2008 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament was held from May 10 through May 26, 2008. This was the 38th annual Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship

NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship

The annual NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament determines the top men's field lacrosse team in the NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III....

tournament. Sixteen NCAA Division I college men's lacrosse

College lacrosse

College lacrosse refers to lacrosse played by student athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played in both the varsity and club levels...

teams met after having played their way through a regular season, and for some, a conference tournament.

The first round of the single-elimination tournament

Single-elimination tournament

A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...

was played on May 10 and May 11 at the home field of the top-seeded team. The quarterfinals were held on May 17 and May 18 on two separate neutral fields: the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium

Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium

Navy – Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium near the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It is the home field of the Navy Midshipmen football team, the men's lacrosse team, and the Chesapeake Bayhawks lacrosse team....

in Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...

, and Schoellkopf Field

Schoellkopf Field

Schoellkopf Field is a 25,597-capacity stadium at Cornell University's Ithaca-campus that opened in 1915 and is used for the Cornell Big Red football, sprint football, lacrosse and field hockey teams...

in Ithaca, New York

Ithaca, New York

The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...

. The tournament culminated with the semifinals and finals held on Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...

weekend at Gillette Stadium

Gillette Stadium

Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, 21 miles southwest of downtown Boston and from downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for the New England Patriots football team and the New England Revolution...

in Foxborough, Massachusetts

Foxborough, Massachusetts

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,246 people, 6,141 households, and 4,396 families residing in the town. The population density was 809.1 people per square mile . There were 6,299 housing units at an average density of 313.7 per square mile...

. The championship weekend, which included the Division II and Division III

2008 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 2008 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Tournament was held from May 10 through May 25, 2008. This was the 29th annual Division III NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament...

championships, was hosted by Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

and the Eastern College Athletic Conference

Eastern College Athletic Conference

The Eastern College Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 21 sports . It has 317 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois...

. The championship was won by Syracuse University

Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse

The Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse team represents Syracuse University in NCAA Division I men's college lacrosse. The Orange have won 10 NCAA championship titles, and currently competes as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference men's lacrosse conference...

, beating Johns Hopkins University 13–10, in front of a title game record crowd of 48,970 fans.

Qualifying teams

The Division I NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Committee was responsible for selecting the teams that competed in the championship tournament. The qualifying teams, along with the seeding for each team in the tournament, were announced on Sunday, May 4, 2008. Seven conferences received automatic bids to the tournament for its top team. The remaining nine teams were selected as "at large" bids by the committee.

Five conferences held a conference tournament championship to award the conferences' bid. Canisius

Canisius College

Canisius College is a private Roman Catholic college in Buffalo, New York, United States. The college was founded in 1870 by members of the Society of Jesus from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. The college is one of 28 institutions in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and...

earned an automatic bid by winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. MAAC teams compete in the NCAA's Division I. Most of the members are Catholic or formerly Catholic institutions; the only exception is the private but secular Rider...

(MAAC) championship. This marks the first time that Canisius College has gained entry to the National Championship tournament.
Colgate

Colgate University

Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...

earned an automatic bid by winning its first-ever Patriot League

Patriot League

The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...

championship.
Hofstra

Hofstra Pride men's lacrosse

The Hofstra Pride men's lacrosse team represents Hofstra University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse competition. The university first fielded a varsity men's lacrosse team in 1949, hiring Howdy Myers the following season from Johns Hopkins to take over the...

earned an automatic bid by winning Colonial Athletic Association

Colonial Athletic Association

The Colonial Athletic Association is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose full-time members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Most of its members are public universities, with five in Virginia alone, and the conference is headquartered in Richmond,...

(CAA) championship,
Notre Dame

Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's lacrosse

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's lacrosse team represents the University of Notre Dame in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's college lacrosse...

earned an automatic bid by winning Great Western Lacrosse League

Great Western Lacrosse League

The Great Western Lacrosse League, also known as the GWLL, was a NCAA Division I men's college lacrosse athletic conference that existed from 1994 to 2009...

(GWLL) championship, and UMBC

UMBC Retrievers men's lacrosse

The UMBC Retrievers men's lacrosse team represents the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's college lacrosse competition. The Retrievers play their home games at UMBC Stadium, located in Baltimore, Maryland with a capacity of 4,500...

earned an automatic bid by winning America East Conference

America East Conference

The America East Conference is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located mainly in the northeastern United States. The conference was known as the ECAC North from 1979 to 1988 and the North Atlantic Conference from the fall semester of 1988 to the end of the spring...

championship.

