC in the ACC title game.
Unbeaten Stony Brook has been No. 1 in the polls for most of the season, but drew just a No. 5 seed due to its weaker strength of schedule. The Seawolves went 19-0 and beat Albany 22-14 to win the America East title earlier today.
It was the second straight year Stony Brook got a questionably low seed. Last year, Stony Brook was the No. 8 seed and gave Maryland its toughest game of the tournament, falling 13-12 in the NCAA quarterfinals. Six of Stony Brook's wins this year came against tournament teams.
"Wherever they put us, I'm not going to cry about it," said Stony Brook head coach Joe Spallina when he visited US Lacrosse for the Major League Lacrosse Draft in April. "I'm not sure If we get mis-seeded, that it's going to be fair to the team that has to play us because in my opinion we're the best team."
Unbeaten @StonyBrookWLAX only draws a No. 5 seed. Head coach @JoeSpallina told us a couple of weeks ago that he feels he's got the best team in the country. pic.twitter.com/tZ8ctP30TT
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 7, 2018
Janna Blais, the chair of the selection committee, said Stony Brook was among the five teams they "scrubbed hard" for the top four slots.
"When we matched them up with those top four teams, we just couldn't get there," Blais said. "It had a lot to do with the number of significant wins in that Top 20."
Earning the final first round-bye was No. 6 seed Florida. The Gators went 16-3, including a win over North Carolina, and won the Big East championship.
The final two teams to earn seeds and the right to host opening round games were a pair of Baltimore rivals - No. 7 Towson and No. 8 Loyola. Both teams lost in their respective conference championship games today - Towson falling to JMU in the CAA title game and Loyola falling to Navy for the second straight year in the Patriot League championship game.
However, they both had impressive nonconference wins over the course of the season. Towson went 15-4 with four wins over touranment teams, including an impressive 14-11 win at Florida. Loyola also went 15-4 and had wins over six NCAA tournament teams, including Towson and Ivy League champion Princeton.
According to Blais, the last two teams to earn at-large tournament spots were Johns Hopkins and Penn State, in no particular order.
Hopkins went 10-8 with five one-goal losses, but an early season win over Loyola was crucial for the Blue Jays, who will play Navy at Loyola in a first round game.
Penn State, a national semifinalist the last two years, went 10-9, locking up its spot with a 21-16 upset of Northwestern in the Big Ten semifinals on Friday. The Nittany Lions will play Penn at Stony Brook in a first round game.
Virginia Tech, which finished third in the ACC, was a first-time selection. The Hokies will play Georgetown, a team that was sweating on the bubble after a loss to Denver in the Big East semifinals, at North Carolina in a first round game.
That moment you hear your name called pic.twitter.com/EodAGn1ONb
— Virginia Tech Lacrosse (@HokiesLax) May 7, 2018
The tournament gets underway with a play-in game on Wednesday with a play-in game between Northeast Conference champion Wagner and Southern Conference champion Mercer. Mercer is playing in its first NCAA tournament.
May Madness is here. Check out the full #NCAAWLAX Division I bracket with @MarylandWLax taking the top seed. @NCAALAX bracket analysis coming Monday. pic.twitter.com/4MH7vMIglq
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 7, 2018
NCAA DIVISION I
WOMEN’S LACROSSE BRACKET
College Park, Md.
First Round: Denver vs. High Point
Second Round: Denver/High Point at (1) Maryland
Baltimore, Md.
First Round: Navy vs Johns Hopkins
First Round: Fairfield at (8) Loyola
Second Round: Winners
Stony Brook, N.Y.
First Round: Penn vs. Penn State
Second Round: Penn/Penn State at (5) Stony Brook
Newton, Mass.
First Round: Princeton vs. Syracuse
Second Round: Princeton/Syracuse at (4) Boston College
Harrisonburg, Va.
First Round: Stanford vs. Virginia
Second Round: Stanford/Virginia at (3) James Madison
Gainesville, Fla.
First Round: Colorado vs. Jacksonville
Second Round: Colorado/Jacksonville at (6) Florida
Towson, Md.
Play-in: Wagner vs. Mercer
First Round: Wagner/Mercer at (7) Towson
First Round: Northwestern vs. Richmond
Second Round: Winners
Chapel Hill, N.C.
First Round: Virginia Tech vs. Georgetown
Second Round: Virginia Tech/Georgetown at (2) North Carolina
Division II
Four No. 1 regional seeds named in the NCAA Division II bracket. LeMoyne earned the top spot in the East region. The other top seeds are West Chester (Atlantic), Lindenwood (Midwest) and Florida Southern (South).
Division III
Defending national champion Gettysburg is among the 42 selections for the NCAA Division III bracket.