Mike Preston: Maryland men’s lacrosse still favored but Ivy League and Delaware add suspense to NCAA Tournament | COMMENTARY

Because the opening spherical of the NCAA Division I males’s lacrosse match was about to conclude Sunday night time, the one factor lacking was a Cinderella story.

High-seeded Maryland, after crushing Vermont, 21-5, was nonetheless the group to beat and Virginia, unseeded and the two-time defending nationwide champion, was nonetheless the group to hate after a convincing 17-10 win in opposition to Brown. However each match wants a David to knock off Goliath, and that got here with unseeded Delaware’s 10-9 last-second win over No. 2 Georgetown Sunday night time.

Because the quarterfinals begin this weekend, there’s nonetheless a whole lot of suspense and intrigue, despite the fact that Maryland stays the heavy favourite. The intrigue is as a result of Maryland has to play Virginia in a single quarterfinal matchup Sunday, a group the Terps toppled 23-12 final month, however misplaced to within the playoffs by one objective in 2019 after which once more within the nationwide championship a 12 months in the past.

After Maryland and Virginia, it’s huge open with 4 Ivy League groups remaining, together with Princeton, Yale, Cornell and Pennsylvania, in addition to Rutgers, which has one of the vital explosive offenses within the sport. And don’t neglect Delaware.

There aren’t many lacrosse followers on the market complaining anymore concerning the conventional bluebloods that didn’t make the sphere like North Carolina, Syracuse or Johns Hopkins, or extra modern-day powers like Duke or Notre Dame.

The face of the game has modified, and it’s by no means going again, not the place it as soon as was anyway.

“I believe the face of lacrosse has been altering for some time now,” stated Mark Dixon, a lacrosse analyst for ESPN and the Large Ten Community. “Children enjoying the sport on the youth and highschool ranges has exploded over the past 15 years. Go to any summer season occasion, match or showcase. You’ll see license plates that aren’t rental automobiles from everywhere in the nation. That’s solely going to proceed to get larger and extra pronounced.

“On the collegiate degree Denver received a Nationwide Championship in 2015. Colleges like Ohio State, Towson, Loyola and Penn State have been to the championship weekend within the final 5 to 6 years. Rosters are now not dominated by children from simply Baltimore and Lengthy Island.”

Delaware (13-5) is for actual. The Blue Hens offense can turn out to be stagnant at instances, however they play good, strong protection and have a scorching goalie in Matt Kilkeary, who can carry a group by means of the postseason and confirmed as a lot by making 14 saves Sunday night time versus Georgetown. The Blue Hens play Cornell on Saturday, and it’s your typical Large Purple group being strong, basically sound and profiting from a group’s weak spot, simply because it did in opposition to Ohio State’s shut protection in a 15-8 opening-round win.

There have been some who predicted that Ivy League groups would have a meltdown within the opening spherical, however these groups confirmed that they belonged. Even Harvard, which misplaced to Rutgers, 19-9, confirmed one thing. The Scarlet Knights, although, with attackman Ross Scott, might need an excessive amount of firepower for Pennsylvania, the group they play within the quarterfinals Saturday.

“I assumed six bids for [the Ivy League] was too excessive,” stated Dixon. “Sooner or later, not everybody can get an invitation to the celebration. That stated, the prowess of the Ivies was on full show this previous weekend. We obtained slightly little bit of every part — Penn and Yale have been in dogfights and prevailed; Princeton and Cornell dominated their competitors; Brown and Harvard each ran out of steam however confirmed properly for many of their video games.

“Would groups like Duke and Notre Dame had higher video games and been extra entertaining? Who cares, it’s all hypothetical. After not enjoying for almost two years, this league exceeded all expectations in 2022. The coaches have carried out a masterful job of gaining admissions assist and getting the proper guys for his or her types. The query now turns into ‘Can they maintain this?’ Nobody knew what to anticipate from this league attributable to their hiatus. The ACC can be again, meaner and extra centered than ever. Will the Ivy League be capable to deal with that?”

The Ivy League may by no means have one other exhibiting like this within the match, but it surely is part of the altering face of lacrosse. The 2 constants, although, have been Maryland, which has misplaced just one sport in two years, and Virginia. Each the Terps and Cavaliers have excellent athletic expertise, however Maryland’s protection is phenomenal with middies Roman Puglise and Alex Smith and lengthy poles Brett Makar, Matt Rahill and Ajax Zappitello.

The protection doesn’t get as a lot recognition because the offense, however the Terps have shut down a few of the sport’s prime attackmen, together with two they’ll see Sunday in Virginia’s Connor Shellenberger and Matt Moore.

Regardless of the anticipation of the Maryland-Virginia sport, a whole lot of consideration will now be centered on Delaware, which beat Robert Morris, 20-8, in a play-in sport to get into the match discipline.

“I believe any time a group who takes on the No. 2 seed on the street and knocks them off are for actual,” stated Dixon. “Delaware has had an up and down season however are up on the proper time, winners of seven in a row.”