Both Denver men’s and women’s lacrosse programs have their respective BIG EAST conference tournaments this weekend. The women will be fighting for a potential home-field advantage in the first round of the NCAA Tournament – though the 12-10 loss to rival Colorado likely ended that opportunity – and the men are fighting for their postseason lives, hoping to just extend their season. One loss and their season is over. The action will take place this Thursday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium for the women and Cooper Field (Georgetown) in Washington D.C.for the men.
The other impact is on Denver’s run toward yet another I-AAA Directors Cup title. According to the NACDA standings, the DU men’s hockey National Championship certainly helped Denver’s point totals as DU sits in first, 52nd overall among all D1 institutions with their closest non-football pursuers, Providence and Creighton, at 67th and 68th respectively. Springtime sports such as men’s and women’s lacrosse, beach volleyball, track, men’s volleyball, women’s water polo, women’s rowing, softball, golf, and tennis remain. Final Learfield Directors Cup standings will be released on June 16th at the conclusion of spring sports.
Following a disappointing non-conference 12-10 loss to Colorado at home, #10 DU women’s lacrosse (15-2, 5-0) won the BIG EAST regular-season title outright this past Saturday against Marquette at Peter Barton Stadium. They play UConn this Thursday at 1:00 pm – yet another awful start-time for maximizing attendance and attention – with the BIG EAST final on Saturday at noon. They are essentially a lock for the twenty-nine-team NCAA Tournament field though, as mentioned above, it will take some real luck to earn a first-round home game.
Denver men’s lacrosse finished strong, trouncing Marquette 16-8 under the lights at Peter Barton to finish 9-5 overall, and 4-1 in the BIG EAST to conclude the regular season. They finished behind Georgetown in the conference standings and will be the #2 seed in this weekend’s conference tournament. Denver must defeat #3 Villanova Thursday at 3:30 pm MT and win the final, likely against Georgetown, who will be playing the same Marquette side Denver dominated over the weekend, on Saturday at 2:30 pm MT to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.
All things considered, Denver men’s lacrosse is not even on the bubble with most projections showing the BIG EAST as a one-bid conference should Georgetown fulfill expectations and win both of their games this weekend. With 18 available slots, the Ivy League is expected to have five bids, the ACC three, and the Big Ten with two or three while most other conferences will earn just a single bid out of the 18 open slots.
The Women’s and Men’s NCAA Lacrosse Tournament Selection Show will take place on Sunday, May 8 at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.
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