Tournament Check-In: Women’s Division I, Men’s Division III Tournaments underway; MCLA semis set

The Men’s Division I Tournament got underway yesterday as the Robert Morris Colonials took care of the Canisius Golden Griffins, even without goalie Alex Heger, in the Opening Round.

But there’s also other tournament action worth watching!

Women’s Division I

There was a women’s game yesterday! Wagner, the NEC champions, took down Mercer, the SoCon champions, yesterday afternoon for their first ever NCAA Tournament victory.

Tied at five entering the second half, the Seahawks scored three straight before the Bears countered with a two-goal run of their own. That would be the closest Mercer would get to tying up the game, as Wagner went on a 4-0 of nearly eight minutes thanks to a pair of goals from Ally Alliegro and Erin Kerstetter. Alliegro finished the game with three goals and four assists in the win.

They’ll play Towson tomorrow afternoon, so not a ton of rest for the team against a good CAA opponent.

Men’s Division III

Congratulations to New England College, Elizabethtown, and Morrisville State on winning their first ever NCAA Tournament games. Sadly, their run wouldn’t last long.

But we would love to give a shoutout to Merchant Marine’s attackman Pat Coll. He had 12 goals on 20 shots in the win. He nearly beat Johnson & Wales on his own. He finished the season with 69 goals (nice) and 15 assists.

Some notes from each game:

• RIT set a program record for assists (26) and points (52) in a game. Ryan Tandy led the onslaught with five goals and four assists.
• Springfield scored their final goal of the game with 11:31 left in the third quarter. Stevens scored the final six goals in 27:48 of game time. Jake Reynolds did make 18 saves for Springfield.
• York’s offense ratcheted up production after Western New England made it an 8-6 game in the third with a seven goal run that nearly lasted the entire game before the Golden Bears scored with a second left.
• Amherst shut Keene State out the entire second half, and Dylan Peabody registered four goals and four assists.
• Ronan Jacoby scored five goals and one assist in the win, while Otto Bohan made 13 saves.
• Six Cabrini Cavaliers scored four or more points, including Timmy Brooks and his five goals and Matt LoParo’s six points (1 G, 5 As).
• Ithaca’s Connor Brumfield recorded three goals and four assists to spearhead the Bombers’ success over Stevenson. Winston Wenham caused three turnovers
• Tufts scored the first 13 goals of the game, 11 of them in the first half. Garrett Samuelson scored five goals and had one assist.
• The Bullets shutout Elizabethtown in the first half and took a 6-0 lead after 30 minutes. After a Blue Jay goal, Gettysburg scored seven straight. Michael McCormick and Brian Kolen each had four goals.
• Pretty impressive to keep a team to just one goal in 60 minutes. But Rhodes did that, thanks to three caused turnovers by Tyler Keiser.
• Ohio Wesleyan shutout Aurora for 38:49 of game time, spanning parts of all four quarters. Bryson Taylor recorded three caused turnovers in the win.
• Denison and Illinois Wesleyan were tied at three after the first quarter. Then, the Big Red scored 11 goals in the second. Big games from Spencer Butler (5 Gs, 1 A), Brooks Davy (9 Gs), and Peter Pittroff (5 Gs, 7 As).
• The Red Devils used a big five goal run in the second quarter to get past Lynchburg. Tucker Carney scored four goals in the win.
• The Generals led 14-1 at half. It was over quick. A.J. Witherell led the Generals with four goals and one assist, while younger brother Taylor scored a hat-trick.
• Christopher Newport continued their historic season with their first NCAA Tournament win in program history against Roanoke. Lucas Barry recorded five goals and one assist, but Matthew Crist’s trio of goals and assists gave him a program record in career goals (124) and points in a season (80).
• The Sea Gulls continued their run for a third straight national championship, thanks in part to four goals by Garrett Reynolds and three goals and three assists from Josh Melton.

Here’s an updated look at the Division III bracket:

MCLA Division I

Chapman came oh so close to having their perfect season come to an end at the hands of Liberty. Can South Carolina pull off their own upset?

Meanwhile, BYU fittingly kicks Utah out of the MCLA with their game-winning goal with six seconds left. The Utes now move to the NCAA Division I next season. The Cougars will take on a former Division I program in Michigan State.

Here’s the updated bracket, as semifinals are tonight:

MCLA Division II

No real surprises here. For the second straight round, a team with a seed right below their opponent won, as the 5 seed (Grand Valley State) defeated the 4 seed (St. John’s). Other than that, it was pretty much business as usual.

#1 plays #2 in the championship game. The Bison made it past the semifinal round after falling to eventual champion Concordia-Irvine last year. The Tommies look to avenge last year’s championship defeat to Concordia-Irvine.

The championship game is Saturday at 1:30 PM EDT (11:30 MDT out in Salt Lake City).