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The theme on Sunday night was body of work.

There wasn’t a specific particular criteria listed by NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse committee chair Amy Foster that shined brighter than others.

“Even if it looks like [the seeds and bracket] are following the RPI, that’s not really the case,” Foster said. “It’s not just that single criteria. It’s significant wins and losses, head-to-head competition, common opponents and strength of schedule.”

Foster, the senior associate director of athletics at Cornell, served on the committee for the first time in her career. What stood out was how the top five teams separated themselves from the rest of the field.

At the top of the list, it was Maryland gaining the overall No. 1 seed over Boston College, despite losing to Northwestern on Sunday. This mimicked the top-10 ranking the committee released two weeks ago.

“Maryland and BC have spectacular resumes,” Foster said. “When it came down to it, Maryland has the total number of wins over top-10 and top-20 teams, which earned them the No. 1 spot.”

After that, three teams — No. 3 seed North Carolina, No. 4 Northwestern and No. 5 Syracuse —grouped themselves together, while also presenting head-to-head results to the committee. While Northwestern lost to both those teams, Sunday’s win over Maryland put the Wildcats over the Orange for fourth.

“Northwestern’s win against Maryland did make a difference for them,” Foster said. “We were looking at everything going into [Sunday]. We were looking at everybody. [Northwestern’s win] really helped.”

Geography Complicates Things

With a high number of teams requiring flights to various sites, the committee was tasked with a difficult job in placing those teams properly. Three Pac-12 squads, plus Denver, Florida and the Jacksonville/Mercer winner will all be on planes to various sites throughout the country.

“It’s a huge indication with where the sport is that we had two Midwest teams being hosts,” Foster said. “We have four western teams in the tournament, too. I think we really worked hard to maintain bracket integrity, and we’re excited to have those two Midwest teams hosting. It posed some geographical challenges, and the committee feels good about how it turned out.”

Michigan a Surprise Seed

Michigan is in the NCAA tournament for the first time, and the Wolverines are hosting. It appears Michigan got a home game at the expense of Loyola, which had a higher RPI, better strength-of-schedule and more top-10 RPI wins.

The decision did alleviate some of the geographical challenges the committee faced. The Wolverines are able to welcome the Mercer/Jacksonville winner as well as two other teams requiring flights. In this case, that will be Denver and USC, which had a higher RPI (9) than Michigan (12), but was bypassed for a seed.

According to the RPI, other teams that Michigan beat out were Florida (8), Loyola (10) and Navy (11).

The Favorite
Boston College

There’s an argument that five teams are the favorites. Until Sunday, it appeared to be Maryland. Now the Terps look beatable.

A team that’s rolling with loads of confidence is North Carolina, which overcame losses to Maryland, Boston College and Notre Dame to win the ACC championship in avenging its loss to the Eagles.

Then there’s resurgent Northwestern, which just toppled the Terrapins in the Big Ten final. Should seeds hold to form, rematches of Big Ten and ACC championship games would take place in the NCAA semifinals.

Oh, and then there’s Syracuse, which beat Northwestern earlier this year.

It’s a wide-open tournament, but the favorite is Boston College, which has reached the title game the past two seasons, has a loaded senior class in its final quest for glory and a relatively easy road to championship weekend.

Last Teams In
Colorado, Denver, Johns Hopkins and Stanford

According to Foster, the final four teams (in alphabetical order) were Colorado, Denver, Johns Hopkins and Stanford. Foster wouldn’t give an order, but if one were to guess by RPI and head-to-head wins, it would go Denver, Johns Hopkins, Colorado and Stanford, with maybe a flip of the Blue Jays and Buffaloes.

First Team Out
Duke

Foster stated there were five teams for four slots. That team left out was Duke. The Blue Devils lacked the wins over NCAA tournament teams when compared to their peers.

“There was a lot of conversation of Stanford and Duke,” Foster said. “Georgetown with their win [in the Big East championship] ultimately took an at-large spot and shrank the bubble a bit.”

Toughest Draw

The committee did a good job of not overloading any particular region. Arguably, Northwestern’s road to the quarterfinals is the toughest as it draws Notre Dame, which owns a pair of big-time wins and came close to knocking off a couple more giants. Next to Northwestern, Michigan’s road is quite difficult, as it drew a USC team that has a top-10 RPI, but has yet to knock off a top-10 squad this year.

Upset Alert, Part I

It has to be Michigan. The Wolverines’ road to the quarterfinals is difficult. Michigan will likely face a talented Jacksonville side with a lot of tournamnt experience. Then in the next round, it would either face Pac-12 champion USC or a Denver squad that nearly took out Michigan in February.

Upset Alert, Part II

Princeton. The Tigers will face a tough first-round matchup in either Fairfield or Wagner. If they advance, then Loyola will almost certainly be waiting. The Greyhounds won’t have the pressure of defending their home turf this year and know Princeton well.

Revenge Fuel

There are a lot of juicy plot lines, especially if Maryland, BC, North Carolina and Northwestern can reach the semifinals. In the nearer future, it has to be Notre Dame going to Northwestern. The Wildcats’ current run of form started with an upset victory in South Bend, which has now translated into a top-four seed. The Fighting Irish are coming off back-to-back losses for the first time all season and fancied themselves in the top eight after a win over North Carolina on March 31.

Don’t Be Surprised If…

The top four seeds hold serve. Despite all the parity that exists in the sport, five teams have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Seemingly, the biggest threat to this scenario is Syracuse upsetting Northwestern in the quarterfinals. The wrinkle here is that the Wildcats will be playing on their home turf.

Players to Watch

Sam Apuzzo (Boston College)
The reigning Tewaaraton Award winner is primed for a national title run. Apuzzo ranks in the top 10 nationally in draw controls per game (seventh, 7.5) and goals per game (nineh, 3.9).

Megan Taylor (Maryland)
She is the best goalkeeper in the country. Taylor leads Division I in save percentage (.580), ranks fourth in goals against average (7.68) and 30th in saves per game (9.44).

Selena Lasota (Northwestern)
Lasota is healthy and firing on all cylinders. Her 4.38 goals per game is fourth nationally, while her 5.31 points per game ranks 11th. Lasota is one piece of a very potent Northwestern team that has also found its defensive groove of late.

You’ll Hear a Lot About…

Maryland’s tough pod. Stony Brook and James Madison are formidable, but they’re not the same national title contenders they were last season. The Terrapins should move on.

Predictions

Boston College’s road to the semifinals is the easiest of the top four seeds. The Eagles will cruise to Homewood Field and be ready for North Carolina in a rubber match, where they will prevail to face Maryland in a rematch from two years ago. The Terps got their wakeup call on Sunday, which is better than on Memorial Day weekend. They’ll take care of USC and beat Northwestern on their way to championship Sunday. In the end, Boston College finally gets its NCAA title.

Grading the Committee
A-

The committee did a commendable job. The biggest question is how Michigan received a seed, while Loyola did not. Aside from that, the regions are pretty even and few people can be mad about the placement they received. The bubble was solved correctly as well, which means the best teams are in the field.

Bracketology Breakdown

For the third straight season we correctly predicted the 13 at-large bids. Additionally, we correctly forecasted the top seven seeds and missed out on Michigan getting the No. 8 spot. In those top seven seeds, we flipped Northwestern and Syracuse.