2012 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament
The 2012 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the 42nd annual tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the team champion of men's college lacrosse among its Division I programs, held at the end of the 2012 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season. The tournament was played from May 12–28, 2012.
| 2012 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | May 12–28, 2012 | ||||
| Teams | 16 | ||||
| Finals site | Gillette Stadium Foxborough, Massachusetts | ||||
| Champions | Loyola (1st title) | ||||
| Runner-up | Maryland (11th title game) | ||||
| Semifinalists | Duke (8th Final Four) Notre Dame (3rd Final Four) | ||||
| Winning coach | Charley Toomey (Loyola title) | ||||
| MOP | Eric Lusby, Loyola | ||||
| Attendance | 31,774 semi-finals 30,816 finals 62,590 total | ||||
| Top scorer | Eric Lusby, Loyola (17 goals) | ||||
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Loyola won their first ever NCAA lacrosse title, defeating unseeded Maryland, 9–3. Despite beginning the season unranked, the Greyhounds became the ninth school to win an NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse championship since tournament play began in 1971. Loyola won 12 straight games to start the season before losing their only game, an overtime loss to Johns Hopkins. The Greyhounds' Eric Lusby set a then-tournament record for goals with 17.
The championship game was played at Gillette Stadium, the home of the NFL's New England Patriots, in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with 41,935 fans in attendance.
The United States Naval Academy hosted two quarterfinal matches on May 19 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. Drexel University hosted the other two quarterfinal matches on May 20 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.