The 1989 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the 19th annual

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

hosted by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

to determine the team champion of men's

college lacrosse College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and university, universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse ...

among its Division I programs, held at the end of the 1989 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season.

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

defeated

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained for mos ...

in the championship game, 13–12. The final was a battle of #1 versus #2, with both teams coming into the finals with just one loss. The championship game was played at

Byrd Stadium SECU Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. It is the home of Maryland Terrapins football and Maryland Terrapins men's lacrosse, men's l ...

at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

College Park, Maryland College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located approximately from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. Its population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the home of the University of Mary ...

, with 23,893 fans in attendance.

Overview

Twelve NCAA Division I college men's lacrosse teams met after having played their way through a regular season, and for some a conference tournament. This was the second straight national title for Syracuse behind the Gait brothers,

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

and

Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida *Gary, Ind ...

, and John Zulberti. In addition to the Gaits, a number of stars played in this final, including

Dave Pietramala Dave Pietramala (born 1967) is the defensive coordinator for the University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team and the former head coach for the Johns Hopkins University Men's Lacrosse team. He also served as the DC for the Syracuse Univers ...

Quint Kessenich Quint Elroy Kessenich ( ; born November 22, 1967) is an American sportscaster for ABC and ESPN television covering lacrosse, basketball, football, hockey, wrestling and horse racing since 1993. Career Kessenich is a former All-American lacro ...

, Tom Marechek. A wild, back and forth, athletic affair, the game was not decided until one final desperation shot by John Dressel with two seconds left. Matt Palumb made the stop and finished the game with 13 saves. Paul Gait had 4 goals and 2 assists for Syracuse. Johns Hopkins got the ball back for a final possession on a tremendous over the head check on Gary Gait by

, followed by a mad scramble with Hopkins securing the ball with 12 seconds remaining.

Bracket

:^''(i)'' one overtime

Box scores

Finals

Semifinals

Quarterfinals

First round

References

External links

Title Game video from NCAA on Demand

1989 Syracuse Men's Lacrosse Statistics
{{1988–89 NCAA Division I championships navbox NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament

NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament is an annual tournament organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA to determine the national champion of men's college lacrosse, collegiate field lacrosse among its NCAA Division ...