Respect.
That’s what the Army men’s and women’s lacrosse teams will be looking for as both get ready for their NCAA first-round games starting this weekend.
And, as anyone involved in both programs understands, respect comes only with winning games against teams that are viewed as the bluebloods of college lacrosse, a tight-knit community that clearly has little interest in letting upstart programs join in the postseason fun.
Here is the problem. Only 18 teams qualify for the men’s tournament, with 10 leagues, including the Patriot League, getting an automatic bid into the tourney. That leaves just eight at large spots and, it seems, the tournament committee has a fondness for the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 10 and the Ivy League.
It is extremely rare for a team from any other conference to earn an at-large spot into the tournament, with the last one to get two spots being the Patriot League in 2012.
Army men’s coach Joe Alberici knows the math only too well. The 21-year mentor of the program saw his last two teams fail to get at-large bids despite stellar records, including being ranked number one in the nation for two weeks in the 2024 season, perfect non-league records and victories over teams that qualified for the tournament. This year, winning the Patriot League title, gives the Black Knights an automatic entry into the tournament, where they will travel to eighth-seeded Penn State in the first round on Saturday.
The women earned an at-large bid into their 29-team tournament after falling to Navy in the Patriot League championship game Saturday. Army will face Fairfield, the winner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, on Friday in Baltimore.
But just getting into these tournaments can no longer be the goal for either program. Frankly, someone has to knock some sense into the NCAA committee, which relies on ratings that favor the larger leagues. Representing the one-bid Patriot League, the men must make a statement that their league should be under consideration for more than one entry each year and needs to be taken more seriously.
League sources have long said that part of the problem for the men’s program is the balance of the Patriot League and the fact that each team plays eight conference games, while the five teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, for example, play just four league games.
“It is really not fair to our teams that they have to knock heads with each other eight times, while the ACC teams have just four league games and the opportunity to play anyone else they want the rest of the season,” said one league source.
Interestingly, the NCAA committee decided to offer all five teams from the ACC at-large bids (a league needs six teams to qualify for an automatic bid). That includes a Duke team that failed to qualify for the league’s postseason tournament and has just one quality win on their record this season.
Army women’s team, 13-4 and ranked 13th in the country, defeated Fairfield 15-8 in a regular season game at Michie Stadium in early March. Boston University was the teams’ only common opponent, with BU beating Fairfield 11-8 and Army beating BU 14-11. The winner of Friday’s game plays the winner of Johns Hopkins versus Albany on Sunday.
“We are so excited to be together another week and to be promised another game,” said Army coach Michelle Tumolo. “We worked hard to put ourselves in the best position to hear our names tonight. We are happy about our bracket and look forward to seeing Fairfield again. We are ready to take on anyone that was given to us.”
Army men’s team has a bit of a recent NCAA tournament history with Penn State. The Black Knights, ranked 14th in the nation and 13-3 on the season, last reached the NCAA tournament in 2023 when they knocked off defending champion Maryland in the first round. But Army lost a heartbreaker to the Nittany Lions in the quarterfinals when a goal that would have tied the score and sent the game into sudden-death overtime was ruled to have entered the net after time had expired, giving Penn State a 10-9 victory.
Army and Penn State, which won the Big 10 Conference tournament, had six common opponents this season, with Army going 5-1 against them, losing only a one-goal game to North Carolina. Penn State was 3-3 against common opponents, including losses to Navy and Michigan as well as North Carolina. Both teams beat Colgate, Rutgers and Yale.
“Our brand is strong and when teams play us they understand what they are going to get and that is some tough kids that are really committed to each other, playing together and playing unselfishly,” Alberici said before learning that the Black Knights will be playing Penn State. “Regardless of who the opponent is, I just want us to be able to try to bring our 60 best minutes.”
