Unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Tufts headlines the 38-team field for the 2023 NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Championship tournament. Playing in the nation’s toughest conference, the New England Small College Athletic Conference, Tufts went a perfect 18-0 this season, beating two other conference champions during the regular season — Stevens (Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom) and Cabrini (Atlantic East Conference).
Tufts dominated Middlebury, 19-6, in the NESCAC championship game on Sunday, but Middlebury still earned one of the 10 at-large bids for the NCAA tournament. Tufts and Middlebury were two of four NESCAC teams selected for the tournament, joining Amherst and Williams.
Two-time reigning NCAA champion RIT earned its way back to the tournament field with an 18-9 victory over Union in the Liberty League championship game — a rematch of last year’s NCAA title game. RIT went 18-1 this season, suffering only a loss to Christopher Newport.
The tournament gets underway with six opening round games on Wednesday at campus sites. The second and third rounds will be played the weekend of May 13-14 at campus sites followed by the quarterfinals and semifinals the weekend of May 20-21 at campus sites.
The NCAA Division III men’s championship game will be played on Sunday, May 28 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia at 4 p.m.
Here are the 28 conference champions that received automatic qualification bids to the NCAA tournament and the 10 at-large selections.
AQ Conference Champions (28)
Atlantic East Conference: Cabrini
Centennial Conference: Dickinson
College of Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin: Illinois Wesleyan
Colonial States Athletic Conference/New England Collegiate Conference: New England College
Commonwealth Coast Conference: Western New England College
Empire 8: St. John Fisher
Great Northeast Athletic Conference: Emmanuel
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference: Colorado College
Landmark Conference: Scranton
Liberty League: RIT
Little East Conference: Western Connecticut State
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association: Hope
Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth: York
Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom: Stevens
Midwest Lacrosse Conference: Lake Forest
New England Small College Athletic Conference: Tufts
New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference: Babson
North Atlantic Conference: Maine Maritime
North Coast Athletic Conference: Denison
Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference: Aurora
Ohio Athletic Conference: John Carroll
Old Dominion Athletic Conference: Washington and Lee
Presidents’ Athletic Conference: Grove City
Skyline Conference: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
Southern Athletic Association: Centre
State University of New York Athletic Conference: Geneseo
United East Conference: St. Mary’s (Md.)
USA South Athletic Conference: Pfeiffer
At-Large (10)
Amherst
Christopher Newport
Gettysburg
Kenyon
Lynchburg
Middlebury
Salisbury
Swarthmore
Union
Williams