1972 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

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1972 NCAA Division I Men's
Lacrosse Championship
DatesMay–June 1972
Teams8
Finals siteUniversity of Maryland
ChampionsVirginia (1st title)
Runner-upJohns Hopkins
MOPJay Connor, Virginia
Attendance[1]7,001 finals
NCAA Division I Men's Championships
«1971 1973»

The 1972 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament was the second annual NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament. 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.

Tournament overview[]

The 1972 NCAA Division I tournament championship game was played at University of Maryland in front of 7,001 fans. As in 1971, teams were first selected from the college lacrosse divisions, and then at-large teams were chosen. Army, Navy, Maryland and Johns Hopkins were selected as "seeded" picks. And Virginia, Cortland, Rutgers and Washington & Lee were picked as the at-large teams.

The Virginia Cavaliers led by coach Glenn Thiel (future head coach at Penn State) with an 11-4 record, defeated Johns Hopkins 13 to 12. Virginia had USILA player of the year Pete Eldredge, who finished with four goals in the finals scoring the game winner with four minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Maryland, the pre-tournament favorite and host team, fell in the semifinals to Johns Hopkins, 9-6, before 8,000 fans.

The victory gave Virginia its first NCAA national title in lacrosse, but it was the school's third overall lacrosse title including USILA titles in 1952 and 1970. The victory also gave Virginia its first official NCAA national title in any sport, as the NCAA only unofficially recognizes Virginia's national championship in boxing from 1938. The Cavaliers had lost to Hopkins, Maryland and Navy during the regular season.

The Cavaliers survived a late rush by Jack Thomas, who with 12 seconds left in the game appeared to have a clear shot at the net. Bob Scott however had, unknown to the ball players called a timeout, negating what would have been a last-second game-tying attempt.

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 14-2 that season while knocking off defending champion Cornell, Syracuse and Navy, and earning the number 3 seed in the tournament. Cortland was coached by Jack Emmer who later took Washington and Lee to consecutive NCAAs before moving on to be the longtime coach at Army.

Paced by veterans Jay Connor, Tom Duquette, Pete Eldredge and Chip Barker as well as freshman Richie Werner, Virginia got the winning goal from Eldredge, unassisted with 4:11 left in the contest. Maryland, the pre-tourney favorite, fell in the semifinals to Johns Hopkins 9–6. Connor, the tourney’s leading scorer, set a meet record for assists. Maryland’s John Kaestner broke the single-game assist mark. Virginia and Johns Hopkins combined to shatter all three of the tournament records for shots on goal.

In the first round, Jack Emmer's Cortland team edged Navy 10 to 9 in double overtime, led by Paul Wehrum's 3 goals. Cortland scored three goals in the fourth quarter to erase a 9–6 deficit and won the game despite being outshot by Navy 57–28. [2][3][4] [5]

Tournament bracket[]

Quarterfinals
May 20 		Semifinals
May 27 		Championship
June 3
         
1 Maryland (8-1) 9
8 Rutgers (9-3) 3
Maryland 6
Johns Hopkins 9
4 Johns Hopkins (9-1) 11
5 Washington and Lee (12-2) 5
Johns Hopkins (11–2) 12
Virginia (11–4) 13
3 Cortland State (13-1) 10(ii)
6 Navy (8-3) 9
Cortland State 7
Virginia 14
2 Virginia (8-4) 10
7 Army (8-2) 7
(ii) two overtimes

Tournament boxscores[]

Tournament Finals

Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Virginia (11–4) 4 3 1 5 13
Johns Hopkins (11–2) 3 2 4 3 12
  • Virginia scoring – Pete Eldredge 4, Richie Werner 3, Chip Barker 3, Tom Duquette 2, Jay Connor
  • Johns Hopkins scoring – Bill Nolan 4, Gary Handleman 2, Jack Thomas 2, Don Krohn 2, Richard Kowalchuk, Pat Sinram
  • Shots: Virginia 44, Johns Hopkins 33

Tournament Semi-Finals

Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Virginia 2 5 4 3 14
Cortland St. 1 1 2 3 7
  • Virginia scoring – Jay Connor 3, Pete Eldredge 3, Richie Werner 3, Tom Duquette, Chip Barker, Jim Ulman, George Turner, Doug Cooper
  • Cortland St. scoring – Paul Wehrum 3, John Eberenz 2, Bert Severns, Ken McEwan
  • Shots: Virginia 59, Cortland St. 31
Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Johns Hopkins 3 1 4 1 9
Maryland 1 3 2 0 6
  • Johns Hopkins scoring – Bill Nolan 2, Jack Thomas 2, Kenneth Winegrad, Gary Handleman, Richard Kowalchuk, Mike Perez, William McCutcheon
  • Maryland scoring – John Kaestner 3, Dave Dempsey 2, Pat O’Meally
  • Shots: Maryland 38, Johns Hopkins 34

Tournament Quarterfinals

Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Maryland 1 3 3 2 9
Rutgers 0 0 0 3 3
  • Maryland scoring – Ed Mullen 3, Brooks Sleeper 3 Larry Hubbard, Dino Mattesich, Pat O’Meally, Dave Dempsey
  • Rutgers scoring – Randy Bornoff, Mike Rinck, Bob Carney
  • Shots: Maryland 39, Rutgers 23
Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Johns Hopkins 2 3 5 1 11
Wash. & Lee 2 0 1 2 5
  • Johns Hopkins scoring – Bill Nolan 3, Gary Handleman 2, Pat Sinram, Paul Edwards, Mike Perez, Kenneth Winegrad, Don Krohn, Eric Bergofsky
  • Wash. & Lee scoring – Sam Englehart 2, Dave Warfield, Skip Lichtfuss, Brian Chasney
  • Shots: Johns Hopkins 68, Wash. & Lee 34
Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Virginia 3 3 2 2 10
Army 2 0 1 0 3
  • Virginia scoring – Tom Duquette 3, Chip Barker 3, Doug Cooper 2, Pete Eldredge, Rick Beach
  • Army scoring – Russ Bolling, Rick Goodhand, Phil Lynch
  • Shots: Virginia 51, Army 37
Team 1 2 3 4 OT1 OT2 Total
Cortland St. 0 4 2 3 1 0 10
Navy 4 1 4 0 0 0 9
  • Cortland St. scoring – Paul Wehrum 3, Bert Severns 2, John Eberenz 2, Ken McEwan 2, Sal Taormina
  • Navy scoring – Dave Bayly 2, Nick Smilari 2, Chris Virtue, Chris Ladd, Marty Mason, Tim Supko, Kim McCauley
  • Shots: Navy 57, Cortland St. 28

Tournament outstanding player[]

Jay Connor, Virginia, 13 points, Tournament Leading Scorer

  • The NCAA did not designate a Most Outstanding Player until the 1977 national tournament.
    The Tournament outstanding player listed here is the tournament leading scorer.

References[]

  1. ^ "NCAA Lacrosse Division I Results / Records" (pdf). NCAA. p. 3 (51). Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  2. ^ "1972 NCAA Spring Championship Review" (PDF). NCAA News. June 25, 1972. pp. Page 4 of 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 3, 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
  3. ^ Associated Press. Virginia Tops Jays For Lacrosse Title. The Cumberland Times. June 4, 1972. pg. 42
  4. ^ "Virginia Wins Lacrosse Title". The Free Lance-Star. June 5, 1972. pp. Page 4 of 10.
  5. ^ "Cortland Men's Lacrosse Team Guides". SUNY Cortland. 2008.

External links[]

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