Loyola In, USF Out and More Division I Women's Bracket Rapid Reactions

Well, that was both exciting and anti-climactic.

For those unaware, the bracket for the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament actually leaked on the NCAA's official website about a half hour before the Selection Show went live on ESPNU.

That took away some of the shock value in South Florida being left out of the NCAA tournament field — no eligible team rated higher than 22nd in the RPI has missed the NCAA tournament as an at-large until USF.

At the top of the bracket, there were far fewer surprises. The top three seeds — Northwestern, North Carolina and Maryland, in that order — were placed just like many thought. Seeds 4-6 were always going to be some combination of Johns Hopkins, Stony Brook and Navy. Michigan seemed destined for the seventh seed. The eighth seed could either have been Colorado or Syracuse, and it ultimately went to the Buffs — a surprise, but hardly a stunner.

Here's some more info and a few more rapid reactions from the bracket reveal.

NATIONAL SEEDS

1. Northwestern
2. North Carolina
3. Maryland
4. Johns Hopkins
5. Stony Brook
6. Navy
7. Michigan
8. Colorado

TOUGHEST PODS

at No. 8 Colorado

It would seem obvious that the lowest national seed would get the toughest path through its pod. Still, this quartet of teams stood out. Florida gets Denver and Colorado gets Jacksonville, with the winners squaring off in the second round.

We know plenty about Florida, Denver and Colorado, as they have been ranked all spring. But don't sleep on Jacksonville, which went 13-5 with one-goal losses to both Colorado (in overtime) and Florida.

at No. 5 Stony Brook

Stony Brook gets what appears to be a nice first-round game against Stonehill, but the other first-round game is a great one between Boston College and Yale. Either of those teams would present an excellent second-round matchup for the Seawolves.

BEST FIRST-ROUND GAME

About that Boston College-Yale game. This is a matchup of two teams with rollercoaster-type seasons, but still one to watch. The Eagles have the May pedigree, and Yale should be fired up after losing the Ivy League title it was favored to win. Yale hasn't beaten BC since 2008, but this seems like the year the Bulldogs could feasibly snap their nine-game losing streak against the Eagles.

SNEAKY FIRST-ROUND GAME

Stanford-Penn State

Penn State was not included in the committee's "Last Four In" — meaning the Nittany Lions were pretty safely in the field. They could be a tough matchup for Stanford. Even though Penn State suffered six losses, it suffered three of them by just one goal. And they were all to Big Ten elites (Maryland, Johns Hopkins and Michigan). This is a team that can hang with contenders.

Similarly, Stanford has played plenty of close games (the Cardinal have a one-goal loss and a two-goal loss among their three losses). 

Each team has an offense that can test the other's sneaky-strong defenses. This should be a good one.

NOTES

Syracuse went unseeded, likely because the Orange suffered a late loss to Boston College in the regular season. The Orange are still a threat, but the committee likely used that against them. ... Princeton and Rutgers will square off in a Battle of New Jersey in the first round. Naturally, that game will be played in College Park, Md., in the pod of No. 3 Maryland. ... By earning an at-large bid, Clemson has now made the NCAA tournament in all four seasons it has been an NCAA program. That's quite an accomplishment. ... The inclusion of Loyola over South Florida is only shocking when going by the aforementioned history of the RPI. South Florida is now the highest-rated RPI team to be left out of the field as an at-large. In all likelihood, Loyola's win over Navy was a big factor in including the Greyhounds over the Bulls. USF's top win was just against James Madison — the same team that beat them in the American title game.