NCAA Tournament Preview

Folks, we have a bracket. The regular season is complete and we are onto the NCAA tournament. 10 teams punched their ticket by winning their conference championship and another eight teams were awarded the at large bid. Before we get into the bracket and break down each matchup this weekend lets take a look back and recap conference championship weekend.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP

Conference championship weekend did not disappoint with countless upsets and some close games that went down to the wire. The big story of the weekend was Colgate, who as the #5 seed in the Patriot League went on to upset both Army and Boston U to knock them both out of the tournament field and secure their own bid.

The bubble became real when Colgate beat Army on Friday, and it increased to three teams when they stole the automatic bid on Sunday. Harvard beat out Army and Boston U based on their RPI to take the last spot of the tournament. Really unfortunate for Army–a team who lost two games all season (both in conference)–to miss the tournament. In a world where RPI is king, they simply didnt play a hard enough schedule to warrant a spot. Some of that comes down to the Patriot League being “down” this season and some comes from a weak out of conference schedule.

GET HOT, STAY HOT

One trend I noticed was that a lot of the teams that got hot starting in late March or early April stayed hot this past weekend.

Air Force won four straight to finish the regular season and then went to Jacksonville and won the ASUN tournament.

Siena has not lost since March 15th against Sacred Heart. They now have won their last nine games and took down Sacred Heart to win the MAAC.

Richmond wins the A-10 and is on an eight game winning streak heading into the tournament. Their closest conference win was a three goal win over St. Joe’s.

Albany was 3-7 on April 1st. Scott Marr took this team on a 180 degree turn to run through the America East on their way to the tournament.

Towson’s last loss came to Virginia on March 8th. They survived a scare from Hofstra in the CAA semifinal, winning in OT before beating Drexel for the CAA championship. Theyll ride their 10 game win streak into the tournament.

And obviously there is Cornell, who’s only loss came when they blew a four goal lead in the last 2:30 of regulation against Penn State. The 14-1 Big Red are the #1 seed in the tournament, the hottest team in the country and the highest scoring team in the country. They have also won 10 straight and will look to stay hot en route to Memorial Day.

OTHER WINNERS OF THE WEEKEND

Ohio State won their first Big Ten Championship on their rivals’ field. They dominated Maryland start to finish in the final. You could also consider them a loser with the draw they received Sunday night. They will host two-time defending champion Notre Dame as the #4 seed. Maryland received the #2 seed.

Syracuse won the ACC tournament and jumped a couple of seeds in doing so. Instead of being on the road, they have a home game in the first round, a place where they seem to play much better.

Georgetown continues to pour goals in. Since their three goal performance on April 12th they have scored 21, 17, 19, 16 (for you math whiz kids that is averaging 18.25 goals per game). They’ll have their work cut out for them this weekend traveling to Duke.

THE FIELD OF 18

17 games remain in the 2025 season. 2 play in games on Wednesday evening, 8 second round games, 4 quarterfinals and then championship weekend.

18 teams remain. We will be down to 8 by next weekend. It always seems to me like the teams who get hot coming down the stretch find ways to present danger and win games throughout May. But in recent years teams have proven they can find another gear and get hot BEGINNING in May. Back in 2021 when CJ Kirst was a freshman, they lose three of four to end the season. They were seeded 7th and made it to the championship, losing to Maryland. The Maryland team from last year that also lost in the championship was also the 7 seed. They took down two ACC teams before losing to Notre Dame in the championship.

The field this season is the deepest I have seen in a long time. I have a list of 9 teams I would not be surprised to see hoisting the trophy. Not everything has to be perfect leading up to this point, but from this point forward you have to put it all together. Who is going to put it all together and make a run this year? Lets take a look at the games and find out.

FIRST ROUND PREVIEW & PICKS

#1 Cornell vs UAlbany/Siena

Albany and Siena are two great stories of the 2025 season. Siena has a pure goal scorer in Pratt Reynolds (55g, 3a) and a stellar goalie in Andrew Arcuri. Albany’s experience and playmaker in Silas Richmond are going to be too much for the Saints. But regardless of that outcome, I don’t see either team keeping Cornell under 15 and even that number will be hard to reach. Cornell has this year’s Tewaaraton and whats crazy is they don’t mainly operate through im. They have five or six players that can take over a game. Its going to be overwhelming to a lot of defenses throughotu the month.

