The College lacrosse world will have all eyes on Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA this weekend for the Final Four weekend. The NCAA Lacrosse 4-day weekend season will culminate with the crowning of a D1 men's champion on Memorial Day. On a competition packed weekend, the D1 women's champion, along with the D2 and D3 men's champions will be crowned on Sunday.
Locally, the Southlake Carroll Lacrosse Association will have their choice of several former Dragon players to support. The SCLA program will be represented on three of the Final Four teams.
In the first Saturday semifinal game, #3 seed Ohio State will take on unseeded Towson. Former Dragon midfielder and faceoff man Connor Harryman, a Towson junior, could see some time at the faceoff circle. Towson upset Syracuse 10-7 to earn their spot in the Final Four.
Ohio State, a #3 tournament seed, defeated Duke 16-11 to advance to their semifinal spot. The Buckeyes, despite having players from geography ranging from Alabama to British Columbia, do not have any Texans on their roster.
In the second game, #1 seed Maryland will face Denver. This will mark Maryland's fourth consecutive appearance in the Final Four. They lost a 14-13 overtime thriller to North Carolina in last year's championship, and lost 10-5 to Denver in the 2015 championship game. It will be a new experience for freshman, and former Dragon defenseman Jack Welding finishing his inaugural college season with the Terrapins. Dallas Jesuit product, Dan Morris, leads the Terps in goal.
Denver, the #5 seed, earned a return trip to the Final Four with an upset of #4 seed Notre Dame with a 16-4 victory. The victory was led by outstanding junior face-off specialist Trevor Baptiste. Baptiste propelled the Pioneers to the win by dominating at the dot and winning 21 of 22 face-offs. The one-sided result was unexpected as the past seven games between these two teams had seen six walk-off goals. The Dragon program will be represented by Sophomore Midfielder Michael Cox, in his inaugural season with Denver after transferring from Siena.
The first semi-final game will be at noon on Saturday, May 27th, and will be followed by the second game at 2:30. The championship final will take place on Monday, May 29th. All games will be broadcast on ESPN2 and will be streamed via WatchESPN.
Friday
Women's Division 1 semifinals
Maryland vs. Penn State, 4 p.m. (ESPN3)
Bottom of Form
Boston College vs. Navy, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday - Men's Division 1 semifinals
Ohio State vs. Towson, 11 am (ESPN2)
Maryland vs. Denver, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday
Women's Division 1 championship - 10 a.m. (ESPNU)
Men's Division 2 championship - Merrimack vs. Limestone, 1 p.m.
Men's Division 3 championship - Rochester Institute of Technology vs. Salisbury, 4 p.m.
Monday - Men's Division 1 championship-noon. (ESPN2)
Additional information available here:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/colleges/2017/05/24/your-guide-ncaa-lacrosse-championships-gillette-stadium/L4Rr0fvi8EsAGxEpi1NuWP/story.html
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