May 6, 2012

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - For the 10th-straight year the University of Maryland men's lacrosse team will compete in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament. The Terps, which received an at-large bid, will play at No. 7 seed Lehigh in the first round Sunday evening at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.

The Terrapins (9-5) are making their 35th NCAA tournament appearance, while the Mountain Hawks (14-2), which earned an automatic bid by winning the Patriot League tournament, will be making their first-ever appearance in the tournament field.

Maryland leads the all-time series with Lehigh 3-1, but the two teams have not met since 1928.

This marks the sixth time that Maryland has been unseeded since the tournament began in 1972. The Terps were previously unseeded in 1993, 1994, 1997, 2009 and 2011

In those first two unseeded-years Maryland lost its first round game to the No. 8-seeded team, which were Army and Duke, respectively.

The Terrapins were much more successful in 1997, advancing to the NCAA championship game. Maryland defeated No. 7-seed Georgetown in the first round before knocking off No. 2 Virginia in the quarters. In the 1997 Final Four Maryland upset No. 3 Syracuse, but couldn't topple No. 1-seed Princeton in the finals.

The 2009 Terps were the lone unseeded team to win a first round game, knocking off previously unbeaten Notre Dame, 7-3. The Terps lost to eventual national champion Syracuse in the quarterfinals.

Last season saw the Terps head into the tournament unseeded, but Maryland advanced to the NCAA title game, knocking off No. 8 seed North Carolina in the first round, No. 1 seed Syracuse in the quarterfinals and No. 5 seed Duke in the semifinals. The Terrapins' run ended with a 9-7 loss to No. 7 seed Virginia in the championship game.

The winner of the Lehigh/Maryland game will meet the winner of the No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins/Stony Brook first round game in the quarterfinals on Saturday, May 19, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.

Tournament Breakdown:
No. 1 Loyola (ECAC) vs. Canisius (MAAC AQ) - May 12, 5 p.m., ESPNU
No. 8 North Carolina (ACC) vs. Denver (ECAC)- May 12, 7:30 p.m., ESPNU

No. 5 Virginia (ACC) vs. Princeton (Ivy) - May 13, 1 p.m., ESPN
No. 4 Notre Dame (Big East) vs. Yale (Ivy AQ) - May 13, 5:15 p.m., ESPNU

No. 3 Duke (ACC) vs. Syracuse (Big East AQ) - May 12, Noon, ESPN
No. 6 UMass (CAA AQ) vs. Colgate (Patriot) - May 12, 2:30 p.m., ESPNU

No. 7 Lehigh (Patriot AQ) vs. Maryland (ACC) - May 13, 7:30 p.m., ESPNU
No. 2 Johns Hopkins (Independent) vs. Stony Brook (America East AQ) - May 13, 3 p.m., ESPNU

Tournament Teams By Conference:
ACC (4): Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia
Big East (2): Syracuse (AQ), Notre Dame
Ivy (2): Yale (AQ), Princeton
Patriot League (2): Lehigh (AQ), Colgate
ECAC (2): Loyola (AQ), Denver
America East (1): Stony Brook (AQ)
CAA (1): UMass (AQ)
Independent (1): Johns Hopkins
MAAC (1): Canisius (AQ)