The NCAA News - News and Features

May 5, 1997

Division III

Nazareth, Washington (Maryland), Salisbury State are the teams to beat

Event: 1997 Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Overview: Defending champion Nazareth had lost only to Division I Maryland-Baltimore County (in the season opener) before Alfred shocked the Golden Flyers, 12-11, April 23. Alfred trailed, 9-8, entering the fourth quarter before running off four unanswered goals. Despite the loss, the Flyers -- along with 1996 runner-up Washington (Maryland) and Salisbury State -- are the favorites. Nazareth has not matched its firepower of 1996, when the Flyers went 15-0, but it may be stronger defensively. Brent Rothfuss leads the offense (35 goals, 20 assists), followed by Joe Spada (23, 16) and Ryan McDermott (20, 14). Goalie Jake Coon has a .710 saves percentage .... Washington was only an overtime championship-game loss away from knocking off undefeated teams in three consecutive tournament games last year. The Sho'men have continued to build on that momentum, posting a 10-3 mark. Two of the losses have come to Division I teams (Navy, 7-6, and Johns Hopkins, 16-4). Its only Division III loss, however, was a 16-5 thrashing by Salisbury State -- the Eastern Shore rival that the Sho'men bounced from last year's semifinals, thus denying the Sea Gulls a shot at a third straight undefeated season. John Fuller leads the Sho'men offense with 34 goals and six assists. Andy Taibl (.646 saves percentage, 7.9 goals-against average) mans the goal .... With the impressive win over Washington and Nazareth's loss to Alfred, Salisbury State may be ready to return to the top. The Sea Gulls have lost only to Ohio Wesleyan, early in the season.

Field: Eight-team tournament. Two to five berths are allocated to the North region, two to five to the South and zero to two to the West.

Dates and sites: The quarterfinals will be May 10 on the campuses of participating schools. The semifinals will be May 17, also at campus sites. The championship game will be May 25 at Maryland.

Television coverage: A delayed telecast of the championship game will air on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. (Eastern time) May 27.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060, passcode 1915. The request number for results of the championship game is 5129. No other games will be posted. Results of the championship game also will be posted on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Scores from the quarterfinals will appear in the May 19 issue of The NCAA News and semifinals scores in the May 26 issue of the News. Championship results will appear in the June 2 issue.