Impact from Sunday's surprises
Sunday yielded some shocking results as Army knocked off 11-time reigning national champion and No. 2 seed Syracuse, 9-8, in double overtime and Notre Dame thwarted No. 6 seed Princeton, 8-5.
It’s only the third time in the history of the NCAA Tournament that two unseeded teams have bounced seeded teams from the first round. In 1990, Rutgers edged No. 6 seed Virginia, 7-6, and Princeton nipped No. 7 seed Johns Hopkins, 9-8. In 2008, Navy surprised No. 4 seed North Carolina, 8-7, and Ohio State dumped No. 8 seed Cornell, 15-7.
Syracuse (13-2), which was attempting to join the 1978-80 Johns Hopkins teams, the 1988-90 Syracuse squads and the 1996-98 Princeton teams as the only squads to capture three straight national titles, became the fourth reigning champion to fall in the first round.
In 1999, 1998 titlist Princeton lost to Syracuse, 7-5. In 2005, 2004 champion Syracuse was edged by Massachusetts, 16-15. In 2007, 2006 titlist Virginia fell to Delaware, 14-8.
Army (11-5) collected its first tournament victory since beating Maryland, 15-13, in 1993. The Black Knights, the Patriot League regular-season and tournament champions, will meet No. 7 seed Cornell (11-5) on Sunday at 12 p.m. at Stony Brook and are aiming for their third Final Four appearance in the program’s history (1971, 1984).
Notre Dame (8-6) earned its first tournament win since defeating Johns Hopkins, 13-9, in 2001. The Fighting Irish will take on No. 3 seed Maryland (12-3) on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Princeton and are looking for only their second Final Four berth in school history (2001).
Update: As pointed out by "Laxxreff," Sunday's outcome marks the fourth time two unseeded teams won in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In 2007, Delaware ambushed No. 2 seed Virginia, 14-8, and UMBC stunned No. 7 Maryland, 13-9. My apologies.
Comments
Great to see some new blood in the tournament. Getting tired of the same old- same old ( Hopkins, Syracuse, Princeton), and refreshing to see the level of parity now in college lacrosse. PS- Go Big Red!
Posted by: Ron Seff | May 17, 2010 12:11 PM
I agree with Ron Seff. Nice to see some other teams compete (and I hope someone takes out Virginia!). Seff likes Big Red. I am still a Blue Jays fan first but I will go with another Maryland team, this one long overdue for a title -- Fear the Turtle!
Posted by: willycee | May 17, 2010 1:37 PM
At last----the "anything but oranges" are all gone from the LAX tournament except for Virginia of course. I absolutely love it.
Posted by: Jane Chambers | May 17, 2010 3:01 PM
I agree with all above. Good to see new blood. Looks like it's shaping up to be a MD vs. UVA/Duke final. I hope my Terps win, I think they have the potential to do it this year.
Posted by: Dan | May 17, 2010 9:57 PM
New blood? No thanks. I was dying to see a real game and Cuse was the only one who offered up that hope. They're the only team out there that offers any excitement or fun and even their's is very limited. What you have left in the tournament is also ran dogs. Admittedly, Army played a good game and deserved to win, but also Cuse played a very bad game and deserved to lose. till a shame though unless you need Final Four tickets.
Posted by: siasds | May 18, 2010 6:42 AM
In 2007 Delaware beat UVA and UMBC beat MD in the first round. Second round was UD over UMBC to make their first final four.
Posted by: Laxxreff | May 18, 2010 9:27 AM
I truly admire the school spirit in these comments, however delusional they might be. The 'Cuse choked - plain and simple, and Hopkins didnt even deserve to be in the tourney. Why does "siasds" think that only the Syracuse game was exciting - what about the Cornell / Loyola 3OT? I was hoping UVA would meet Syracuse in a battle of the oranges - would have been a great final. I agree with Dan - look for UVA, UMD or Duke to win it all. GO HOOS!!
Posted by: MartyS | May 19, 2010 4:39 PM