The stage is set, with four of the top five seeds surviving an exceptional quarterfinal weekend to reach Saturday’s Division I semifinals in Philadelphia.
Duke and Yale are back on championship weekend after meeting in last year’s title game. Virginia, once a final four fixture with 13 semifinal appearances in an 18-year span, is back for the first time since 2011. And Penn State, perhaps the season’s most eye-catching story thanks to its emergence as a juggernaut, will make its Memorial Day weekend debut.
There’s a lot to take in, and this A-to-Z guide — while it doesn’t cover everything — should suffice as a primer as the sport’s biggest weekend returns to the City of Brotherly Love.
A is for Grant Ament.
The redshirt junior’s return from injury transformed the Penn State offense this season, and he’ll try to close out his Tewaaraton candidacy by adding to his Division I-record 91 assists this weekend. Ament has at least five points in all but one game this season, and he’s coming off an exceptional eight-assist showing against Loyola in the quarterfinals.
B is for Matt Brandau.
The first-year attackman is credited with only three starts for Yale, but has taken on a large role in the Bulldogs’ offense. Brandau ranks third on the team with 40 goals, and second on the roster in points with 61. Both are the most ever for a Yale freshman; the previous record-holders were Matt Gaudet (32 goals in 2017) and Ben Reeves (43 points in 2015). Pretty good company.
C is for Ryan Conrad.
The Virginia senior has 28 goals and 18 assists — as well as 83 ground balls thanks largely to his exceptional play on faceoff wings. He’s enjoying a strong stretch to close out his career. Conrad earned the ACC tournament’s MVP award earlier this months and has nine goals and an assist in Virginia’s first two NCAA tournament games.
D is for Duke.
The tournament’s No. 2 seed, the Blue Devils (13-4) are appearing in their 12th semifinal, their second in a row and their 10th in the last 13 seasons. The three-time national champions (2010, 2013 and 2014) are in their 23rd NCAA tournament (and 13th in a row) and own the best scoring defense remaining in the field (No. 6 at 9.41 goals allowed per game). Duke advanced with tight defeats of Richmond (12-11) and Notre Dame (14-13).
E is for evolution.
Which is exactly what’s happened to the college game thanks to the shot clock’s introduction. Last weekend marked the first time since 1994 that all eight teams scored at least 10 goals in the quarterfinal round. After a riveting weekend — three overtime games coupled with Penn State overcoming Loyola star Pat Spencer’s 11-point effort — the sport is poised to showcase an increasingly exciting product.
F is for Chris Fake.
The Yale defenseman was a second team All-America selection as a freshman and earned a place on the all-tournament team last season for his Memorial Day weekend showings against Albany and Duke. He’s followed it up with an all-Ivy League sophomore season. He and fellow defensemen Aidan Hynes and Will Weitzel will be tested in Saturday’s semifinals by Penn State.
G is for J.T. Giles-Harris.
The Duke junior, the ACC’s defensive player of the year, and teammate Cade Van Raaphorst rank among the nation’s top defensemen. Giles-Harris has started all but one game over the past three seasons and was part of a defensive effort that held Virginia to a season-low seven goals last month.
H is for Handsome Dan.
Yale once again has the best mascot game going on championship weekend thanks to the adorable English bulldog who will accompany the team to Philadelphia. Handsome Dan XVIII even has an Instagram account, which is sure to get an update or two this weekend.
I is for TD Ierlan.
One of two Tewaaraton finalists still playing (along with Penn State’s Grant Ament), Ierlan is everything Yale could have hoped for when he decided to transfer from Albany after last season. Ierlan has won 76.1 percent of his faceoffs this season, and his total jumps to 82.4 percent when his three games against Penn are removed. He was dominant in his first game against Penn State, winning 25 of 31 draws (with 22 ground balls) as the Bulldogs earned a 14-13 triumph.
J is for jinx.
Something that seems to be placed on Virginia every time it takes the field against Duke. Starting with a 17-2 rout in 2005, the Blue Devils have won 19 of the last 20 games between the schools, with only Virginia’s triumph in the 2010 ACC tournament breaking up the run. Duke has won 11 in a row since, and the last five victories have come by an average of 6.4 goals.
K is for Michael Kraus.
He might provide the best hope for ending the aforementioned jinx on Virginia. Why? Well, Kraus wasn’t on the field earlier this season when the Cavaliers dropped a 12-7 decision at Duke. The junior has 35 goals and 32 assists despite missing three games this season, and his 47 games in a row with a point is tied for fifth with Penn State’s Grant Ament among players active this season.
L is for Lincoln Financial Field.
For the sixth time overall and the fourth time in the last seven years, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles will provide the biggest stage in college lacrosse. Previous winners at the Linc include Johns Hopkins (2005), Virginia (2006), Duke (2013), Denver (2015) and North Carolina (2016). Penn State will become the first team since Maryland in 2014 to play in a semifinal inside its state lines.
M is for Matt Moore and Jackson Morrill.
The two players left in the field with at least 40 goals and 40 assists this season. Moore’s 40th goal was the game-winner in Virginia’s 13-12 overtime defeat of Maryland in the quarterfinals, a shot that also made him the first 40-40 player in program history. Morrill has 43 goals and 45 assists for Yale, joining Ben Reeves (62 goals, 53 assists last season) as the only Bulldogs to record a 40-40 season.
N is for newcomers.
For the third year in a row, there is a team making its first appearance on championship weekend, with Penn State joining 2018 Albany and 2017 Ohio State in that club. It’s quite a change of pace. Between 2002 and 2016, there were just three first-time semifinalists: 2006 Massachusetts, 2007 Delaware and 2011 Denver.
O is for Mac O’Keefe.
A junior, O’Keefe is up to 75 goals on the season after depositing nine shots in the net against Loyola to match the single-game NCAA tournament scoring records. Not simply a crease finisher, O’Keefe derives much of his value from being a threat from virtually anywhere inside of 20 yards. He’ll be tough for Yale — or anyone else — to slow down; he’s scored 21 goals in his last three games.
P is for Penn State.
The top-seeded Nittany Lions (16-1) are making their fifth NCAA tournament appearance and have reached the semifinals for the first time. Penn State had not even won an NCAA tournament game prior to a 25-10 drubbing of UMBC on May 12. A week later, it bounced Loyola 21-14 to join 1990 Syracuse as the only teams in the tournament’s 49-year history to score 20 goals in back-to-back games.
Q is for Kevin Quigley.
The second line midfielder, who had a pair of goals in last year’s national title game for Duke, has been more of an offensive presence of late for the Blue Devils. Quigley had a goal and an assist in an ACC semifinal loss to Notre Dame, then scored against both Richmond and Notre Dame in Duke’s first two NCAA tournament contests.
R is for Joe Robertson.
Duke’s sophomore attackman secured his second consecutive 40-goal season in thrilling fashion Saturday taking a pass from CJ Carpenter off a restart, then rushing around the cage and scoring as the shot clock expired in overtime. Robertson had 48 goals as a freshman and he has a team-high 56 points this season. He’s also fond of facing Virginia, owning six goals on 10 shots in two career games against the Cavaliers.
S is for Chris Sabia.
The big name on the Penn State, the senior is one of several Philadelphia-area players who will enjoy a homecoming this weekend with the Nittany Lions. Sabia has started all 62 games in his career and earned the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year honors.
T is for Lars Tiffany and Jeff Tambroni.
Two coaches familiar with Memorial Day weekend who are making their first appearance in the semifinals with a second school. Tambroni, the Penn State coach, guided Cornell to the season’s final weekend in 2007, 2009 and 2010, while Tiffany led Brown to the semis in 2016 before leaving for Virginia the following summer. They join Dave Cottle (Loyola and Maryland), Tony Seaman (Penn, Johns Hopkins and Towson) and Bill Tierney (Princeton and Denver) as the only coaches in the championship weekend era (since 1986) to lead multiple schools to the semifinals.
U is for Turner Uppgren.
The Duke goalie played sparingly his first three seasons in Durham, but has emerged as a capable stopper for the Blue Devils as a senior (he plans to return next year as a graduate student). Uppgren owns a 9.50 goals-against average and a .507 save percentage and he made 12 saves while allowing just seven goals in Duke’s first meeting with Virginia on April 13.
V is for Virginia.
The Cavaliers (15-3) are the tournament’s No. 3 seed and are appearing in their 23rd semifinal but their first since 2011. Now in their 39th NCAA tournament, Virginia has won the event five times (1972, 1999, 2003, 2006 and 2011) and enters the weekend with the country’s No. 6 offense (14.22 goals per game). The Cavaliers reached the semifinals with defeats of Robert Morris (19-10) and Maryland (13-12).
W is for Cole Willard.
The sophomore provides as good a reminder as anyone of just how deep Penn State is this season. Willard scored two goals in a reserve role in the Nittany Lions’ defeat of Loyola in the quarterfinals and is now shooting 13 of 24 (54.2 percent). He is one of nine Penn State players with at least 10 goals this season.
X for the X.
Or the dot. Or whatever you want to call it. Regardless, it could have outsized importance on the weekend. Three of the semifinalists have top-20 faceoff men — Yale’s TD Ierlan (1st/.761), Penn State’s Gerard Arceri (10th/.632) and Virginia’s Petey LaSalla (18th/.604) — while Duke has leaned heavily on Joe Stein during its tournament run. Stein attempted just six draws in the regular season, but is 24 of 42 the last two weekends.
Y is for Yale.
The fifth-seeded Bulldogs (14-3) have reached the semifinals for the third time while making their 10th NCAA tournament appearance. Yale also appeared in the final four in 1990 and 2018, and last year won the program’s first NCAA title. Andy Shay’s team reached Philadelphia without having to leave Connecticut, defeating Georgetown (19-16) at home in the first round and Penn (19-18) in overtime in East Hartford in the quarterfinals.
Z is for Kyle Zawadzki.
It wouldn’t be a final four without a Zawadzki on one of the rosters. Christian Zawadzki was part of four consecutive Maryland teams to reach the semifinals between 2015 and 2018. Younger brother Kyle will maintain the family tradition as a freshman attackman for Yale. He has a goal and an assist in seven games for the Bulldogs.