FIRST ROUND
No. 5 Penn State (8-7, 0-4 American Lacrosse Conference) vs. No. 4 Ohio State (9-6, 1-3)
In the first ever ALC tournament game, the conference's bottom two teams will play for the right to meet No. 1 Northwestern in the semifinals.
The last time these two teams met, Ohio State scored a last-second goal off the stick of junior Jessica Patane to upset then-No. 8 Penn State 9-8 at home.
That loss was part of a four-game skid that ended the Nittany Lions' season. But all four of those defeats came against ranked opponents, including NU and a 10-9 loss to then-No. 2 Maryland.
But this time Penn State will exact revenge on the Buckeyes in another close game. In the teams' last contest, Ohio State was somehow able to overcome a 14-4 draw control deficit to win. This time, they will not be so fortunate.
Penn State will again dominate the draws and reverse the score of the first contest, 9-8.
Daily Pick: Penn State
SEMIFINALS
No. 3 Johns Hopkins (10-6, 2-2) vs. No. 2 Vanderbilt (11-4, 3-1)
Similar to the Penn Sate/Ohio State matchup, Hopkins and Vanderbilt come in evenly matched with one team looking to avenge a narrow one-point loss.
Vanderbilt won the last contest at home 11-10 in double overtime. But this time, they will play on Hopkins' home turf.
Led by the nation's point leader, Mary Key (6.73 per game), the Blue Jays are winners of four of their last five since falling to Vandy, including a 12-9 victory over No. 3 Virginia, the Atlantic Coast Conference champions. The only loss came to NU.
Key and the Hopkins offense will put up points against a mediocre Vanderbilt in a 15-13 win that earns them a ticket to the ALC championship game.
Daily Pick: Johns Hopkins
No. 5 Penn State vs. No. 1 Northwestern (15-1, 5-0)
Penn State is simply over-matched against the Cats. NU beat Penn State 19-8 in mid-April, and there is no reason to believe the result will be any different this time around.
Spring Break
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