CNU men will start NCAAs at home
Captains will seek to bounce back from only regular-season defeat
For the first time, Christopher Newport will start the NCAA Division III men’s lacrosse tournament on its home field, Jennings Family Stadium.
The Captains (16-1) have been ranked No. 1 in the nation for three weeks but probably will relinquish that honor after losing 15-10 to No. 3 Salisbury on Saturday in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference tourney final.
At noon on Saturday, the Captains will face the winner of Wednesday’s game pitting Benedictine (12-6) of Illinois at Sewanee (8-8) in Tennessee.
At 3 p.m. Saturday at CNU, Wesleyan (12-5) of Connecticut will face Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (10-5) of Troy, New York. Saturday’s victors will play at 3 p.m. Sunday for a spot in the May 21 quarterfinals.
CNU will be making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance. The Captains reached the Final Four last season before losing to Salisbury, the team they supplanted at No. 1 by beating in this year’s regular season.
This CNU team has beaten nine teams in the current 38-team NCAA bracket.
Other round-of-32 games include Southern Virginia (14-4) at York (17-2) in Pennsylvania; Roanoke (13-5) vs. Gettysburg (12-7) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Lynchburg (15-4) vs. Western New England (14-5) in Schenectady, New York; and Washington & Lee (12-6) against Cabrini (15-4).
The W&L-Cabrini game is on Salisbury’s field, and the victor could play the Sea Gulls in the round of 16.
Roanoke, Lynchburg, Washington & Lee, Southern Virginia and Salisbury.
Division I men
Virginia gained an at-large bid to the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament and was assigned to play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday game at eighth-seeded Brown in Providence, Rhode Island. The pairings, like those in Division III, were announced Sunday night.
Brown (10-5) is the alma mater of Cavaliers coach Lars Tiffany, who led U.Va. to national titles in 2019 and 2021. The Cavaliers (11-3) are the only Atlantic Coast Conference team in the field of
18, and they’ll be making their ACC-leading 41st NCAA appearance.
The U.Va.-Brown victor will play top-seeded Maryland (14-0) if the Terrapins beat the winner of Wednesday’s Vermont-Manhattan game.
Richmond (11-4) will play a 2:30 p.m. game Saturday at thirdseeded Penn (10-4). The Spiders beat U.Va. for the first time this season.
ACC members Duke and Notre Dame were among the best teams to miss the field. The conference did not have a postseason tournament.
Division I women
Virginia and James Madison were among 29 teams to earn a spot in the NCAA tourney.
The Cavaliers (9-9) were paired to face Southern California (13-4) at 5 p.m. Sunday. That game will be on the field of top-seeded North Carolina (18-0), whom the victor will face at noon Sunday in Chapel Hill in the round of 16. U.Va. and UNC are among six ACC teams in the bracket, the most of any league.
The Dukes (13-4) will head to Baltimore to meet Connecticut (13-4) at 7 p.m. Friday. That game’s winner will play at 1 p.m. Sunday against the winner between Mount St. Mary’s (15-4) and sixthseeded Loyola (19-1) of Maryland.
U.Va. qualified for its 26th consecutive NCAA Tournament. Seeded sixth in the ACC tourney, the Cavaliers upended third-seeded Syracuse to ensure they would finish no worse than .500, a prerequisite for at-large selection.