Two conferences award their bids based on regular season conference records. Loyola

Loyola Greyhounds men's lacrosse

The Loyola University Greyhounds are the NCAA Division I men's collegiate lacrosse team that represents Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland...

earned an automatic bid by winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference

ECAC Lacrosse League

The ECAC Lacrosse League is an NCAADivision I college athletic conference and part of the Eastern College Athletic Conference. This part of the conference only sponsors men's lacrosse. The league was founded in 2000...

(ECAC) championship with a 6–1 conference record.
The Ivy League

Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

's automatic bid was awarded to Cornell

Cornell Big Red men's lacrosse

The Cornell Big Red Men's Lacrosse team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse. Cornell competes as a member of the Ivy League, of which they have won 23 conference championships. The Big Red have appeared in the NCAA tournament 22...

. Cornell and Brown had identical conference records, but due to a victory by Cornell in head to head competition earlier in the season the tiebreaker was given to Cornell.

The Atlantic Coast Conference

Atlantic Coast Conference

The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...

(ACC) conference tournament champion was Duke

Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse

The Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse team represents Duke University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse...

. However, the ACC does not receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament because a conference must have at least six members competing (for 2 years) in order to be awarded an automatic bid.

The following teams were awarded at-large bids by the NCAA Selection Committee: Duke

Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse

The Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse team represents Duke University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse...

(ACC), Virginia

Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse

The Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse team represents the University of Virginia in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse...

(ACC), Syracuse

Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse

(Independent), North Carolina

North Carolina Tar Heels men's lacrosse

The North Carolina Tar Heels men's lacrosse team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse...

(ACC), Johns Hopkins (Independent), Maryland (ACC), Denver

Denver Pioneers

The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver. They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, with most teams participating in the Sun Belt Conference. The Western Athletic Conference will become Denver's primary sports conference on July 1, 2012.The...

(GWLL), Navy

Navy Midshipmen men's lacrosse

The Navy Midshipmen men's lacrosse team represents the United States Naval Academy in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse. Navy currently competes as a member of the Patriot League and play their home games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland...

(Patriot), and Ohio State

Ohio State Buckeyes

The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of The Ohio State University, named after the state tree, the Buckeye. The Buckeyes participate in the NCAA's Division I in all sports and the Big Ten Conference in most sports...

(GWLL).

Tournament bracket

* = Overtime

First Round

The first round of the 2008 championship tournament saw upsets, an overtime game, and the NCAA career points record broken.

Unseeded Ohio State

Ohio State Buckeyes

bested #8 Cornell

Cornell Big Red men's lacrosse

15–7. The opening goal of this game was scored by Ohio State goaltender Stefan Schroder, who ran the length of the field to put one past the Big Red netminder.
Navy

Navy Midshipmen men's lacrosse

upset #4 seeded North Carolina

North Carolina Tar Heels men's lacrosse

The North Carolina Tar Heels men's lacrosse team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse...

in Chapel Hill with a final score of 8–7 on the strong play of the Midshipmen defense and the four goal effort of Tim Paul, who was honored with Nike Player of the Week honors.
Notre Dame

Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's lacrosse

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's lacrosse team represents the University of Notre Dame in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's college lacrosse...

, who was hosting its first NCAA Tournament game, topped Colgate

Colgate University

in a contest that was settled in overtime. In a victory over Loyola

Loyola Greyhounds men's lacrosse

The Loyola University Greyhounds are the NCAA Division I men's collegiate lacrosse team that represents Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland...

, Duke's

Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse

The Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse team represents Duke University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse...

Matt Danowski

Matt Danowski is a professional lacrosse player for the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse. He also plays professional indoor lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League for the Rochester Knighthawks...

broke the NCAA career points record, eclipsing Joe Vasta

Joe Vasta

Joe Vasta was an All-American lacrosse player at the United States Air Force Academy from 1983 to 1986 who is currently the 3rd all-time Division I career scoring leader. In 2008, Duke's Matt Danowski surpassed Vasta as the all-time leading scorer...

's mark. Syracuse

Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse

ended Canisius's

Canisius College

first ever appearance in the tournament early with a 20–19 battle. Johns Hopkins was led by Paul Rabil

Paul Rabil

Paul Rabil , is a lacrosse player with the Washington Stealth of the National Lacrosse League and the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse...

