Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Earns Sixth Seed, Will Host Notre Dame In First Round
May 10, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
As every men's lacrosse fan knows, UC-Irvine defeated Cal Poly 18-13 in a marathon college baseball game on ESPNU. And how does every lacrosse fan know this? Because the game ran nearly four hours and pushed back the start of the NCAA tournament selection show that was to follow by 20 minutes.
Not that the wait was a big deal for Princeton. The Tigers knew they were in the field of 16 after winning the Ivy League tournament earlier in the day with a 10-9 overtime win over Cornell, and it was likely that the Tigers would be the sixth seed.
And, after a four-hour bus ride home and the added wait for the end of the baseball game, that was confirmed when the second half of the bracket was announced.
Princeton indeed earned the sixth seed and drew unseeded Notre Dame in the first round. The game will be played Sunday at 2:30 at Class of 1952 Stadium.
The winner of the Princeton-Notre Dame game will face the winner of the game beween No. 3 Maryland and unseeded Hofstra.
Princeton and Notre Dame have met only once in men's lacrosse, in a 6-4 Princeton win in a 1995 game that was played at the Gilman School in Baltimore. The current seniors for both teams were in first grade at the time.
Notre Dame went 7-6 during the regular season, with wins over NCAA tournament teams Duke and Loyola. Princeton and Notre Dame had two common opponents, Rutgers and Syracuse; the Tigers defeated Rutgers 10-8 and lost to Syracuse 13-4, while Notre Dame lost 12-6 to Syracuse and 10-8 to Rutgers.
Princeton comes in 11-4, having won a share of the Ivy League championship and then the Ivy League tournament, with wins over Yale and Cornell. As was suspected, the winner of the tournament final earned the No. 6 seed and the runner-up earned the No. 7, as seventh-seeded Cornell will host Loyola in the opening round.
Virginia is the No. 1 seed in the tournament, while two-time defending champion Syracuse is the No. 2 seed. The ACC had four of the top five seeds, along with No. 4 North Carolina and No. 5 Duke.
Denver, coached by former Princeton coach Bill Tierney, will play at eighth-seeded Stony Brook.
Princeton has won six NCAA championships.
2010 NCAA Division I Men's Tournament
Opening round games at seeded team
May 15-16
No. 1 Virginia vs. Mount Saint Mary's, Sat., 7:30 p.m.
No. 8 Stony Brook vs. Denver, Sat., 5 p.m.
No. 4 North Carolina vs.Delaware, Sun., 5 p.m.
No. 5 Duke vs. Johns Hopkins, Sun., noon
No. 3 Maryland vs. Hofstra, Sat., noon
No. 6 Princeton vs.Notre Dame, Sun., 2:30
No. 7 Cornell vs. Loyola, Sat., 2:30 p.m.
No. 2 Syracuse vs. Army, Sunday, 7:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals
May 22 at Princeton
May 23 at Stony Brook
Semifinals and Final
May 29-31
At M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore