Notre Dame and Syracuse receive top seeds in NCAA men's lacrosse tournament
Matt Kavanagh #50 looks to make a play during an NCAA lacrosse game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Army Black Knights at Mitchie Stadium in West Point, N.Y. Credit: AP / Mike Langish
It's May Madness, and Notre Dame and Syracuse, who repeatedly leapfrogged each other for the No. 1 ranking all season, drew the top seeds for the Division I men's lacrosse tournament.
The Fighting Irish (10-2), who nipped the Orange, 13-12, in an overtime thriller on March 28, are the No. 1 overall seed for the 18-team tournament, which includes two play-in games and concludes with the Final Four in Philadelphia on Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25.
Notre Dame, led by former Chaminade star Matt Kavanagh, who has 26 goals and 50 points, will host the Towson-High Point winner Sunday.
Syracuse (12-2) also features a prominent Long Island player, former West Islip star Nicky Galasso, who is the Orange's second-leading goal-scorer with 32 after making a successful transition from attack to midfield. Galasso is Long Island's all-time leading high school scorer in boys lacrosse with 500 points.
Syracuse will host the Marist-Bryant winner Sunday. Bryant stunned the Orange in the first round last year.
The other six seeded teams that will host first-round games are No. 3 North Carolina (12-3), No. 4 Denver (13-2), two-time defending national champion No. 5 Duke (12-5), No. 6 Maryland (12-3), No. 7 Virginia (10-4) and No. 8 Cornell (10-5).
The Big Red will host Albany on Saturday in an intriguing first-round game that features Great Danes superstar Lyle Thompson, the all-time leading scorer in Division I men's lacrosse, who surpassed Rob Pannell (Cornell, Smithtown West) this season. Thompson leads the country in scoring (6.29 points per game) and is a heavy favorite to win the Tewaaraton Award as the nation's best lacrosse player, an award he shared with his brother Miles last year.
In the Division I women's bracket, Stony Brook (18-1) received a No. 6 national seed and a first-round bye. The Seawolves will host the Princeton-Fairfield winner on Sunday. Those two teams will play Friday night at 7 at Stony Brook.
Adelphi will be represented in both Division II tournaments. Its men's team (15-2) is the No. 2 seed in the North and will host Merrimack on Saturday. Its women's team (18-1) is the No. 1 seed and will host Stonehill at noon Saturday. The LIU Post men's team (14-2) is the No. 4 seed in the North and will visit No. 1 Le Moyne on Saturday. If LIU Post and Adelphi win Saturday, they will face each other in the North region final on May 17.
