While many people are focused on the Division 1 Men’s Lacrosse Tournament, one bracket that will be sure to keep everyone entertained over the next month is the Division 3 bracket. Unlike Division 1 and 2, Division 3 has a lot more moving parts that go into making a bracket work which can lead to some really great matchups early on in the tournament. The pod system makes things unique as it forces teams to have to play back-to-back. This week, most Division 3 Lacrosse conferences will be deciding their automatic qualifiers after tournament play with the Selection Show taking place Sunday night. The NCAA field is 38 teams with 28 bids going to automatic qualifiers and the remaining 10 spots go to at-large teams.
An interesting aspect of this tournament is the potential to see some of the most prolific scorers in Division 3 history playing for their respective teams. For the first time in history, you could potentially have three 400 point scorers playing in May with Cross Ferrara from Salisbury, Ryan Gebhardt from MIT, and Jace Conley from Albion. All need to make the NCAA Tournament to see that happen, but the possibility is there.
Below is the breakdown of each Division 3 Lacrosse region and the prediction for those conference tournament champions. Pay attention to the Pool C qualifiers as that’s where the debate will rage on.
Region I Automatic Qualifying Conferences (6)
Commonwealth Coast Conference – Endicott
Great Northeast Athletic Conference – Lasell
Little East Conference – Western Connecticut
NESCAC – Tufts
NEWMAC – MIT
North Atlantic Conference – Maine Maritime
Region II Automatic Qualifying Conferences (5)
Empire 8 – St. John Fisher
Liberty League – RIT
Skyline Conference – USMMA
SUNY Athletic Conference – Cortland
United East Conference – St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Region III Automatic Qualifying Conferences (7)
Atlantic East Conference – Cabrini
Centennial Conference – Gettysburg
Coastal Lacrosse Conference – Salisbury
Colonial States Athletic Conference – New England College (plays Crossover vs Rosemont to decide AQ)
Landmark Conference – Scranton
Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth – York
Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom – Stevens
Region IV Automatic Qualifying Conferences (6)
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCMLC) – Colorado College (Beat Southwestern)
North Coast Athletic Conference – Kenyon
Ohio Athletic Conference – Baldwin Wallace
Old Dominion Athletic Conference – Washington and Lee
Presidents’ Athletic Conference – Grove City
USA South Athletic Conference – Southern Virginia
Region V Automatic Qualifying Conferences (5)
College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin – North Central
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Albion
Midwest Lacrosse Conference – Lake Forest
Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference – Aurora
Southern Athletic Association – Centre (beat Sewanee)
Pool B Qualifier (0)
The NCAA selects one school from conferences which do not have automatic qualifiers.
In 2022, the Pool B selection went to Christopher Newport from the Coast 2 Coast Conference.
C2C conference mate Salisbury received a Pool C selection. There will be no Pool B qualifiers in 2023.
Pool C Qualifiers (10)
This group of ten schools are truly at-large and can be any institution which did not win its conference title or any of the remaining Pool B schools.
- Christopher Newport
- Middlebury
- Dickinson
- Bowdoin
- Lynchburg
- Amherst
- St. Lawrence
- Denison
- Union
- Williams
*in no order
