Championship Sunday Arrives
It's here. Selection Sunday has finally arrived. The final automatic bids to the 2017 MCLA National Championship powered by Under Armour will be earned and the complete brackets will be announced tonight.
First, let's answer the question that's on a lot of you minds. The Division II bracket for nationals will be unveiled at MCLA.us at approximately 9 p.m. CDT (10 p.m. on the East Coast; 7 p.m. on the West). The Division I bracket will be released at approximately 11 p.m. CDT.
Teams that we know are officially in so far are Georgia Tech and Brigham Young in D-I and Florida Gulf Coast and Metro State in D-II. To follow along with who will be added today, keep an eye on our Twitter account, as well as the scores page the conference tournament page, which will be updated quickly.
Let's take a quick loop around the conferences to see what the match-ups look like today.
CCLA
Pittsburgh upset the apple cart yesterday, flipping a 20-10 regular season loss to No. 17 Minnesota into a 12-11 victory over the Gophers. That sends the Panthers into the finals against Michigan State, which will be looking for its sixth consecutive conference championship.
The Spartans rolled Pitt in the regular season, 15-4, but the Panthers showed that doesn't really matter yesterday.
Dayton won the D-II title yesterday, but it didn't come with an AQ.
GRLC
As usual, the weather has not been kind to the GRLC, but the championship contenders have emerged. In D-II, highly-favored Missouri State will tackle Creighton at 11 a.m. at St. Louis University High School for the AQ. The Bears thumped the Blue Jays, 11-1 during the regular season.
Indiana finished off its weather-stalled contest with Purdue this morning, downing the Boilermakers, 13-7. The Hoosiers now meet Miami (Ohio) in the championship game at 11:30 a.m. CDT. Indiana beat the Redhawks, 11-7 back in early March.
SOONERS WIN!! With a huge 13-9 victory over TCU we are headed to the Conference Finals!! Tomorrow at 2:30PM vs. SMU at SMU! Will history be made tomorrow for the Oklahoma lacrosse program?! LETS GO! #finals #boomerball #boomersooner #soonernation #soonermagic #oudna #oklahoma #ou #lacrosse #mcla #fullsend #letswork #OUrtime
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LSA
It took some serious effort -- and in the case of Louisiana, a dramatic comeback and overtime win -- but UT-Dallas and the Ragin' Cajuns have fulfilled their destinies to play for the D-II title. The game is slated for 11:30 a.m. CDT at SMU.
Defending LSA-I champion Southern Methodist jumped up and bit Texas, 13-7, advancing to the title game on their own turf at 2:30 p.m. The Mustangs will meet Oklahoma, which beat SMU 8-3 during the regular season in Norman.
PCLL
The top seeds got whacked in Division I as New Hampshire worked over top-seeded BC, 15-7, while Northeastern rallied to bounce UConn, 10-9. The Huskies beat the Wildcats during the season, 10-6 in Durham. Game is slated for 3 p.m. EDT.
With an unbelievable 26 saves on the day, freshman goalie Teddy Dolan and the Cats are on their way to a conference championship game after beating BC 15-7!
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Bridgewater State will play Central Conn. State for the PCLL-II title at noon at Brown University. The AQ is going to the Bears regardless of the outcome.
PNCLL
Montana and the College of Idaho meet with a trip to nationals on the line in the D-II finals set to begin at 11 a.m. PDT. Montana is hoping to return to the MCLA Championships for the first time since 2007, when they won it all.
Host Simon Fraser meets top seed Oregon at 2 p.m. PDT in Division I. The Ducks beat the Clan, 15-8, during the regular season but Fraser has won seven straight with Jeremy Lashar playing inspired goalie right now.
SLC
Top-ranked Grand Canyon will look to cement its claim to the top seed at nationals when the Lopes grapple with Arizona State at 1:30 p.m. PDT at La Costa Canyon. GCU narrowly edged the Sun Devils, 9-7, during the regular season at home.
Concordia-Irvine will look to end the magical run of Northern Arizona at 11 a.m. The Lumberjacks looked like they were in deep trouble against San Diego in the semifinals, but managed to rally for a double overtime triumph. The Eagles coasted by Fullerton to get to the title tilt once again.
UMLC
St. John's and St. Thomas renew their Minnesota rivalry at 4:30 p.m. CDT as the game time and location were moved because of incoming weather. The contest will take place at the West St. Paul Dome. The Tommies won, 13-11, during the regular season.
pic.twitter.com/IHzI7uWKUd
— St. John's Lacrosse (@sjulax) April 30, 2017
WCLL
Sierra Nevada is a large favorite to win its third conference championship when it squares off with UC Davis at 11 a.m. in Novato. The Eagles handled the Aggies, 16-3, back in mid-February.
Cal Poly and California meet for the D-I trophy at 2 p.m. PDT. The Mustangs knocked the Golden Bears out of the No. 1 spot two weeks ago, so Cal will be looking to avenge the loss and perhaps move into a Top 3 seed.