The Beat: MDIA
The Beat is updated regularly throughout the season by Sam Atkinson. Send feedback to satkinson@uslacrosse.org.
All-Tournament Teams Named - May 14
The 2006 US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championship All-Tournament Teams were announced on Saturday, May 13 at Tom Kimborugh Stadium in Murphy, Texas.
Click the respective team below to see who made it:
Division A
Division B
WDIA
Championship Saturday: Colorado State Ends Season on Top, San Diego repeats Division B title, Cal Poly wins No. 6 - May 13
MURPHY, Texas -- The 2006 US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championships crowned two schools from California and one from Colorado for winning their respective division national titles on Saturday at Tom Kimbrough Stadium.
An estimated crowd of 1,800 witnessed No. 1 Colorado State clinch its third Men's Division A national title by defeating arch-rival Colorado 8-7. This is Colorado State's first national championship since 2003. Third-seeded Colorado University was making its first appearance in the title game.
For the sixth consecutive year Cal Poly successfully defended its US Lacrosse Women's Division IA National Championship by rallying past No. 4 Michigan in the second half to win 12-7. The second-seeded Mustangs scored seven consecutive goals to push past the Wolverines, who also made its first appearance in the national championship game. Cal Poly is the only champion the WDIA has had since the women's tournament began in 2001.
Earlier in the day, the University of San Diego won its second consecutive Men's Division B national championship by defeating No. 6 St. John's (Minn.), in its title game debut, 10-3. The top-seeded Toreros outscored the Johnnies 7-0 in the second half to break open a 3-3 tie. This was the second year for the Men's Division B IA national tournament.
The total attendance for "Championship Saturday" was estimated at 2,500, an all-time IA national championship record. To see all of the scores, box scores and game recaps please click here.
This year's championships brought 44 teams to Dallas to compete for three championships. Sixteen teams competed in the Men's Division A field, 12 in the Men's Division B and 16 in the Women's Division field. The first four days of the tournament was held at Russell Creek Park in Plano, Texas.
The US Lacrosse IA National Championships will return to Plano, Texas in 2007 with the event slated to be held on May 8-12.
The US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates (IA) are college lacrosse teams, primarily at the club level, that compete in a national structure. There are nearly 400 men's and women's teams from around the country competing under the IA umbrella in three divisions.
US Lacrosse, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the national governing body for men's and women's lacrosse. To learn more about the organization, please visit www.uslacrosse.org.
Follow the IAs here - May 9
US Lacrosse will be posting scores, game recaps and box scores live from Dallas, Texas at the 2006 US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championships.
Click here to follow the action!
Fields Announced - May 2
The 2006 US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championships fields for Men's Division A and B were announced.
Click here to view the seedings and full release.
Selection Monday - May 1
The 2006 US Lacrosse Men's Division Intercollegiate Associates National Championship fields will be released later tonight. This is an exciting time for those MDIA Division A and B teams that have already locked in their respective conference automatic bid. For those on the bubble the next few hours will be tough until the official field is announced around 9:30 p.m. (EST) on
www.uslia.com.
Here is what we do know.
There are eight AQs for Division A and here are the teams that have locked them up:
CCLA: Oakland (Mich.)
GRLC: Lindenwood
LSA: Texas
PCLL: Northeastern
PNCLL: Oregon
SELC: Florida State
UMLL: Minnesota-Duluth
WCLL: Sonoma State
You might be asking about the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference and its AQ but since there are only five teams in Division A there is no automatic bid.
Of the above teams there are no "major" surprises except for Oakland University (Mich.) out of the Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association (CCLA). The Grizzlies took down Indiana 13-7 in the conference semifinals before defeating Michigan State 13-4 in the championship this past Sunday. The Spartans pulled the huge 12-11 upset of top-ranked Michigan in the semifinals. Oakland is not a new face to the IA Tournament since they were in Blaine, Minn. last year.
Two faces from 2004 return after a year hiatus-the University of Texas and Minnesota-Duluth. Look for the Longhorns to draw a crowd in their home state.
The other eight spots will go to the highest ranked teams. Look for berths to be handed out to Colorado State, Michigan, BYU and Colorado to name a few.
