The NCAA News - News and Features

May 4, 1998

Division I Men's Lacrosse

Princeton, Maryland vie for title

Event: Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Overview: Two-time defending champion Princeton is everyone's favorite, but it's 1997 runner-up Maryland that occupies the No. 1 spot in the rankings at this writing. The Terrapins lost only to Johns Hopkins through their first nine games. All-American attackmen Andrew Whipple, Matt Hahn and Scott Hochstadt lead a balanced offense .... Princeton could become the first team to "three-peat" since Syracuse in 1990. The Tigers won 29 straight games, the third-longest streak in Division I history, behind all-American attackmen Jon Hess, Jesse Hubbard and Chris Massey before losing to Virginia, 9-7, in this season's second game .... Duke, a semifinalist last year, is led by high-scoring John Fay and goalkeeper Craig Seyffer, ranked third in goals-against average (6.75) .... Syracuse has "the best player in the world," according to Lacrosse Magazine: Casey Powell. He leads the country in points (6.50) and goals (4.25) per game. Brother Ryan Powell ranks first in assists per game (2.75). Defensively, the Orangemen feature returning junior starting goalkeeper Jason Gebhardt .... Tournament regulars Loyola (Maryland), Johns Hopkins and Virginia will figure in the mix .... Butler, at 9-2, seems a safe bet to claim its first tournament berth. The Bulldogs opened eyes in their opener, knocking off traditional power North Carolina.

Field: Twelve teams are selected. One team will be selected from the Northeast, Southeast and West regions and the rest will be selected at large.

Dates and sites: First-round North region games are at Massachusetts May 9. South games are at Johns Hopkins May 10. North quarterfinal games are May 16 at Hofstra; South games are May 17 at Maryland. The semifinals will be May 23 at Rutgers and the championship game will be May 25.

Television coverage: The selection show will be on Home Team Sports at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, May 3. Both semifinals will be shown live on ESPN2 beginning at noon Eastern time. The championship game will be on ESPN at 10:55 a.m. Eastern time.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand number is 770/339-3060 (passcode 1915). The request numbers are 5126 for the semifinals and 5127 for the finals. No other rounds will be posted. All results will be posted on the World Wide Web at www. ncaa.org. First-round results will be published in the May 18 issue of The NCAA News. Quarterfinal results will be in the May 25 issue. The June 1 issue will contain championship results.