Watch The NCAA Division I Lacrosse Title Game Live: No. 4 Denver vs. No. 6 Maryland


The Denver Pioneers are going to play in their first NCAA Division I Lacrosse championship game tomorrow, May 25. The Pioneers, who defeated No. 1 seeded Notre Dame in the semifinals, will face No. 6 Maryland Terrapins at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The 45th Division I lacrosse title game will commence at 1 p.m. (ET) and can be seen live on ESPN2.

Denver (16-2) reached the national title game with a 11-10 overtime victory over Notre Dame, as Wesley Berg tallied the game-winner with 2:03 left in overtime. The Pioneers, who never trailed in the game, blew a four goal lead in the final stanza.

“It’s amazing for the program to get past that step,” Pioneer goalkeeper Ryan LaPlante, who stopped 13 Fighting Irish shots, told the Denver Post after the game.

“We don’t want to stop there. It’s been our ultimate goal to win the national championship since we got to school in September. We just want to work [toward] that on Monday and you have one game to do that.”

Despite this being the Pioneers first title game appearance, they are not new to the national stage. Denver has reached the semifinals in four of the past five seasons, and is in the NCAA tournament for the eighth time since 2006.

Maryland (15-3), on the other hand, has been one of the most dominant lacrosse programs in the history of the sport. The Terrapins rank in the top-four in history in overall wins, and their 37 NCAA tournament appearances are the second most in Division I history. According to the school’s website, Maryland is the only major lacrosse program never to have a losing season.

The Terrapins reached its 12th title game appearance with a 12-11 victory over unseeded Johns Hopkins. Sophomore attackman Matt Rambo led the way for the Terps with four goals, including the team’s final two of the game, and six points. The win over Johns Hopkins gave the Terps their record-setting 15th victory of the season.

Game Preview

The Syracuse Post-Standard is reporting this is the first time in the history of the tournament that a No. 4 seed will face a No. 6 seed. No. 4 seeds are 2-4 in the title game, while Maryland would be the first sixth seed to win a title — Notre Dame, who lost in last year’s finals, is the only other No. 6 seed to play on Memorial Day.

The pairing of the seeds is not the only way this year’s game will make history. No matter which team wins, some kind of history will also be made. If Denver wins, they will be the first school located west of the Appalachians to claim the crown. A win by Maryland means the end to a 40-year titleless drought.

Maryland has two Division-I national titles overall, with their last coming in 1975. Since then, the Terps are 0-7 in the finals.

Regardless of history, this should be an outstanding game, as it features the Pioneers high-octane offense versus the Terps stingy defense.

Denver, led by sophomore Connor Cannizzaro, ranks fifth in the NCAA in scoring with 13.9 goals a game. Cannizzaro, who transferred from Maryland after his freshman season, has recorded 89 points and a school-record 56 goals. Berg, the school’s all-time scoring leader, has a total of 73 points and 53 goals. The Pioneers have scored 41 goals in their three tournament games.

Maryland led the nation in scoring defense, surrendering just 6.9 goals a game. The Terps defense is led by senior defenseman Casey Ikeda and redshirt junior goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr. Bernlohr is 15-3 on the season and has a 6.78 goals against average, to go along with a 57.7 save percentage. Maryland has surrendered 25 goals this postseason, compared to the 34 Denver has coughed up. However, the Terps have only tallied 34 goals in the three tournament games.

The x-factor in the game, according to USA Today, could be who gains the advantage in faceoffs. The Pioneers’ Trevor Baptiste boasts the best winning percentage in the country, at 68.6 percent. The Terps Charlie Raffa isn’t bad, either. Raffa, who has battled injuries all year, has won 58.9 percent of his faceoffs.

This marks the fifth all-time meeting between the schools with Maryland winning the previous four games — two of those wins have come in the tournament.

The Pioneers enter the game on a 12-game winning streak, while the Terps are just 3-2 in their last five.

[Photo via Inside Lacrosse]

Share this article: Watch The NCAA Division I Lacrosse Title Game Live: No. 4 Denver vs. No. 6 Maryland
More from Inquisitr