NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament 2012: Loyola Beats Maryland For Title

Loyola Vs. Maryland, 2012 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship: Greyhounds Win First Title, 9-3

Maryland's run to the national championship game of the 2012 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament featured a lot of stingy defense and timely scoring. Against Loyola (Md.) in Monday's championship game, it was the Greyhounds, not the Terrapins, who got all of that, taking a 9-3 victory for their first national title.

Eric Lusby had four goals on the day for the Greyhounds, giving him a record 17 in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Three came after halftime, as Loyola shut out Maryland 4-0 in the second half. The Greyhounds finished the game on a 7-0 unanswered run.

The national championship evens the Greyhounds' mark in title games at 1-1 (Loyola lost to Syracuse in 1990) and makes Loyola the smallest school to ever win the Division I men's lacrosse title.

On the other side of the field, this was Maryland's second consecutive loss in the national championship game; the Terps fell 9-7 to Virginia in 2011.

For more on the men's lacrosse championship game, visit SB Nation's lacrosse blogs College Crosse and In Lax We Trust. For a Maryland perspective, visit Testudo Times.

Loyola Vs. Maryland, 2012 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship: Greyhounds Up, 5-3, At Half

Maryland's made a Cinderella run in the 2012 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament, going from being unseeded to making the NCAA Tournament final. But Loyola (Md.) has been on a Cinderella run all season, from being unranked and unheralded at the season's outset to being the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the Greyhounds are 30 minutes from finally getting that glass slipper to fit, leading Maryland 5-3 at the half.

Loyola got goals from Mike Sawyer, Eric Lusby and Davis Butts in the first half, and came back from a 3-2 deficit in the second quarter to take the lead on the Terrapins.

Maryland's gotten goals from Jesse Bernhardt, Dan Chanenchuk and Kevin Cooper, but did not score in the final 10:40 of the first half.

For more on the men's lacrosse championship game, visit SB Nation's lacrosse blogs College Crosse and In Lax We Trust. For a Maryland perspective, visit Testudo Times.

NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship 2012, Loyola Vs. Maryland: Game Time, TV Schedule And More

The NCAA men's lacrosse national championship will be decided Monday when the Maryland Terrapins face off against the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds.

Maryland advanced to the championship game with a 16-10 win over Duke. It is the second straight year Maryland has advanced to the national championship game; the Terrapins lost to Virginia 9-7 in the championship last year. The Terps' return trip hasn't been easy. They beat No. 7 seed Lehigh in the first round and No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins in the second round before beating No. 3 seed Duke in the semifinals.

Loyola, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, beat No. 4 seed Notre Dame 7-5 in the semifinals. They Greyhounds are 17-1 this season with their only blemish a 10-9 loss to Johns Hopkins. Maryland and Loyola are located just 35 miles apart, making the national championship game an Old Line State affair.

Monday's national championship game is set to begin at 1 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN.

For more on the men's lacrosse championship game, visit SB Nation's lacrosse blogs College Crosse and In Lax We Trust. For a Maryland perspective, visit Testudo Times.

2012 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship: Northwestern Wins, 8-6

Northwestern earned its seventh championship in eight seasons as they beat a surprise Syracuse squad in the championship game in Stony Brook, 8-6.

The final score was modestly close, only two goals, but the game was much less even. Northwestern controlled 10 of the first 11 draws and dominated possession, with Tewaaraton Award finalist Taylor Thornton notching two goals and two assists on the way to the victory.

The game was fast-paced from the offset, with Northwestern leading 5-4 at the halftime break. But afterwards, NU slowed the game down, only taking a few shots and generally playing keepaway to preserve its victory over the Orange.

The Wildcats didn't face their toughest opponent -- they lost to Florida twice earlier in the season -- but Syracuse knocked out the Gators in the semis to prevent the Wildcats from playing the No. 1 seed.

For more on college lacrosse, visit College Crosse. For more on Northwestern, make sure to check out Sippin' on Purple, and for more on Syracuse, check out Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician.

NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship 2012: Maryland And Loyola Face Off Monday Afternoon

The unseeded Maryland Terrapins will take on the top-seeded Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds in the 2012 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship Game on Monday. Despite the apparent mismatch, the Terps ride into Gilette Stadium with momentum after beating the No. 3 seed Duke Blue Devils, 16-10, on Saturday.

The Terps also beat the No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins Blue Jays in the quarterfinals, setting them up for a potential clean sweep of the tournament's top three seeds.

The Greyhounds were the tournament's top seed for a reason, however, after going 17-1 this season. Eric Lusby scored five goals in the Greyhounds' 7-5 win over Notre Dame on Saturday to put them on the cusp of a championship.

The all-Maryland NCAA Tournament Final will face off in Foxboro, Mass. at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

For more on Maryland, visit Testudo Times. For more on lacrosse, make sure to check out In Lax We Trust and College Crosse.

