The NCAA men’s lacrosse semifinals and finals are at the Linc. Here’s what to know before the weekend.
The championships in Divisions I, II, and III will be decided by Monday afternoon. Defending champ Notre Dame is the top seed in the Division I tournament.
Some of the top men’s college lacrosse teams will be in Philadelphia on Memorial Day weekend for the NCAA championships, held at Lincoln Financial Field for the second consecutive year.
Drexel University and the Eagles partnered with the NCAA and PHL Sports to host the event, which features teams from Divisions I, II, and III.
Here’s what to know before championship weekend begins. Division I semifinals are Saturday, with the final on Monday. Finals for Divisions II and III are Sunday.
Who is playing?
Top-seeded Notre Dame is looking to defend its Division I national title. The Fighting Irish have a high-octane offense led by graduate attackman Pat Kavanaugh, a three-time Tewaaraton Award nominee for the top college lacrosse player.
As a team, Notre Dame ranks first in the nation in scoring offense (15.87 goals per game), points per game (25.4), and shooting percentage (37.5).
Denver is making its first trip to the Final Four since 2017. The Pioneers, who won the 2015 championship here, have the second-best scoring defense in the country and are ranked first in man-down defense, shutting down opposing teams 84.4% of the time.
Denver is in its first year under head coach Matt Brown, who took over for Bill Tierney. The longtime Pioneers coach recently emerged from retirement to helm the Philadelphia Waterdogs.
» READ MORE: Meet the local men’s lacrosse standouts headed to Philly to chase an NCAA title
Maryland came from behind to knock off second-seeded Duke in the quarterfinals and punch its ticket to Philadelphia. The Terrapins are second nationally in faceoff winning percentage (60.6%), driven by faceoff specialist and West Chester native Luke Wierman.
Rounding out the Final Four is Virginia, a program that boasts seven NCAA championships, most recently here in 2021. Graduate attackman Payton Cormier leads the country in goals per game (3.76) and owns the NCAA record for career goals (223). Eight of those goals came against St. Joseph’s in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Adelphi and Lenoir-Rhyne will compete for the Division II title, and Rochester Institute of Technology and Tufts will square off in the Division III championship.
When are the games?
Division I semifinals: No. 1 Notre Dame (14-1) vs. No. 5 Denver (13-3), noon Saturday; No. 7 Virginia (12-5) vs. No. 6 Maryland (10-5), 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Division III championship: Tufts (17-3) vs. RIT (21-2), 1 p.m. Sunday.
Division II championship: Adelphi (16-2) vs. Lenoir-Rhyne (17-1), 4 p.m. Sunday.
Division I championship: Semifinal winners, 1 p.m. Monday.
» READ MORE: West Chester’s Luke Wierman, Maryland’s all-time faceoff ace, chases another national title
How can I get tickets?
Tickets can be purchased online from the NCAA Championship Hub at ncaatickets.com
Other details
Parking lots will open at 9 a.m. every day. The NCAA will hold a Fan Fest at Lincoln Financial Field each day, starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday and Monday.
If you don’t want to be stuck by the stadiums in between games on Sunday, there are plenty of other things to do in Philly this Memorial Day weekend.
What if I’m watching from home?
The Division I semifinals will be televised on ESPN2 and the championship will be on ESPN. The Division II and III games can be streamed live from the NCAA website at ncaa.com.