Dom Pietramala powers Ncaa Lacrosse Bracket with 10-goal mark
The ncaa lacrosse bracket has reached the quarterfinals, and North Carolina attackman Dom Pietramala arrives with a 10-goal game that set both a school and NCAA tournament single-game record against UAlbany. This weekend’s round will trim the field to four semifinalists after three of the top eight seeds were knocked out in the opening round.
Hofstra And Delaware Split The Field
The quarterfinals are spread across two sites, with a Saturday doubleheader at Hofstra and a Sunday doubleheader at Delaware. Princeton, Notre Dame and North Carolina are still alive, and the top three seeds remain in the bracket after the opening-round upsets thinned the field.
Notre Dame enters as the No. 2 seed at 11-2 after an 18-5 win over Jacksonville. The Irish have lost only twice, and both defeats came against Virginia. Shawn Lyght leads the defense as a Tewaaraton finalist, while Will Donovan and Thomas Ricciardelli add first team and second team All-American support at long-stick midfield and goalie.
Notre Dame And Johns Hopkins Return
Johns Hopkins is 10-5 after eliminating reigning national champion Cornell 9-8 in overtime. Jimmy Ayers scored the go-ahead goal in the fourth quarter and later won it in overtime, while Luke Martin held Willem Firth to one goal and forced five turnovers. Cornell finished with just 11 shots on goal.
That matchup carries its own history. All seven previous Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins meetings have come in the NCAA tournament, and the Irish beat the Blue Jays 12-9 in the 2023 quarterfinal at Navy. Johns Hopkins still owns the all-time series 4-3, and Hunter Chauvette leads the team with 38 goals, including 22 in seven games against NCAA tournament teams.
North Carolina Carries Pietramala
North Carolina is the No. 3 seed at 13-4 after rolling past UAlbany 24-6. Pietramala’s 10 goals set the program and tournament marks, and Brady Wambach’s work on the draw has helped fuel the offense behind it.
The Tar Heels were 10-1 before their season bent, and Syracuse is the team on the other side of that path. The No. 6 seed is 12-5 after a 16-15 win over Yale, with Joey Spallina driving the attack and Jimmy McCool making two saves in the final 30 seconds.
North Carolina had last put together back-to-back wins by beating Syracuse on April 4, and it still owns seven of the last nine meetings in a series Syracuse leads 20-15 all-time. Syracuse also finished undefeated at home in the JMA Wireless Dome, but it has gone 4-5 in road and neutral-site games, which is the kind of split that becomes harder to hide once the bracket tightens.
By Sunday night, four teams will be left standing. For the bracket’s top three seeds, the job now is simple: survive a single weekend and keep the title path alive.
