2014 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship was the 44th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national championship for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college lacrosse. Eighteen teams were selected to compete in the tournament based upon their performance during the regular season, and for some, by means of a conference tournament automatic qualifier. The Divisions I men’s lacrosse committees announced the teams in the field on 4 May 2014.

Tournament overview

The tournament started on May 7, 2014 with two play-in games that were played on campus sites by the four lowest ranking automatic qualifying teams. The winners of the games, Bryant and Air Force, advanced onto the first round of the tournament. The tournament concluded with the championship game on May 29 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

Schools from ten conferences, America East, ACC, Atlantic Sun, Big East, CAA, ECAC, Ivy League, MAAC, NEC, and Patriot League, earned automatic bids into the tournament by winning their respective conference tournaments, leaving eight remaining at-large bids for top ranked teams. Air Force (ECAC), Albany (America East), Bryant (NEC), Denver (Big East), Drexel (CAA), Loyola (Patriot), Notre Dame (ACC), Penn (Ivy), Richmond (Atlantic Sun), and Siena (MAAC), are the schools that claimed automatic bids.

In the finals, with Duke leading 8-2 in the third quarter, Notre Dame put together another comeback narrowing the margin to one with five minutes left in the game. Tewaaraton finalist Jordan Wolf closed out the title for Duke with an empty net goal with under a minute left. This was Duke's second straight title, their 3rd title in the prior five years, and their 8th straight final four appearance.

First time winners in this tournament included Bryant and Drexel, both of whom won their first NCAA tournament games.

Bracket

* = One Overtime

References