Duke Vs. Maryland, NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament 2012: Terps Dust Duke, 16-9, To Set Up All-Maryland Final

Maryland, the Cinderella of the 2012 NCAA Tournament in men's lacrosse, needed to knock off another top seed to get to the NCAA Tournament final. With a 16-10 win over No. 3 seed Duke on Saturday, the Terrapins did just that, advancing to their second consecutive championship game and setting up an all-Maryland affair in the final.

Drew Snider pumped in four goals for the Terps, Owen Blye added three, and Billy Gribbin and Kevin Forster each added two for a Maryland team that never trailed and led by two goals throughout the second half. After Duke closed to 10-8 early in the fourth quarter, the Terrapins responded with six straight goals in the next 11 minutes to put the game well out of reach.

Duke got two goals and an assist from Justin Turri and two goals from Robert Rotanz, but couldn't crack Maryland's defense, despite outshooting the Terps.

Maryland moves on to Monday's final, where the Terrapins get fellow Maryland representatives Loyola (Md.), the tournament's top seed.

For more on Maryland, visit Testudo Times. For more on the world of college lacrosse, head to In Lax We Trust.

Duke Vs. Maryland, NCAA Lacrosse Tournament Score: Terps Up 6-4 At Half

Maryland's men's lacrosse team came into the NCAA Tournament Final Four as the only non-seeded team. After 30 minutes against Duke, the Terrapins have a 7-4 halftime lead on their ACC rivals, and are looking like a team that will play for a national title.

Maryland got two goals from Billy Gribbin and three assists from Joe Cummings in the first half, built 3-0 and 6-3 leads, and never trailed against a Duke team that couldn't quite match the Terps' aggressiveness.

Duke didn't get more than a goal or an assist from any one Blue Devil, and Robert Rotanz, Josh Dionne and Christian Walsh, three of Duke's goal-scorers, needed a combined 11 shots to put in their three balls. Duke outshot Maryland in the first half, 17-12.

If Maryland can hold onto its lead, it will set up an all-Maryland NCAA Tournament final: the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds earned their berth in the final game of the season by knocking off Notre Dame earlier on Saturday afternoon.

For more on Maryland, visit Testudo Times. For more on lacrosse, make sure to check out In Lax We Trust.

Loyola Vs. Notre Dame, NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament 2012: Greyhounds Advance To Title On 5-Goal Performance From Eric Lusby

The Loyola Greyhounds advanced to the 2012 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship on Monday with a 7-5 win over Notre Dame. Loyola never trailed against the Irish, and stopped a late Notre Dame rally to clinch the win. The Greyhounds, who have lost only one game all season, will play in the title game for the first time since 1990. Loyola's Eric Lusby was incredible on attack, scoring a hat trick in the first half alone and five goals overall in a dominant performance. The grad student now has 13 goals in the tournament and he's been a huge part of his team's march from unranked to Monday's title game.

Loyola enjoyed a comfortable lead for much of the game, withstanding two brief Notre Dame runs on the strength of their excellent goaltender Jack Runkel, who made 14 saves. The seven goals were the lowest total of the season for Loyola, but Runkel and the defense ensured the low output held up. The Irish are one of the top defensive teams in the country but they struggled to get anything going on the other end of the field. They were undone by two incredibly long scoring droughts in each half.

Notre Dame went through a 20 minute stretch in the first half where they put only four shots on goal and committed six turnovers. But the Irish closed the half strong, scoring two goals in a six second stretch just before the two-minute mark. The second goal by Nicholas Beattie came right off the face-off and had the Irish sideline whipped into a frenzy. Loyola recaptured the momentum, however, by capitalizing on an ND turnover and burying a goal with two seconds remaining. Josh Hawkins charged up the middle and went to his left to fire an offspeed bouncer to put the Greyhounds back up 5-3.

In the second half, Notre Dame went another 20 minute stretch without a goal, putting up a bagel in the third quarter. The Irish finally broke through with just over seven minutes remaining in the game, taking a Loyola turnover the other way in transition for a Sean Rogers score. Less than a minute later, Westy Hopkins cut the lead to two by coming underneath and cutting across the front of the crease to make it 7-5. With momentum on the Irish side and despite losing almost every face-off, Runkel and the Greyhounds were up to the task over the final six minutes and salted away the win.

Loyola will play the winner of the second semifinal game between Duke and Maryland on Monday in the title game at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

For more on college lacrosse, check out College Crosse. For info on Notre Dame sports, check out One Foot Down.

NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament 2012, Duke Vs. Maryland: Game Time, TV Schedule And More

Maryland is unseeded, but they still have a shot against No. 3 Duke in the National Semifinal.

NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament 2012, Loyola Vs. Notre Dame: Game Time, TV Schedule And More

One-loss Loyola meets four-seed Notre Dame in one of two Final Four matchups Saturday afternoon.