Division B
The field for Division B expanded to 12 teams this year, up from eight. The teams we know that are in due to the nine AQs are:
CCLA: Calvin
GRLC: Augustana
LSA: Southwestern
PCLL: Salem State
PNCLL: Montana
SELC: Eckerd
UMLL: St. Thomas
RMLC: Utah Valley State
WCLL: San Diego
The field will be rounded out by three at-large bids.
7th Annual Michigan Invitational - March 24
One of the most highly anticipated Men's Division Intercollegiate Associates (MDIA) regular season tournaments gets underway today in Ann Arbor, Mich. The 7th Annual Michigan Invitational, hosted by the Wolverines, brings together some of the best teams the MDIA has to offer for one weekend full of games. Three teams from across the country trek up north every year to the Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.
"We always look forward to this," said Michigan Head Coach John Paul. "This is a big out of conference weekend for us. Playing three games in a row is very demanding for every team but a good experience for the teams involved."
The visiting teams are No. 10 Lindenwood (7-0), No. 15 Arizona (5-2) and Boston College (0-2).
Third-ranked Michigan (4-1) is 27-2 at the Oosterbaan Fieldhouse since 2002. The two losses came from St. Vincent (Division II) and Colorado State. The CSU loss came in the Michigan Invitational two years ago.
The tournament began as a way to prepare the Michigan teams for the IA National Championships in May. It is also one of the biggest regular season IA tournaments east of the Mississippi River.
"We have to turn away teams every year," said Paul, now in his 9th year at the helm at Michigan.
The best game of the weekend will be Saturday when undefeated Lindenwood lines-up with the host Wolverines in the first-ever meeting of the two schools. The Lions boast one of the most lethal attack lines in the country. Michigan, notoriously known for its defense, will hope its young players can step up to the challenge.
"Their attack is outstanding," said Paul. "We won't key on one player (Justin Combs) but the entire unit. We will rely on what we do well, playing solid defense."
There are two games each day through Sunday. For more on the invitational and to keep track of the results throughout the weekend please visit Michigan's Web site.
BYU Losses Top Defenseman - March 23
The 8th-ranked BYU Cougars returned home earlier this week with revived confidence after a successful weekend trip to the south where they defeated then No. 4 Florida State 11-8 and No. 13 Georgia Tech 11-5.
The Cougars (5-3), who have lost some surprising games this season, were dealt a major blow in the GT game when senior captain Cameron Archibald went down in the fourth quarter with a torn ACL. Archibald, a 1st Team All-American defenseman for the Cougars, will miss the rest of the season.
Head Coach Jason Lamb told BYU's The Daily Universe that losing Archibald is "a huge blow" to his young team.
Click here to read more about BYU's weekend trip.
New MDIA Division A Poll Out - March 22
The new Men's Division Intercollegiate Associates Division A Top 25 poll was released this morning. There was some movement within the Top 10.
Division A - Top 10
1. Colorado State (4-0)
2. Sonoma State (6-1)
3. Michigan (4-1)
4. Oregon (10-0)
5. UC-San Diego (8-2)
6. UC-Santa Barbara (5-3)
7. Colorado (2-0)
8. BYU (5-3)
9. Florida State (7-1)
10. Lindenwood (7-0)
Click here to see the entire poll.
First reactions:
* CSU deserves the top spot after taking down former No. 1 Sonoma State 11-10 in overtime on March 11. The Rams received 27 first place votes out of a possible 30.
* The other three votes went to the Seawolves who dropped one spot to No. 2.
* Oregon moved up two spot to fourth right behind Michigan, who stayed put at No. 3. The Ducks are off to a great start with a perfect 10-0 record but they haven't played anybody. Their best win is against Minnesota-Duluth (13-4 on 3/14). The road will get tougher for them in the next few weeks.
* No. 5 UC-San Diego was the biggest mover of the Top 10 as they leaped three spots, largely due to its 8-7 OT win against UC-Santa Barbara at the First Four event in San Diego. This weekend will show if the Tritons are a true Top 5 team as they face No. 2 Sonoma State and No. 7 Colorado in a three-day span.
*The bottom half of the Top 10 features two teams that are undefeated, two with three losses and one team with one loss but took the biggest hit. No. 9 Florida State fell five spots after dropping a 11-8 contest to then No. 9 BYU. The Seminoles are 7-1 thanks to some nice wins over Top 25 teams like Georgia Tech and Michigan State. Why did they drop five spots? Uncalled for. I agree the 'Noles were probably going to drop in the poll from their No. 4 position. I saw them dropping a spot or two or even three slots to seventh. That would have been understandable but to place them below two 5-3 teams and behind a No. 7 Colorado team who hasn't beaten anybody great this season is crazy.
