The Tewaaraton Award ceremony is Thursday night in Washington, D.C. Four of the five men’s finalists — announced May 9 — played an integral role in the NCAA tournament, with two of them advancing to Memorial Day Weekend.

Michael Sowers (Princeton) has a resume that speaks for itself, finishing the season a program-record 90 points on 37 goals and 53 assists. In doing so, he set the school’s all-time points record with 255.

As for the other contenders, how did Grant Ament (Penn State), Jared Bernhardt (Maryland), TD Ierlan (Yale) and Pat Spencer (Loyola) fare in the NCAA tournament? Let’s take a look at how each may have helped their Tewaaraton case.  

Grant Ament
Penn State

Ament, the redshirt junior who set the NCAA’s single-season assist record with 96 in 2019, continued his momentum into the NCAA tournament. Ament opened with three goals and five assists in a 25-10 throttling of UMBC in the first round — Penn State’s first NCAA tournament win in program history. But he didn’t stop there, dropping a goal and eight assists in battle with fellow Tewaaraton candidate Pat Spencer and Loyola. The Nittany Lions won that game 21-14 and advanced to their first final four. Ament took his talents to the biggest stage in lacrosse, tallying another three-goal, five-assist performance in a 21-17 loss to Yale in the national semifinals. His season ended two wins short of a national title, but he matched the NCAA tournament record with 25 points in the three games. Along the way, he set both Big Ten and Penn State records for career assists.

Jared Bernhardt
Maryland

The latest of Maryland’s No. 1s to be named a Tewaaraton finalist, Bernhardt was at his best for a Terps’ team that started the NCAA tournament unseeded. Maryland faced the challenge of traveling to former rival Towson in the first round, and trailed for most of the game. But Bernhardt stepped up in the fourth quarter. With the game tied at 10-10 with six minutes left, Bernhardt charged toward the crease and launched himself in the air for a highlight-reel diving goal. Minutes later, Towson had taken the 13-12 lead and bled almost the entire clock down. Maryland was seconds away from being eliminated until it rushed up the field and Kyle Long found a cutting Bernhardt, who finished a miraculous game-tying goal with three seconds left. Maryland later won in overtime on a Louis Dubick goal. In the quarterfinals against eventual champion Virginia, Bernhardt dropped four goals and an assist — a game in which Maryland would eventually let a 12-7 lead slip away and fall in overtime.

TD Ierlan
Yale

If being the nation’s leading faceoff man once again (75.8 percent) wasn’t enough, Ierlan stepped up in the NCAA tournament to help Yale to another national championship game. Yale jumped out to a huge lead on Georgetown in the first round, and held on despite a furious Hoyas’ rally. A major factor was Ierlan, who won 31 of 35 faceoffs to keep the Georgetown offense in check. The Bulldogs advanced to a third matchup with Penn and fellow faceoff stalwart Kyle Gallagher. Gallagher was the only faceoff man that had held Ierlan under 50 percent this season, but Ierlan took 22 of 40 from him in the quarterfinals en route to a 19-18 overtime classic. Ierlan was back in the final four for the second straight season, this time playing for Yale as opposed to Albany. He won 28 of 39 faceoffs against Gerard Arceri and Penn State, helping Yale hold on after taking an early 10-1 lead. Yale advanced to another national championship game, where Ierlan was again strong, winning 18 of 24 against Petey LaSalla and Virginia in a 13-9 loss.

Pat Spencer
Loyola

Pat Spencer entered the NCAA tournament without a goal in his past two games, including a one-assist effort in a Patriot League tournament loss to Army. But he saved his best for last, fueling a quarterfinal run for the Greyhounds. He dropped nine points on three goals and six assists in a 15-13 first-round win over Syracuse. It was his final game at Ridley Athletic Complex, and in the process, he set the NCAA all-time record for assists (Lyle Thompson, 225). He also moved past Connor Fields for second all-time in points. As an encore act, Spencer was at his best against Grant Ament and Penn State in the NCAA quarterfinals. He scored a career-high six goals and added five assists in the 21-14 loss, breaking his own Patriot League record for points in a season (114).