Fifteen former Section V lacrosse players are competing for men's and women's NCAA Division I titles, as the tournaments continue this week.
The men's Division I tournament began on May 8 with a 17-team field, made up of nine conference champions and eight at-large bids. Notre Dame is the defending national champion and earned the tournament's No. 1 seed this season.
Twenty-nine teams were picked to compete in the Division I women's tournament, which began on May 10. Quarterfinal games are set for Thursday.
Former Section V players in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament
No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 Georgetown
Georgetown freshman Pax Marshall (Victor) is a member of the Hoyas' team, who'll take on the top-seeded Fighting Irish. Marshall was a two-time All-Greater Rochester selection , and was named first team all-state in 2023 as a senior.
No. 2 Duke vs. No. 7 Maryland
Maryland has a pair of ex-Section V athletes on its roster: 2023 All-Greater Rochester player of the year Thomas Gravino (Victor) and graduate student Jack Brennan (Irondequoit). Brennan, who ranks second all-time in Irondequoit history in scoring, has 52 points in 53 career games played for Maryland.
No. 3 Johns Hopkins vs. No. 6 Virginia
Johns Hopkins features plenty of Rochester-area flavor, with three former Section V players on the roster. Graduate student Chayse Ierlan (Victor) is the Blue Jays' starting goalie, while senior Casey McDermott (Brighton) and junior Logan Callahan (Victor) are also regulars in the lineup.
Ierlan played four years at Cornell before transferring. The goalie, who was recently drafted into the Premier Lacrosse League, has a .563 save percentage this season.
Callahan enters this game having won 51% of his 243 faceoffs this season. McDermott, a midfielder, has six points in 15 games.
No. 4 Syracuse vs. No. 5 Denver
The Orange boast two former Section V players on this year's squad: junior Johnny Richiusa (Penfield) and freshman Chrishawn Hunter (East United).
While Richiusa has only appeared in one game this season, he led Syracuse at the X last season with 105 faceoff wins. He transferred to SU following one season at Canisius in 2022.
Former Section V players in the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament
No. 1 Northwestern vs. No. 8 Penn
A pair of former Section V stars will face off, as Erin Coykendall (Spencerport) and the Wildcats meet Clare Ruff (Honeoye Falls-Lima) and the Quakers.
Coykendall leads top-ranked Northwestern in assists (48) and ranks third in points (85). During her varsity career with the Rangers, Coykendall was a three-time AGR choice and was named first team all-state in 2018, while leading her team to the Section V title.
Ruff, a freshman defender, helped HFL win four Section V titles during her varsity career and owns the school record for assists in a single game.
No. 2 Boston College vs. Michigan
Mckenna Davis and Abbey Herold (Canandaigua), and Grace Callahan (Victor) played for rival schools in high school, and now their collegiate teams will battle for the right to reach the national semifinals.
Davis, the Eagles' junior attack, leads the nation with 63 assists, to go with 84 points. During her interscholastic career, Davis was the 2021 All-Greater Rochester player of the year. Prior to the tournament, she was named one of 11 offensive players to watch by NCAA.com .
Herold, a sophomore midfielder, has 37 draw controls in 14 starts. During her time at Canandaigua, Herold was a two-time AGR choice and helped the then-Braves win the 2019 and 2021 Section V Class B titles.
Callahan has started all 39 games during her two-year collegiate career and ranks second on the Wolverines with 29 ground balls. She was a member of Victor's 2022 New York state championship team.
No. 3 Syracuse vs. No. 6 Yale
The Orange's Kate Mashewske (Rush-Henrietta) is Section V's only representative in this game. Mashewske, a grad student, currently ranks second all-time in SU history in draw controls (343) and was a two-time AGR selection with the Royal Comets.
No. 4 Maryland vs. Florida
Florida graduate student Sarah Falk (Fairport) leads the Gators in the NCAA tournament following four seasons at UAlbany, where she holds the Great Danes' single-season scoring record (72 goals). Falk has 29 goals in 21 games played this season.
In Division III, St. John Fisher men's lacrosse continues historic run
After taking down two of the top-ranked teams in the nation, St. John Fisher is in the Division III national quarterfinals for the first time in program history.
The Cardinals opened the DIII tournament with wins over No. 5 Wesleyan and No. 4 St. Lawrence, and next takes on No. 6-ranked Tufts this Saturday. Tufts boasts the second highest-scoring offense in the national with over 19 goals per game.
St. John Fisher has two of the Empire 8's top players, with offensive player of the Year Matthew Kemmis and Jack Cornell, who received the same distinction on the defensive side. Kemmis, who's from Syracuse and played at Jamesville-DeWitt, has five goals and five assists so far this postseason. Cornell (Levittown, N.Y.) has seven ground balls and four caused turnovers in two NCAA tournament games.
Dave Dobbins, who has led the Cardinals since 2018, owns a winning record in six of his seven seasons leading the program.
This article originally appeared on MPNnow: 15 Section V alumni are competing for Division I lacrosse national titles: The list
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