Locals galore in NCAA lacrosse Final Four
The NCAA mens and womens lacrosse Final Fours are coming our way next weekend, and the semifinal teams boast a number of local products.
THE NCAA men's lacrosse Final Four will be held next weekend at Lincoln Financial Field, and the semifinals now are set.
Unseeded Cornell will play Duke at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Top-seeded Syracuse will play fourth-seeded Denver at 5 p.m. Saturday.
The national championship game will be played at 1 p.m. Memorial Day.
In yesterday's quarterfinals, Eric Law scored with 13 seconds left to cap Denver's big comeback in a 12-11 win over North Carolina in Indianapolis.
Denver trailed by as many as six goals and was down five at halftime. It will be Denver's second trip to the Final Four in the last 3 years.
Duke defeated Notre Dame, 12-11, in the other quarterfinal.
There were two quarterfinals on Saturday. Cornell defeated Ohio State, 16-6, and Syracuse topped Yale, 7-6.
Three Inter-Ac players are on Syracuse: junior goalie Matthew Lerman (Episcopal), freshman defender Bobby Tait (Germantown Academy) and sophomore midfielder Matt Walters (Haverford School).
Denver has two South Jersey players: freshman goalie Joey Gigantiello (St. Augustine Prep) and senior midfielder Sean Snodgrass (Moorestown).
Cornell has a local connection, senior defender Mike Bronzino, a Berwyn resident who starred at Conestoga High.
Duke has six local players: senior defender Bill Conners (Malvern Prep), junior defenseman Henry Lobb (Malvern Prep), senior goalie Dan Wigrizer (Haverford School), junior attack Jordan Wolf (Lower Merion) and three players from Conestoga: sophomore midfielders Brian Dailey and Tanner Scott and freshman defenseman Jamie Ikeda.
Women's Final Four
Northwestern, North Carolina, Maryland and Syracuse will play in the women's Final Four next weekend at Villanova.
The first semifinal will be between third-seeded North Carolina and second-seeded Northwestern at 5 p.m. Friday. Undefeated, No. 1 Maryland will playing fourth-seeded Syracuse at 7:30.
The national championship game will be at 8 p.m. Sunday.
There are plenty of local players in the women's semis.
For North Carolina, freshman Alyssa Andress plays midfield. She is from Archbishop Wood High. Other Tar Heels from the region are sophomore defeneder Margaret Corzel (Merion Mercy), sophomore midfielder Kelly Devlin (Downingtown East), senior midfielder Emily Garrity (Strath Haven) and freshman defender Stephanie Lobb (West Chester East).
Northwestern has three local players: sophomore goalie Bridget Bianco (Moorestown), sophomore attack Blake McHugh (Episcopal) and junior midfielder Jessica Roy (Pennridge).
Syracuse has three local players: senior attack Michelle Tumolo (Clearview) and the Cross sisters, junior midfielder Amy and freshman midfielder Kelly. They played at Upper Dublin and were coached by their mom, Dee, who is in the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.