The NCAA men’s lacrosse championship is back in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the title run begins Saturday at UVa’s Scott Stadium. It is the first time since 1982 that Charlottesville has hosted the festivities, and the semifinal field brings together four programs that have all worn the sport’s crown before.
Princeton earned its place with wins over Marist, 17-8, and Penn State, 14-10, while Duke advanced by beating Richmond, 14-12, and Georgetown, 16-6. Princeton has six national championships and last won in 2001. Duke has three titles and last won in 2014. The Blue Devils are also the lone unseeded team to reach championship weekend, and they arrive with 46 goals over a three-game winning streak.
Princeton’s attack is built around Nate Kabiri, who has 35 goals and 43 assists, Chad Palumbo with 44 goals and 28 assists, and Colin Burns with 30 goals and 19 assists. Andrew McMeekan’s.590 face-off percentage has helped the Tigers control tempo at key stretches. Duke counters with Ben Johnston, who has 40 goals and 8 assists, Michael Ortlieb at 24 goals and 17 assists, and Max Sloat with 36 goals and 7 assists, while Cal Girard has won.586 of his face-offs.
The Tigers now have a chance to give the Ivy League back-to-back titles after Cornell won the trophy last season. That is the same sort of pressure Notre Dame and Syracuse carry into the other semifinal, where both teams have far more hardware than recent history might suggest. Notre Dame has won two national championships and last took the title in 2024, while Syracuse owns 11 national championships but has gone nearly two decades without one.
Notre Dame reached Saturday by beating Jacksonville, 18-5, and Johns Hopkins, 15-9. Syracuse got there with a 16-15 win over Yale and a 13-11 victory against North Carolina. The Irish have Josh Yago with 29 goals and 18 assists, Luke Miller with 31 goals and 11 assists, and Brock Behrman with 18 goals and 14 assists. Syracuse leans on Joey Spallina, who has 35 goals and 50 assists, Michael Leo with 35 goals and 23 assists, and Finn Thomson with 41 goals and 13 assists.
Notre Dame’s path also carries the weight of a recent meeting with the Orange. A month ago, the Irish beat Syracuse 16-11 on the road in the regular season, a result that gives Saturday’s rematch a sharper edge than any bracket line can show. Notre Dame is chasing a third championship in four years, while Syracuse is trying to end a long drought against a team that already proved it can handle the matchup.
Charlottesville gets the sport’s biggest weekend with no shortage of history and no shortage of stakes. Princeton and Duke open one semifinal with a place in the final and a chance to add another line to schools that already know how to win it all. Notre Dame and Syracuse follow with the same goal, but only one of them will leave with a shot at turning a long season into a title.
