Two-time Reigning Champ Tufts Headlines NCAA Division III Men's Field

Two-time defending national champion Tufts avenged its only loss of the season, beating Bowdoin 18-14 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference championship game earlier today and the Jumbos headline the NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Championship bracket.

The 40-team field begins play on Wednesday, May 6 with eight first round games and culminates with the championship game on May 24 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The field includes 26 conference champions that earned automatic qualifying bids and 14 at-large selections based on NPI ratings.

The NESCAC continued to dominate the field as league earned eight total bids and four of the eight weekend hosts for the second and third round games (May 9-10) come from the league.

Joining Tufts as hosts for the second and third round games are Babson, Bates, Bowdoin, Christopher Newport, Lynchburg, Salisbury and Wesleyan.

Babson is 16-2 with losses only to NESCAC leaders Bowdoin and Tufts and captured the NEWMAC championship with a 15-9 win over MIT yesterday.

Bates went 11-5, including a NESCAC tournament win over Amherst, before falling to Tufts in the NESCAC semifinals.

Bowdoin went a perfect 16-0 to open the season, including a win over Tufts, before falling to the Jumbos in the NESCAC final.

Christopher Newport went 16-3 and reached the Coastal Lacrosse Conference final, falling to Salisbury.

Lynchburg went 16-3 this season, reaching the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship game before losing to Washington and Lee in the title game.

Salisbury rallied from a 9-3 halftime deficit to beat Christopher Newport 10-9 in overtime in the Coast Lacrosse Conference final. The Seagulls are 16-3 this season.

Wesleyan went 11-4 with four Top 20 wins, but fell to Hamilton in the NESCAC quarterfinals.

The complete bracket is available here.