Gender: | Men's |
Year: | 2002 |
Dates: | May 11–27, 2002[1] |
Teams: | 12 |
Finalscity: | Piscataway, New Jersey |
Finalsfield: | Rutgers Stadium |
Champions: | Syracuse |
Titlecount: | 7th |
Runnerup: | Princeton |
Gamecount: | 8th |
Semifinal1: | Johns Hopkins |
Finalfourcount1: | 23rd |
Semifinal2: | Virginia |
Finalfourcount2: | 15th |
Coach: | John Desko |
Coachcount: | 2nd |
Mop: | Michael Powell |
Mopteam: | Syracuse |
Topscorer: | Michael Powell |
Topscorerteam: | Syracuse |
Goals: | 14 |
Attendfinals: | 19,706 |
Attendtotal: | 60,968 |
The 2002 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the 32nd 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 2002 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season.[2]
Syracuse defeated Princeton in the final, 13–12.[3] The Orangemen's victory—for their record-tying seventh official championship and second in three years—was led by Michael Powell, who had four goals and three assists. The game was a rematch of the 2001 championship game, which was won by Princeton.
The championship game was played at Rutgers Stadium at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, with 19,706 fans in attendance. This was the final championship played on a college campus before later tournament finals were moved to larger National Football League venues.
For Princeton, the loss snapped a 12-game tournament win streak in games decided by one goal. The Tigers' only previous tournament loss by one goal was in 1991, prior to the first of Princeton's six national titles.
Michael Powell, who was named the tournament most outstanding player and later would be named nationalplayer of the year, scored the game-winner with 11:35 left in the championship game. Syracuse won three straight one-goal games in the tournament, and the win gave head coach John Desko his second championship in four years.
All-Tournament Team: Michael Powell, Solomon Bliss, John Glatzel, Tom Hardy and Jay Pfeifer of Syracuse; Damien Davis, Brad Dumont and B.J. Prager of Princeton; Adam Doneger of Johns Hopkins; and Johnny Christmas of Virginia.