The NCAA News - News and Features

May 4, 1998

Division III Men's Lacrosse

Nazareth tries for third straight

Event: Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Overview: Ohio Wesleyan has earned more bids than all but two active Division III teams, but has never finished better than runner-up. This season, the Bishops were ranked No. 1 after winning nine of their first 10 games. The loss was to Division I Butler, 13-9, in their opener .... Defending champion Nazareth lost six all-Americans from last year's team. The Golden Flyers will try to become the first Division III team to win three straight since Hobart won its 12th in a row in 1991. Through seven games, the only Nazareth loss was to Division II Adelphi, 10-9 .... Salisbury State, ranked third nationally in scoring and second in scoring margin, dropped a 16-15 decision to Ohio Wesleyan, but didn't lose again through 12 games, including a 14-11 win over Washington (Maryland), runner-up the last two years .... Washington and Lee hasn't made the tournament since 1993, but won eight of its first nine games, including an 8-7 overtime victory over tournament regular Gettysburg. The Generals are second nationally in scoring defense (6.33 goals per game) and ninth in scoring (14.78) .... Senior-laden Washington (Maryland) is looking for its first title after two near-misses, but the Sho'men have taken their lumps, losing to Nazareth, Roanoke and Gettysburg, in addition to Salisbury. History shows the Sho'men are always dangerous in the tournament, but just getting in could be a problem this time around. Andy Taibl, the nation's top goalie last year, ranks eighth in goals-against average (7.25).

Field: Twelve teams. The regional distribution is North and South, two to six teams, respectively; West, zero to two teams.

Dates and sites: First-round, quarterfinal and semifinal games will be played May 6, 9 and 16, respectively, on campuses of participating schools. The championship game will be May 24 at Rutgers.

Television coverage: The championship game will be televised on ESPN2 on a delayed basis at 4 p.m. Eastern time, May 25.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand number is 770/339-3060 (passcode 1915). The request number for the championship-game results is 5129. No other rounds will be posted. All results will be posted on the World Wide Web at www. ncaa.org. First-round and quarterfinal results will be published in the May 18 issue of The NCAA News. The June 1 issue will contain championship results.