1971 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 1971 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament was the first Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament. Prior to this the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) had voted for the national champion and, subsequently, awarded the Wingate Memorial Trophy for the College lacrosse title based on regular season records.

Eight NCAA Division I college men's lacrosse teams met after having played their way through a regular season. The tournament culminated with the finals, held at Hofstra University in front of 5,458 fans. For this tournament as well as the 1972 tournament, the Wingate Memorial Trophy was presented to the winner.

College lacrosse at that time was broken into four divisions, so the NCAA tournament games for that year were based on geographical fit rather than seeding. The Tournament teams were selected from 114 schools which sponsored lacrosse at that time. Each division sent one team, two other teams were picked from the northern, southern and western divisions, and then two teams were chosen at large, chosen by a selection committee of five coaches and athletic directors.

1976 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 1976 NCAA Division I tournament championship game was played at Brown University in front of 7,504 fans. The undefeated Cornell Big Red, led by Richie Moran, Mike French and Eamon McEneaney, defeated Maryland and Frank Urso, 16 to 13, in overtime.

Tournament overview

Throughout the 1970s, Cornell University was dominant in lacrosse with four final appearances and three titles. The 1976 and 1977 versions of the Big Red are generally considered to be among the best college lacrosse teams of all time.

In the matchup that lacrosse fans everywhere wanted to see, for the first time in NCAA tournament history, two undefeated teams, No. 1 Maryland and No. 2 Cornell, would meet in the championship game. The game did not disappoint as Cornell down 7-2 at halftime, outscored Maryland 6-2 in the third period to pull within one goal entering the final period. The Terps opened the fourth period with a goal to go up 10-8, but the next four tallies belonged to the Cornell who led 12-10 with three minutes to play. Maryland, however, would get back-to-back goals, including a buzzer-beater, to knot the game and send the contest into overtime. After an initial tally by the Terps’ Terry Kimball, the Cornell would score four unanswered goals to claim the crown with a 16-13 victory.

1973 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 1973 NCAA Division I tournament championship game was played at Franklin Field in Philadelphia in front of 5,965 fans. The undefeated Maryland Terrapins, led by coach Bud Beardmore and Hall of Fame midfielder Frank Urso defeated Johns Hopkins 10 to 9 in two overtimes, with Urso scoring the winning goal 1:18 into overtime.

Tournament overview

The top eight teams in the season-ending lacrosse coaches poll were selected to play in the 1973 tournament.

Hopkins had defeated Virginia 12-9, and Maryland beat Washington and Lee 18-5, to reach the finals. This was Maryland's 8th overall men's lacrosse National Title but first under the newly instituted NCAA lacrosse tournament format. Bud Beardmore was named USILA Coach of the Year. Prior to the Hopkins overtime win, the Terrapins closest game was a five goal victory against UMBC. Maryland had beaten Hopkins 17 to 4 in the regular season about a month prior to the finals. In the Terps' eleven regular season games, they averaged 17.6 points and held opponents to 5.5 points.