NCAA lacrosse tournament winners and losers headlined by ACC, Princeton

• Three ACC teams and one Ivy League team have advanced to the NCAA men's lacrosse championship weekend.
• Duke is the only unseeded team to reach the semifinals after failing to qualify for the ACC tournament.
• Georgetown, North Carolina, Penn State, and Johns Hopkins were all eliminated in the quarterfinal round.

At first glance, the upcoming lineup at championship weekend in the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament might look like a redo of the ACC tournament contested less than a month ago. Three conference members will be on hand, along with the top-seeded team in the field carrying the banner for the Ivy League.

But the group assembling in Charlottesville, Virginia, will actually be somewhat different, as one team that wasn’t even around for the ACC tourney will be in action, while actual conference champ Virginia will not be taking the field in its own hometown.

Here are the winners and losers from quarterfinal weekend.

NCAA men's lacrosse tournament winners

Princeton

We’ll start with the non-ACC representative. The top-seeded Tigers overcame a cold-shooting start Sunday and outlasted No. 8 Penn State 14-10 in Newark, Del. Princeton scored just once in the opening quarter but notched the last five tallies of the game in the final period. Tucker Wade scored four times, Chad Palumbo recorded two goals and three assists, and face-off specialist Andrew McMeekin went 19-for-26 at the X and added a goal himself for the Tigers.

Notre Dame

On one hand, things appear to have lined up favorably for the second-seeded Fighting Irish, since the only ACC squad they couldn’t beat during the season won’t be present at the semifinals. Saturday in Hempstead, New York, Notre Dame used a big second half to pull away from Johns Hopkins 15-9. Air Force grad transfer Josh Yago paced the Fighting Irish with a season-high seven-point effort on four goals and three assists.

Syracuse

The only returnee from last year’s semifinal quartet, the sixth-seeded Orange made the third time the charm against North Carolina. In a contest that was close throughout, Syracuse made the key plays down the stretch to close out a 13-11 victory against the Tar Heels, who had bested the Orange in their first two encounters this season. Joey Spallina had three goals and three assists to pace the Syracuse attack, and Jimmy McCool recorded 12 saves in goal for the Orange.

Duke

After failing to qualify for the four-team ACC tournament, the Blue Devils were among the last teams in the at-large pool slated for inclusion by the NCAA committee. But they’re making the most of their opportunity, becoming the lone unseeded squad to reach championship weekend thanks to a 16-6 romp over Georgetown to wrap up quarterfinal action on Sunday. Duke took charge quickly with six consecutive first-half goals, and the defense backed by goalie Buck Cunningham gave the Hoyas few good looks at the cage.

NCAA men's lacrosse tournament losers

North Carolina

The No. 3 Tar Heels, the highest-seeded team eliminated over the weekend, couldn’t get past Syracuse for a third time. A tough way for UNC to end its year after losing the ACC title game to Virginia. It didn’t help that Tewaaraton Award finalist Owen Duffy was trying to play through a hamstring injury and was far from full speed, but ultimately it came down to the more experienced hands for Syracuse delivering with the game on the line.

Georgetown

The Hoyas have owned the Big East Conference of late, claiming their eighth consecutive title this season, but they’ve yet to make it past the quarterfinal round in that stretch. Despite last weekend’s promising performance at Virginia, the Hoyas were dominated in all phases of the game by Duke.

Penn State

The Nittany Lions went toe-to-toe with Princeton for three quarters. But after briefly grabbing the lead early in the fourth, their depleted attack unit couldn’t score again over the game’s final 14 minutes. It was a disappointing end to a season that fell one game short of repeating last year's Final Four appearance.

Johns Hopkins

The Blue Jays established a tempo that was to their liking as they matched Notre Dame goal-for-goal for a half. After intermission, however, the superior depth of the Fighting Irish started to translate on the scoreboard. The losses by Penn State and Hopkins, along with Maryland’s omission from the field altogether, bring to an end a disappointing tournament for the Big Ten.