College Lacrosse in RI - Bryant and PC Fighting for NCAA, Brown’s Disaster Season Continues

College Lacrosse in RI - Bryant and PC Fighting for NCAA, Brown’s Disaster Season Continues

This year’s college lacrosse season is playing out much differently than the past couple of decades.

The proverbial king is dead.

Brown University - once a perennial national power is now 1-8 on the season and 0-2 in the Ivy League. On Saturday, Brown faces 6-3 and #13 ranked Cornell in Ithica, NY.

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Then, the Bears host #14 Princeton the following week. As GoLocal reported two weeks ago — the fall of the Brown program has been unprecedented.

Last weekend, Brown lost to Yale at home 16-10. 

"It's a disappointing result for sure," said head coach Mike Daly. "Credit to Yale and Coach Shea, they made some key plays at the end of the second and start of the third that ended up being the difference. There's a lot of fight in this team and I'm grateful to get back to work to put our team in position to make those plays." The horrifying stat for the Bears was that Yale won 25 of 29 face-offs.

The Ivy League generally send multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament, Brown will not win an at large bid, it functionally needs to win out conference games to qualify in the top four of the league to gain a spot in the Ivy playoffs.

 

Bryant Is Looking Solid

A look at the Bryant University program shows the Bulldogs at 6-3 and 2-1 in their conference — the American East.

Bryant has five games left, and then there are conference playoffs.

The Bulldogs face Brown on April 23, and with a win would be the proverbial state champions, and Brown would finish last.

 

Friars Have Split with Brown and Bryant

Providence College is now 4-6 on the season and 0-1 in a power conference — The Big East.

The Friars lost to Bryant 13-15 in February and then beat Brown 12-11 in overtime at the Bears later that month.

PC has the problem of still playing powers like the #10 ranked University of Denver and Villanova.

 

Road to the NCAA

Bryant has the most direct path to the NCAA Tournament — either a big finish to the season and an at-large bid or a run through the conference playoffs and an automatic bid.

Providence could also potentially win the conference with a big run, but short of that little chance at an at-large bid.

Brown needs to functionally win out in conference play to get a chance to make the top four to make the conference playoffs in the seven team Ivy League.

To add insult to injury for the Bears, the #2 ranked team in the country, is coached by former Brown coach Lars Tiffany.

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: All stats are as of 12 noon, April 3, 2024