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MAY 23, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

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FEATURE
Championship Weekend Facts

by Steve Dittmore, D3Lacrosse.net

As we prepare for championship weekend, let’s look back at trends from the past 24 D3 men’s and women’s lacrosse championships since the millennium. This season is the 25th season as the 2020 tournaments were canceled due to COVID-19.

Salisbury University has been the dominant men’s program, appearing in 16 of 25 title games, winning 10. The Sea Gulls have been equally impressive on the women’s side, appearing in 10 of 25 championships, winning four.

Those 10 women’s title appearances are tied, temporarily, with Middlebury College for the most on the women’s side. The Panthers have captured six women’s titles, the most by any school since 2000, including the past three championships by an average margin of victory of nine goals. Middlebury could reach an 11th final with a semifinal win over Colby College on Friday.

Dickinson College’s surprising run to the 2025 men’s title game marks the school’s first appearance in the final and the fourth overall for a Centennial Conference team. Gettysburg College reached the championship three times (2001, 2002, 2009) but lost each time. A Red Devils win would be the first for the conference since Washington College in 1998. Dickinson also becomes the 14th men’s school to reach a title game since 2000.

Eight different men’s conferences have sent teams to the finals: America East, C2C/CLC, Centennial, Empire 8, Liberty, MAC Commonwealth, NESCAC, ODAC, SUNYAC. Just five women’s conferences have placed teams in the championship: C2C/CLC, Centennial, NESCAC, NJAC, SUNYAC.

Conference-wise, Salisbury’s 16 title game appearances make the C2C/CLC the overall conference leader on the men’s side. The NESCAC, meanwhile, is second with 15 championship appearances. Tufts University is making its 8th appearance and its third in a row. Middlebury (5) is the only other NESCAC with more than one appearance. Amherst College and Wesleyan University each have reached one final.

On the women’s side, meanwhile, the NESCAC dominates with 23 of 48 possible championship game appearances. With three of the remaining four teams competing in Salem this weekend, the NESCAC is guaranteed at least one more finalist. Should Colby defeat Middlebury to earn a finals spot, the school would become the 8th different NESCAC school to reach a women’s final since 2000.

Three men’s title games since 2000 have been decided in overtime, the most recent in 2021 when RIT defeated Salisbury, 15-14. An equal number of three women’s title games have needed extra time, but none since 2009 when Franklin & Marshall downed Salisbury, 11-10.

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