NCAA Lacrosse Tournament 2015: Semifinal Bracket, Schedule, Quarterfinal Results
The 2015 NCAA lacrosse tournament field shrunk from eight to four after Sunday's quarterfinal action. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Denver Pioneers, Maryland Terrapins and Johns Hopkins Blue Jays are the only schools remaining from the 16-team field that entered the event.
It's almost like you've fallen into a time capsule and it's 2014 all over again. Notre Dame, Denver and Maryland all advanced to the semifinals of last year's tournament, with the Fighting Irish finishing runners-up to the Duke Blue Devils.
You can view this year's semifinal bracket on NCAA.com.
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Here's a look at the schedule for next weekend, followed by a brief recap of Sunday's action.
Quarterfinal Results
| Sat., May 16 | Albany | 10-14 | No. 1 Notre Dame |
| Sat., May 16 | Ohio State | 13-15 | No. 4 Denver |
| Sun., May 17 | Johns Hopkins | 16-15 | No. 2 Syracuse |
| Sun., May 17 | No. 6 Maryland | 14-7 | North Carolina |
Semifinal Schedule
| Sat., May 23 | 1 p.m. | No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 4 Denver | ESPN2 | Watch ESPN |
| Sat., May 23 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 6 Maryland vs. Johns Hopkins | ESPN2 | Watch ESPN |
Quarterfinal Recap
Maryland had by far the easiest time in the second round. The Terps led 9-2 after the second quarter and cruised the rest of the way, beating the North Carolina Tar Heels 14-7.
The Heels made it somewhat interesting, cutting the deficit to seven goals, 13-6, in the second half. Then Bryan Cole provided one of his four goals, which USA Today's Eddie Timanus felt was the death knell for UNC:
"I'm very proud of our players for their effort today," said Terrapins coach John Tillman, per the Associated Press (via WTOP in Washington, D.C.). "We realize what's at stake in a game like this and we came out and probably played our most complete game of the year."
Maryland's win was definitely an outlier as the other three quarterfinal games were decided by a combined seven goals.
Notre Dame and Denver both advanced Saturday.
The Fighting Irish needed six goals in the fourth quarter to get past the Albany Great Danes. Albany held a 9-8 lead heading into the final frame, but then Sergio Perkovic and Jim Marlatt scored 16 seconds apart to give Notre Dame a late lead. Mikey Wynne added an insurance goal with this great individual effort with a little over 11 minutes to play (via ESPNU/Inside Lacrosse):
From there, the Fighting Irish didn't look back.
The Pioneers had to fight off the Ohio State Buckeyes for the entirety of their hour-long clash. OSU jumped out to an early 7-1 advantage in the second quarter before Denver went off, scoring nine unanswered goals.
Wesley Berg was responsible for five of those goals and assisted on another as he single-handedly took control of the game.
"It seemed like two years ago when we were down 7‐1 or 8‐1 to North Carolina," he said following the win, per the NCAA. "We just figured we'd get a couple, and we'd get momentum, and that's what we did. You could see the light go back into us after we got 7‐4, so we kept it going from there, and just playing and sticking to our game plan, and we knew offensively they started falling."
The 16-15 final score in Johns Hopkins' win over the Syracuse Orange is somewhat deceiving. The Blue Jays were up 15-10 with 3:50 left in the fourth quarter. They also led by four goals with a little less than two minutes remaining.
Syracuse scored three goals in the final minute to build some drama, but its comeback attempt ultimately fell short.
The Orange had no answer for the Stanwick brothers, Shack and Wells. Both siblings had identical stat lines (4 G, 2 A) to propel Johns Hopkins to victory.
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