1972 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 1972 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament was the second annual Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament. [cite web|url=http://www.ncaa.com/history/default.aspx?id=88000|title=Division I Men's Lacrosse History|last=|first= |date=|publisher=NCAA.com|accessdate=2008-05-30] This was the last NCAA championship in which the Wingate Memorial Trophy was also presented to the national champion. Prior to NCAA Lacrosse Championships, the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) awarded the Wingate Memorial Trophy to the NCAA annual champion based on regular season records.

The 1972 NCAA Division I tournament championship game was played at University of Maryland in front of 7,001 fans. The Virginia Cavaliers led by coach Glenn Thiel (the current coach at Penn State) with an 11 and 4 record, defeated Johns Hopkins 13 to 12. Virginia was led by USILA player of the year Pete Eldredge, who scored the game winner with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. [cite web|url=http://web1.ncaa.org/web_video/NCAANewsArchive/1972/19720625.pdf|title=1972 NCAA Spring Championship Review|date=June 25, 1972|publisher=NCAA News|pages=Page 4 of 7|accessdate=2008-05-30] The victory gave Virginia itsfirst national title in any sport. The Cavaliers had lost to Hopkins, Maryland and Navy during the regular season. [Associated Press. "Virginia Tops Jays For Lacrosse Title". The Cumberland Times. June 4, 1972. pg. 42]

This tournament saw the entry in the tournament of two early innovative lacrosse programs, Cortland State and Washington and Lee. Cortland was notable for going 14 and 2 that season while knocking off defending champion Cornell, Syracuse and Navy. Cortland was coached by Jack Emmer who later took Washington and Lee to consecutive NCAAs, before moving on to be the long time coach at Army. [cite web|url=http://www.cortlandreddragons.com/sports/2007/12/16/mlaxguides.aspx?path=mlax|title=Cortland Men's Lacrosse Team Guides|date=2008|publisher=SUNY Cortland|pages=|accessdate=]

Tournament bracket

8TeamBracket | RD1=First Round
RD2=Semifinals
RD3=Championship

score-width=
team-width=

RD1-seed1=1
RD1-team1=Maryland
RD1-score1=9
RD1-seed2=8
RD1-team2=Rutgers
RD1-score2=3

RD1-seed3=4
RD1-team3=Johns Hopkins
RD1-score3=11
RD1-seed4=5
RD1-team4=Washington and Lee
RD1-score4=5

RD1-seed5=3
RD1-team5=Virginia
RD1-score5=12
RD1-seed6=10
RD1-team6=Army
RD1-score6=3

RD1-seed7=2
RD1-team7=Cortland State
RD1-score7=10
RD1-seed8=7
RD1-team8=Navy
RD1-score8=9

RD2-seed1=1
RD2-team1= Maryland
RD2-score1= 6
RD2-seed2=4
RD2-team2= Johns Hopkins
RD2-score2= 9

RD2-seed3= 3
RD2-team3= Virginia
RD2-score3= 14
RD2-seed4= 2
RD2-team4= Cortland State
RD2-score4= 7

RD3-seed1= 4
RD3-team1= Johns Hopkins
RD3-score1= 12
RD3-seed2= 3
RD3-team2= Virginia
RD3-score2= 13

* * = Overtime

References