Cornell 17, Albany 8

#8 UNC vs Richmond

I’m really torn on this game because I know Richmond can hang with the best of them. I thought Richmond would have a home game but going to Chapel Hill isnt a bad travel day. I’m more impressed with the full body of work Richmond puts on the field than North Carolina. After Owen Duffy and Pietramala I don’t know if they have the supporting cast to make a run. But who knows, maybe they will prove me wrong. If Gianfocaro gets hot in the goal maybe they win a low scoring game.

Richmond 11, UNC 9

#5 Penn State vs Colgate

These two played each other on February 1st, Penn St won 14-9. Okay now lets throw that game in the trash. I haven’t been too impressed with Penn State lately but that might just be because the Big Ten is so defensive oriented they have a lot of low scoring games. Colgate can pour them in. The Connor brothers, Jack Turner and Hunter Drouin shoot the crap out of the ball. I have been a bit worried about Penn St goalie Jack Fracyon lately. There is something off with how he’s seeing the ball. I assume Colgate will try to make a mess out of this game with the 10 man ride. Matt Traynor and Hunter Aquino will need to have big games offensively for Penn St to match the Colgate firepower and I think their experience will save them from an opening weekend upset. Sneaky upset potential in this one.

Penn St 14, Colgate 13

#4 Ohio State vs Notre Dame

Book a ticket to the couch for Sunday at Noon. This is the best game of the weekend. Ohio St got absolutely hosed with their draw after winning the Big Ten. The Irish really miss their midfield depth from last year but word on the street is spring football practice has ended so Faison and Jeffery are all lacrosse. They initiate the offense from up top and allow Chris Kavanagh to work without a slide waiting for him and Jake Taylor to find holes inside. Ohio St goalie Caleb “Big Tasty” Fyock might have his hands full on Sunday, but he seems to always make big plays in big moments. Ohio State’s offensive depth is scary. There is only one Marinier for Shawn Lyght to guard. ND needs to limit outside time and room shots. Ohio St beat ND in South Bend earlier this season and I think the Irish get one back this weekend in a close one.

Notre Dame 10, Ohio State 9

#3 Princeton vs Towson

Battle of the Tigers. Pains me to say that I don’t think my hometown Tigers have a chance against Princeton, but the Ivy League is on another level this season. Princeton has losses to Maryland and Cornell. They are deep, physical and big. Coulter Mackesy is one of the best attackman in the country. Ryan Croddick is 58% in the cage. Mikey Weisshaar, Ronan Fitzpatrick and Chop Gallagher have been outstanding this season but they are not here yet. Maybe get a couple Baltimore kids to come back for a grad transfer next year and Towson could be in business. But the Tigers from New Jersey will take this one.

Princeton 14, Towson 8

#6 Syracuse vs Harvard

Another rematch on deck and just as much as Syracuse likes playing in the dome, Harvard has a win there this year. Harvard is playing with house money after getting the at large bid from the bubble. Sam King and Jack Speidell are having outstanding seasons but will have their hands full going up against Billy Dwan and Michael Grace. My next concern for Harvard is at the faceoff X where they have struggled this season, and theyll go up against John Mullen who has a 64% win percentage this season. Syracuse’s offensive depth is another worry for Harvard. The Orange will wear Harvard down and John Mullen wont let them back in the game like last time.

Syracuse 16, Harvard 12

#7 Duke vs Georgetown

Another game with upset potential. Georgetown is one of the hottest teams coming into the tournament and they had high expectations coming into the season. Aidan Carroll has stepped up big time offensively and Ty Banks is one of the best defensemen in the country. I think he will be able to shut down Malever which puts the game in the role players for Duke. Outside McAdorey theyll need someone else to step up. I think Georgetown can and will try to run and gun Duke here. A rock fight favors the Blue Devils, who all have experience in big games and have a great coaching staff.

Georgetown 15, Duke 13

#2 Maryland vs Robert Morris/Air Force

Air Force is big and physical. I think they match up well with Maryland, who will take things slow. Slower than usual too because it’s the tournament. If Air Force can stay in it in the race to 5 or 6, they will have a shot. The Maryland team is so deep that they will throw so much at Air Force to keep up. The Terps are going to hang on to a 2-3 goal lead throughout the first half and pull away in the third quarter.

Maryland 13, Air Force 7

FINAL FOUR AND CHAMPIONSHIP PICKS

I’ll have a full preview of the games coming out during the week next week. But for this week’s sake I will drop the rest of my bracket.

QUARTERFINALS:

Cornell over Richmond
Notre Dame over Penn State
Syracuse over Princeton
Georgetown over Maryland

FINAL FOUR:

Cornell over Notre Dame
Syracuse over Georgetown

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP:

Syracuse over Cornell

Welcome to the NCAA Tournament. Let’s have a month.