The Virginia men's lacrosse team will be in a rare position when the NCAA tournament opens this weekend.
Pairings were announced Sunday night, and the Cavaliers are a No. 7 seed, taking on the Bucknell Bison at 3 p.m. Sunday in Charlottesville. It's a departure from recent seasons, when the Wahoos were top-seeded.
"It's certainly a little different for us," coach Dom Starsia said. "I'm not saying that we're going to sneak up on anybody, but it's not very often that we get to step into the shadows a little bit."
This wasn't supposed to be that year, with U.Va. a preseason No. 1, but a tough slate, suspensions and injuries in conference play left the Cavs with a 9-5 mark.
That means a tough game against the Bison, who won the Patriot League. Teams 9-16 are not seeded, but the committee tries to give the top eight seeds proportionally difficult matchups.
Starsia said last night the teams scrimmaged for two periods in February as part of a three-way workout with Georgetown. NCAA rules prohibit the release of statistics from those events, but the Lax Power website reported a 6-6 tie between the teams.
If U.Va. wins, it would advance to a likely quarterfinal matchup against No. 2 Cornell that would be held on Long Island.
Starsia was bullish on the future of the sport during a chat with reporters Sunday night. Denver will host a first-round game this weekend — the first time one has been held west of the Mississippi River — and Michigan is adding a men's lacrosse team.
"It's a signal to people that our game is growing," Starsia said.
The Virginia women's team also was given its tournament assignment last night, and the Wahoos (9-8) picked up an at-large selection that they had been sweating out since the ACC season ended. The matchup is familiar — U.Va. faces host North Carolina this weekend at a time to be determined. The Tar Heels won the first two meetings including a 16-5 victory at the ACC tournament.
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