's four goals in a 10–4 win over Hofstra

Hofstra Pride men's lacrosse

. Virginia's

Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse

The Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse team represents the University of Virginia in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse...

Garrett Billings third goal of the game with 6:50 left in the game sealed the Cavaliers win over UMBC

UMBC Retrievers men's lacrosse

. Maryland beat GWLL's

Great Western Lacrosse League

The Great Western Lacrosse League, also known as the GWLL, was a NCAA Division I men's college lacrosse athletic conference that existed from 1994 to 2009...

Denver

Denver Pioneers

10–7.

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were held at two separate locations the weekend of May 17 and May 18. On Saturday, 17,017 people attended the quarterfinals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium

Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium

. This set an attendance record for most number of people to attend the quarterfinal round of the lacrosse championships. Fans in attendance saw Johns Hopkins defeat Navy 10–4. Navy was held without a goal for both the second and third quarters. The other game played in Annapolis

Annapolis, Maryland

was Maryland versus Virginia, which went into overtime. Ben Rubeor

Ben Rubeor

Ben Rubeor is an American lacrosse player who currently plays for the Washington Bayhawks in Major League Lacrosse. He was one of the nation's top collegiate lacrosse players at the University of Virginia....

scored the game winning goal in the extra period to send the Cavaliers to the semifinals.

On Sunday, at Cornell's Schoellkopf Field

Schoellkopf Field

, Syracuse defeated Notre Dame 11–9 on the play of midfielder Dan Hardy who recorded four points, including three goals and the game winning score. Also, Duke routed Ohio State 21–10 on the offensive efforts of Zack Greer

Zack Greer

Zack Greer is a Canadian lacrosse player who plays for the Long Island Lizards in Major League Lacrosse and the Edmonton Rush of the National Lacrosse League. Greer attended high school at All Saints Catholic Secondary School in Whitby, and grew up playing box lacrosse...

who recorded a career-high eleven points on six goals and five assists.

Final Four

On Saturday, May 24, 48,224 fans were spectators for the 2008 Division I Final Four doubleheader held at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The first game featured Syracuse versus Virginia, and the second was a rematch of last year's championship game

2007 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament was held from May 12 through May 28, 2007. This was the 37th annual Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament...

between Johns Hopkins and Duke.

Syracuse vs. Virginia

	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	OT	Final
SU	2	1	3	5	1	12
UVA	3	3	3	2	0	11

In the first game of the Final Four doubleheader, Syracuse defeated Virginia 12–11 in a double overtime thriller.

Virginia commanded the first half of the contest due in part to extra-man opportunities resulting from penalties by Syracuse. In the second quarter, the Cavaliers went on a run of five unanswered goals and entered half-time with a 6–3 lead, and the game's momentum. The game remained in Virginia's favor through the third quarter, prior to the Orange fourth quarter comeback.

Syracuse's Mike Leveille

Mike Leveille

Mike Leveille is a professional lacrosse player with the Chicago Machine of the Major League Lacrosse. He was an All-American at Syracuse University, and was awarded the Tewaaraton Trophy in 2008.-Professional career:...

scored five goals, including a goal with 3:00 remaining in the game to send the game into overtime, and the eventual game-winner in the second overtime period to propel the Orange into the Championship game. Syracuse's come-from-behind victory included scoring six of the final eight goals of the contest.

Syracuse's Junior midfielder Matt Abbott, known more for his groundball and clearing game, tallied three goals in the second half for his first career hat trick to spark to second half rally. Extra possessions earned by face-off specialist Danny Brennan, including both opportunities in the overtime periods and 70% total for the game, helped the Orange stage the comeback. While, Syracuse goalkeeper John Galloway settled down in the second half and made a number game saving stops as regulation time expired.

Virginia scoring was led by Danny Glading with three goals and one assist, while Garret Billings scored two goals. Ben Rubeor

Ben Rubeor

, a Tewaaraton Trophy

Tewaaraton Trophy

The Tewaaraton Trophy is an award given annually, since 2001, to the most outstanding American college lacrosse player. It is the lacrosse equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy. The trophy is presented by the Greater Washington Sports Alliance and the University Club of Washington, D.C...

finalist, was held to one point on an assist.

