Tough Sports Weekend

Playoffs and tournaments can be difficult for players and fans. At the end, there is only one winner. Take this past weekend. The University of Pittsburgh's men's soccer team advanced to the final four for the first time in school history. They had a tremendous season, but lost 1-0 to Indiana University on Friday night despite having more quality chances and possession than the Hoosiers.

Meanwhile, Ithaca College's women's lacrosse team defeated the #2 seeded Washington & Lee in the round of 16 on Saturday evening 16-11. I believe the announcers said that Washington & Lee had won 40 straight matches at its home stadium. The win was so convincing that Washington & Lee is now considering changing its name.* Ithaca then advanced to the quarterfinals, but lost 16-5 to the Salisbury University Steaks. Fine, it's the Sea Gulls, though I think the steaks would be a better nickname. Anyway, Ithaca had a terrific season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Division III NCAA Tournament for only the second time in the school's history.

Both Pitt's soccer team and Ithaca's lacrosse team had amazing seasons. However, there's a bit of disappointment now. You hoped that there would be national titles, but like I mentioned above, there can be only one winner. That's the beauty of sports, right? You celebrate the successes and wins and you mourn the losses, but there's always hope for the next game or year.

On a completely different topic, ESPNU aired the soccer semifinals on Friday night. Immediately after the first match between Marshall and North Carolina, ESPNU went right to a short film about the Vanderbilt women's bowling team. There were no postgame highlights or interviews with coaches. There was not a preview of the Indiana-Pitt match. Apparently, we needed to see this film at that very moment. There weren't 2 or 3 people at ESPN or college soccer experts out there who could have filled 30 minutes of coverage?

Photos from Pitt's men's soccer and Ithaca's women's lacrosse Twitter accounts.

* The school really is considering changing its name, but the reason is because of Robert E. Lee. You know, the military leader of the confederate army who fought against the United States of America. Most places would consider him to be a traitor. Actually, I like my line above about the school being so embarrassed by its loss to Ithaca that they could no longer live with its name, so let's just go with that!

NCAA Division III Lacrosse Question

I’m guessing that no one who reads this regularly follows NCAA Division 3 men’s lacrosse. However, can someone explain to me how Ithaca College failed to make the NCAA Tournament? Ithaca finished the season ranked #8 in the USILA Division III Men's Lacrosse Coaches' Poll with a 14-2 record (7-1 in away games) including an impressive 11-8 victory at #4 Cortland. Ithaca lost to Nazareth in the Empire 8 Tournament semifinals in overtime meaning that the Bombers could not earn an automatic bid. So that loss alone causes the team to be excluded from the tournament?

The Ithaca Journal wrote that "Ithaca got caught up in a cold numbers game. The Bombers were one of four of the USILA Division III coaches' poll's top-five teams to miss out on their conference's automatic berth. No. 1 Roanoke lost to No. 10 Washington & Lee in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference final; No. 2 Middlebury fell in the NESCAC semifinals to eventual champion, No. 17 Wesleyan; and No. 4 Stevenson lost last weekend to No. 5 Salisbury in the Capital Conference title game."

Please note that in the final poll, Roanoke finished at #3; Middlebury at #7; and Stevenson #1. Not only did these three teams earn NCAA berths, but they also received first-round byes. I call shenanigans! A few commenters at Inside Lacrosse also state that Ithaca got screwed.

Therefore, I demand a full explanation from the NCAA lacrosse selection committee! Where is Billy Packer to ask these tough questions to the committee chair?