This was the third regular season poll. The next poll will be released on April 5
Hail to the Victors - March 5
For years the University of Michigan men's lacrosse team were labeled with the "one and done" title after six years of not advancing out of the US Lacrosse Men's Division Intercollegiate Associates National Championship quarterfinals.
That all changed in 2005, as the Wolverines defeated Oregon to move into their first-ever MDIA semifinal game where they faced defending national champion UC-Santa Barbara. In one of the most hard fought games of the IA championship week the Wolverines lost a defensive struggle 4-3 to the Gauchos.
The next day the Michigan team sat in the grandstands in Blaine, Minn. to witness the Gauchos win their second-straight championship with an 8-7 victory over rival Sonoma State.
Ten months later, the Wolverines got the rematch they had been jonesing for with UCSB.
The fourth-ranked Michigan took out it's aggression against UCSB handing the champs their second loss of the season, 8-5, on Sunday afternoon in Santa Barbara, Calif.
The Wolverines (2-1) jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter and never looked back en route to the three-goal win. Michigan received two goals apiece from senior James Constantine, junior Matthew Hudson and sophomore Peter Krauss.
Michigan goalie Ryan Kaufman had a huge game in between the pipes as the junior made a career-high 19 saves.
Rocky Mountain Clash - March 4
Colorado State men's lacrosse coach Flip Naumburg has no love lost for his alma mater, Colorado College, when it comes to facing them on the lacrosse field.
For the third year in a row Naumburg's squad defeated the Tigers. CSU outscored CC 6-1 in the middle quarters to seal the 9-3 victory.
Colorado State (2-1) was led by junior Pat Bird and sophomore Tyler Treece who scored three goals apiece. For Treece it was his first start of the season.
The Rams defense stonewalled the young CC team as senior goalie Pete Jokisch made 11 saves in the victory.
CSU opened their season with a 6-5 upset of UC-Santa Barbara, the two-time defending MDIA national champions. Two days later, the Rams dropped a 12-10 contest to Whittier (Division III).
The Rams prepare now for a second West Coast trip where they will face top-ranked Sonoma State next Saturday, Notre Dame de Namur (Division II) on March 13 followed by a stop at Stanford the next day.
Preseason Polls - Feb. 10
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Colorado State and defending MDIA champion UC-Santa Barbara check-in at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the preseason poll behind top-ranked Sonoma State.
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The US Lacrosse Men's Division Intercollegiate Associates (MDIA) preseason polls were released prior to the 2006 season with Sonoma State taking the top spot in Division A and defending Division B national champion University of San Diego taking the top honor in the other division.
2006 MDIA Division A Preseason Top 25 Poll
1. Sonoma State
2. Colorado State
3. UC-Santa Barbara
4. Michigan
5. BYU
6. Florida State
7. Oregon
8. Colorado
9. UC-San Diego
10. Virginia Tech
11. Oakland (Mich.)
12. Utah
13. Lindenwood
14. Georgia Tech
15. Arizona
16. Northeastern
17. Chico State
18. Boston College
19. Cal Poly
20. Michigan State
21. Minnesota-Duluth
22. Chapman
23. Texas Tech
24. Arizona State
25. Minnesota
Others receiving votes (in alphabetical order): Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Pittsburgh, Simon Fraser, Texas, Texas A&M.
2006 MDIA Division B Preseason Top 25 Poll
1. University of San Diego
2. Utah Valley State
3. Claremont
4. Montana
5. Calvin
6. St. John's (MN)
7. Harding
8. Pacific Lutheran
9. Pepperdine
10. Indiana University of Pennsylvania
11. Appalachian State
12. Davidson
13. Western Illinois
14. Montana State
15. Emory
16. Creighton
17. UC-Irvine
18. University of St. Thomas
19. Southwestern
20. Fort Lewis
21. University of Puget Sound
22. Linfield
23. Whitman
24. Liberty
25. Western Washington
Others receiving votes (in alphabetical order): Dayton, Dordt, Ferris State, Framingham State, Grove City College, Maine-Orono, Northern Colorado, Occidental, St. Louis, Savannah College of Art & Design, South Dakota, Taylor, Texas-Arlington, Trinity.