Johns Hopkins vs. Duke

	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	Final
JHU	1	3	3	3	10
Duke	2	0	3	4	9

Johns Hopkins defeated Duke 10–9 in the second game of the Final Four doubleheader. The heavily-favored Duke team, who had beaten the Blue Jays earlier in the season 17–6, were handed only their second loss of the season.

Hopkins controlled the deliberate tempo of the game, and held a 4–2 lead going into halftime. After scoring first after halftime, Hopkins saw Duke pull even with three goals in 45 seconds during the third quarter, including back-to-back goals just 7 seconds apart.

In fourth quarter, the speed of the game accelerated as Duke began to push offensively. Johns Hopkins goaltender Michael Gvozden was up to the task. He recorded 7 of his 17 saves in the fourth quarter, including one as time expired to seal the victory.

Hopkins was led by Senior Kevin Huntley

Kevin Huntley (lacrosse)

Kevin Huntley is a professional lacrosse player with the Toronto Nationals of Major League Lacrosse and the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League. He plays the attack position...

who netted four goals in the contest.

Championship: Syracuse vs. Johns Hopkins

	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	Final
SU	2	4	4	3	13
JHU	4	1	3	2	10

On Memorial Day, Monday May 26, Syracuse defeated Johns Hopkins in the national championship game 13–10 in front of 48,970 fans at Gillette Stadium. This game set the attendance record for the NCAA lacrosse championship game and for any NCAA outdoor championship. This marks the 10th victory in a national championship game for the Syracuse program. This is John Desko's, Syracuse's Head coach, fourth championship in his ten-year career at Syracuse.

The Orange were led by midfielder Dan Hardy with a team-high three goals, fifth-year Senior face-off specialist Danny Brennan who scored his first career goal, and attackman Mike Leveille

Mike Leveille

, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honoree and 2008 Tewaaraton Trophy

Tewaaraton Trophy

winner, who recorded three points on one goal and two assists.

Syracuse goalkeeper

Goalkeeper (field lacrosse)

In field lacrosse the goaltender, also referred to as goalkeeper, goalie, or keeper but most often referred to as the Goalie, is the last line of defense between the opposing offense and his team's goal. The primary role of the goaltender is to defend opposing team's shots on goal. The other main...

John Galloway became the first true freshman goaltender in NCAA history to record 16 wins in one season, and just the fourth to win an NCAA title.

Johns Hopkins' Paul Rabil

Paul Rabil

Paul Rabil , is a lacrosse player with the Washington Stealth of the National Lacrosse League and the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse...

played an outstanding game leading his team with career-high six goals and one assist in the losing effort. In addition, Blue Jay netminder Michael Gvozden made 20 saves, the most saves in a Championship game since Maryland's Brian Dougherty

Brian Dougherty

Brian "Doc" Dougherty is a lacrosse goaltender. He attended The Episcopal Academy before attending University of Maryland. He is currently the head coach at Chestnut Hill College....

in 1995.

Record by conference

Conference	# of Bids	Record	Win %	Quarterfinals	Final Four	Championship Game	Champions
Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...	4	5–4	.555	3	2
Great Western Lacrosse League Great Western Lacrosse League The Great Western Lacrosse League, also known as the GWLL, was a NCAA Division I men's college lacrosse athletic conference that existed from 1994 to 2009...	3	2–3	.400	2
Patriot League Patriot League The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...	2	1–2	.333	1
Independent	2	7–1	.875	2	2	2	1
America East Conference America East Conference The America East Conference is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located mainly in the northeastern United States. The conference was known as the ECAC North from 1979 to 1988 and the North Atlantic Conference from the fall semester of 1988 to the end of the spring...	1	0–1	.000
Colonial Athletic Association Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose full-time members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Most of its members are public universities, with five in Virginia alone, and the conference is headquartered in Richmond,...	1	0–1	.000
Eastern College Athletic Conference ECAC Lacrosse League The ECAC Lacrosse League is an NCAADivision I college athletic conference and part of the Eastern College Athletic Conference. This part of the conference only sponsors men's lacrosse. The league was founded in 2000...	1	0–1	.000
Ivy League Ivy League The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...	1	0–1	.000
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. MAAC teams compete in the NCAA's Division I. Most of the members are Catholic or formerly Catholic institutions; the only exception is the private but secular Rider...	1	0–1	.000

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