Unsettled: Parity or Not, The Championship Race is Wide Open

Welcome to this week's edition of Unsettled, a weekly look at big stories, random observations and the numbers from the NCAA men's lacrosse scene. Check back each Sunday for the latest.

The most overused word in lacrosse for at least two decades has been parity. Every time there’s an upset, the pundits will talk about the increased parity in the sport, instead of just realizing what it is … an upset.

That’s what happens in sports. It’s why the games are played.

Parity, upsets, whatever you want to call it, are soon going to be fewer and further between. The disparity between scholarships, NIL and revenue sharing money among the top programs is only going to widen the gap between the haves and the have nots, and some of the current haves are going to be slipping behind those getting even more resources.

But not yet.

This year is truly the most wide-open national championship race that I can remember in more than 25 years of covering the sport. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then thank you Big Ten Conference for this graphic.

Introducing your 2026 B1G regular season champs 🏆 pic.twitter.com/3sbQwfrtB2

— Big Ten Lacrosse (@B1GLacrosse) April 18, 2026

A four-way tie for first place in a six-team conference and the last place team, Rutgers, beat the team seeded No. 1, Johns Hopkins, for the Big Ten tournament.

How about the ACC?

One-half game separates the top four teams in the league standings with North Carolina, Notre Dame and Syracuse currently tied with identical 2-1 records and Virginia right behind at 2-2. The last place team, Duke, lost to Notre Dame and Syracuse by just a goal each and will anyone be stunned if they upset rival North Carolina next Saturday?

Notre Dame is the No. 1 team in the country and they’ve hit double digits just twice in scoring since February. One of those was exactly 10 goals against North Carolina and the other was 12 against Richmond, a game they scored just four times over the final 48 minutes of the game.

Let’s shift to the Ivy League.

Princeton is the No. 2 team in the country and edged Harvard by a single-goal in a huge win on Saturday, but doesn’t control its own destiny in the league race for the No. 1 seed. Reigning national champion Cornell can lock that down with a win over Harvard on Saturday. But the hottest team in the league might be Yale, which has won five straight – including wins over Cornell and Harvard and a 15-2 win over UAlbany on Saturday – but could miss the Ivy League tournament if it doesn’t beat Brown this weekend.

You want to go to Vegas and make a prediction in that conference, or any of them for that matter?

There are other wild cards like Richmond and Georgetown that figure to make some noise this May as well.

It’s shaping up for a fantastic finish. Just don’t call it parity.

Random Observations

It’s hard to imagine a more picture-perfect way for Syracuse’s Joey Spallina to become the all-time leader scorer at the legendary program. Spallina threw a BTB pass – captured brilliantly above by our photographer Rich Barnes – to his roommate Michael Leo, who scored on a BTB goal in the Orange’s 14-7 win over Colgate. The ACC Network chimed in with interviews from the player’s record he broke, Mikey Powell, and Mikey’s brother, Casey, right after the moment.

History.#HHH x #LIkeNoOther pic.twitter.com/o5JzP6XVAQ

— Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) April 18, 2026

Spallina finished the game with two goals and five assists, including a BTB goal of his own and an assist to his brother, Jake, on a goal to run his career total to 313 points.

Joey Spallina wasn’t the only one grabbing attention in the dome. This goal from Michael Leo was aptly described by Jules Heningburg on air as, “Doing the goalie ADAP – as dirty as possible.”

When you have the chance, do it ADAP.#HHH x #LikeNoOther pic.twitter.com/KP2XxkHCSA

— Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) April 19, 2026

Sometimes lost in a loss are amazing plays. North Carolina outgunned Virginia 16-15 in overtime, spoiling a four-goal comeback by the Cavaliers in the final 5:28 of regulation to force overtime. McCabe Millon showed unbelievable poise on the final goal. Knowing the clock was winding down, it would have been natural to force a shot, but Millon calmly fed Ryan Duenkel on the doorstep for the game-tying goal with just one second left.

BEAT THE BUZZER 🤯  

Tie at 15's with :01 left#GoHoos 🔸⚔️🔹#GoHoos🔸⚔️🔹 pic.twitter.com/FA1NjFVsiF

— Virginia Men's Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) April 18, 2026

Ditto for any number of players in an epic Princeton-Harvard game that was poised to make many players heroes. That honor ultimately fell to Colin Burns who scored his fifth goal of the game with 17 seconds left to lift the Tigers to a 15-14 win. Burns came from X and scored with almost no angle.

OH MY BURNSIE pic.twitter.com/XcHTVEeSlG

— Princeton Men's Lacrosse (@TigerLacrosse) April 18, 2026

By the Numbers

0 • Seconds in which UMass held the lead during its 13-12 double overtime victory over Hobart on freshman Thomas Bagnall’s goal. The Minutemen trailed by as much as 8-1 in the first quarter before coming back to post their 10th victory of the season, the first time it hit double digits in a season since 2019.

8 • Extra-man goals for Jacksonville as part of its school-record 27 goals in a blowout win over Bellarmien. The Dolphins scored six EMO goals early in the second quarter following a three-minute non-releasable penalty on the Knights.

4 • Extra-man goals scored by North Carolina in a span of just 1:29 late in the first quarter following a pair of locked-in unsportsmanlike calls against Virginia that turned a 3-2 Virginia lead into a 6-3 advantage for the Tar Heels. Virginia spent the rest of the game playing from behind.

5 • Overtime games played by Providence this season. The Friars lost the first three, but have now posted back-to-back wins in extra time, nipping Denver 8-7 on Saturday. Richie Joseph scored the game-winner to secure a hat trick and a berth in the Big East tournament for Providence.

71.4 • Percentage of Notre Dame’s goals scored by players on its football roster in a 7-6 win over Duke. Sophomore Matt Jeffery continues to emerge as a go-to player and had a hat trick while true freshman Dylan Faison scored twice after scoring just one goal in his first five games.

129 • All-time meetings in the Johns Hopkins-Maryland series after Saturday’s 9-8 Blue Jays’ win. It came down to the wire with Maryland hitting a pipe with nine seconds remaining. Matt Collison had a hat trick and Owen Gelinas made 14 saves.

10 • Consecutive wins for Robert Morris after the Colonials won the Northeast Conference regular season title with a 14-10 win over LIU. It’s RMU’s first outright regular season conference title since 2012.

150 • Career wins for Hofstra, and U.S. National Team, head coach Seth Tierney after the Pride’s win over Hampton on Saturday.

27 • Goals this season for Hampton’s Anthony Bardonille Jr., setting a new school record.

14 • Saves by Towson goalie Matt Nilan in a 12-5 win over Fairfield, that clinched the No. 1 seed and hosting privileges for the Tigers for the CAA Tournament.

26 • Faceoff wins for Delaware’s Scott Conte in a 19-16 victory over St. Bonaventure. Conte won 26 of 34 in the game, had 17 groundballs and added an assist. In the last four games, the freshman has won 64 of 84 faceoffs, all Blue Hen wins.

12 • Saves by Boston U graduate student Michael Allieri in a 13-2 win over Lafayette. It was the first career start at BU for Allieri, a former two-year starter at Marquette.