Around the Ivies: Men's Lacrosse

The men’s lacrosse regular season has come and gone, and four teams will be participating in this year’s Ivy League tournament to fight for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The teams will also be looking to simply impress in general, as they will also be playing for the eight available at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. Below we take a look at each team that will be participating in the tournament, in order of their seeding:

1. Cornell (6-0 Ivy League, 12-2 overall) There is no doubt that the Big Red is the favorite going into the tournament. It has beaten each of the three other teams in the tournament by an average of just over four points, and it is now ranked as the second-best team in the nation. It will be facing the Tigers in the first round of the tournament on Friday, just six days after having beaten them soundly, 17-11. The tournament is not as important for Cornell as it is for the rest of the teams participating, however, as the Big Red is very likely to make the NCAA tournament regardless of whether or not it wins the Ivy tournament. However, Cornell will still be looking to perform well in the tournament, as its seeding at the NCAAs will be affected by how well it plays this weekend.

2. Yale (4-2, 9-4) The Bulldogs are the only other team after Cornell that escaped the regular season with a winning Ivy League record. Their one-goal win over Harvard in the last regular season game moved them up from the fourth seed to the second seed in the tournament, allowing them to avoid Cornell in the first round. They are led by Brandon Mangan, who finished the regular season with the second-most points in the Ivy League. They also have a strong defense, highlighted by the fact that they allow the second-least goals in the Ivy League at 8.18, but have the second-worst save percentage (51.6 percent).

3. Penn (3-3, 8-4) Penn is a dangerous team as it is a couple of overtime losses away from being 5-1 in the Ivy League. A victory over Princeton early in the season gave the Quakers the tiebreak over the Tigers to be the third seed in the tournament. Penn has the second-worst goals per game in the Ivy League, scoring only 9.25, but its defense and goalkeeping are stellar. The Quakers have only allowed 7.21 goals per game, almost a whole goal per game lower than the next-best team, and goalie Brian Feeney is at the top of the Ivy League in save percentage at 59 percent. Their match-up against Yale should be a good one, as the two teams had to go to overtime when they last met each other in Philadelphia, a matchup that Yale won 7-6.

4. Princeton (3-3, 8-5) The Tigers are also a few close losses from having a much better record — they lost two Ivy League games, as well as two non-conference games, by one goal. Their loss to Cornell last weekend, coupled with a Yale win, dropped the Tigers to the fourth seed and secured a rematch with the Big Red. The Tigers were in good shape halfway through the season, but a surprise loss to Dartmouth in very poor weather really set them back. The game was the only win all season for the Big Green, which lost the rest of its conference games by an average of over six goals.