Central New York could take half the spots in the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse semifinals this weekend.
Both top seed Cornell and No. 6 Syracuse play in quarterfinal games Saturday afternoon, with the winners advancing to next weekend’s championship rounds in Foxborough, Mass. Cornell (15-1) faces unseeded Richmond at noon, while Syracuse (12-5) faces Princeton, the No. 3 seed, at 2:30 p.m. Both games are at Stuart Stadium in Hempstead, on Long Island.
The Big Red — with the nation’s best attack in terms of goals, assists and points per game — will look for another win over the Spiders, as Cornell prevailed in their regular-season meeting on March 2. In that game, Cornell rallied from a 6-1 deficit to win 12-11 in Richmond, Va.
Cornell is coming off a 15-6 win over UAlbany in the first round, while Richmond upended No. 8 seed North Carolina 13-10.
Syracuse, coming off a nail-biting 13-12 overtime win over Harvard last weekend, comes into the quarterfinal with a 12-5 record. Princeton (13-3) beat Towson (Md.) 22-12 to earn a quarterfinal spot.
This is the 11th time the Orange and the Ivy League’s Tigers have met in the NCAA tournament, but it’s the first matchup between the teams in 22 years. The teams last met in the regular season two years ago, with Syracuse prevailing.
Syracuse hasn’t reached the D-I final four since 2013.