1974 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

The 1974 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament was the 4th annual Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament. Eight NCAA Division I college men's lacrosse teams met after having played their way through a regular season, and for some, a conference tournament. The championship game was hosted by Rutgers University, and was played in front of 7,728 fans.

1974 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship
Dates	May 1974
Teams	8
Finals site	Rutgers University
Champions	Johns Hopkins (1st title)
Runner-up	Maryland
MOP	Franz Wittlesberger, Johns Hopkins
Attendance^[1]	7,728 finals
NCAA Division I Men's Championships «1973 1975»

Overview

Johns Hopkins, in the national championship game for the third straight year, defeated defending champion and number one ranked Maryland 17 to 12 to win the 1974 Title. This game saw Johns Hopkins University, 12 and 2 for the season and led by legendary coach Bob Scott and Hall of Fame attackman Jack Thomas, defeat University of Maryland, led by Hall of Famer Frank Urso.

This was the 7th Johns Hopkins team that Scott had directed to part or all of a national title dating back to prior to the start of NCAA participation in the lacrosse championship playoffs. Scott retired as head coach following this game to become Athletic Director. All American Franz Wittlesberger scored five goals in the final. Hopkins' senior defenseman Bob Barbera scored the only goal of his career in the championship game.

This tournament is also notable for the Johns Hopkins versus Washington and Lee semifinal game won by Hopkins in a close 11 to 10 matchup. Trailing 10 to 7 in the fourth quarter, Hopkins scored four straight goals, including the game winner with two minutes left, to overcome previously unbeaten Washington and Lee. Rich Kowalchuk scored on a feed from Tom Myrick for the game-winning goal with 1:50 to play in the fourth quarter. Hopkins outshot Washington and Lee 21 to 5 in the 4th quarter.

Washington and Lee which finished the season 15 and 1, was coming off their second straight undefeated regular season and had defeated Navy twice, Princeton, Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia before losing to Hopkins. Jack Emmer, who had previously led Cortland State to a tournament appearance coached the Generals to six straight NCAA tournaments from 1973 to 1978.^[2][3][4][5]

Bracket

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals May 25, 1974					Championship June 1, 1974
	1	Maryland (6-1)	12
	8	Rutgers (8-4)	6
						1	Maryland	19
						4	Cornell	10
	4	Cornell (11-1)	15
	5	Virginia	8
											1	Maryland (8–2)	12
											2	Johns Hopkins (12–2)	17
	2	Johns Hopkins	18
	7	Hofstra	10
						2	Johns Hopkins	11
						3	Washington and Lee	10
	3	Washington and Lee (14-0)	13
	6	Navy (7-4)	10

Box scores

Finals

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Johns Hopkins (12–2)	5	5	4	3	17
Maryland (8–2)	3	1	5	3	12
Johns Hopkins scoring – Franz Wittelsberger 5, Rick Kowalchuk 3, Rich Hirsch 3, Jack Thomas 3, Bill Nolan 2, Bob Barbera Maryland scoring – Frank Urso 3, Dave Dempsey 2, Ed Mullen 2, Kevin Boland 2, Dave Hallock, Bob Mitchell, Roger Tuck Shots: Johns Hopkins 59, Maryland 57 Shots: Johns Hopkins 21, Maryland 21

Semi-finals

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Johns Hopkins	3	2	2	4	11
Washington and Lee	4	1	4	1	10
Johns Hopkins scoring – Rick Kowalchuk 3, Jim Cahill 2, Dale Kohler 2, Rich Hirsch, Pat Sinram, Franz Wittelsberger, Bill Nolan. Washington and Lee scoring – Bill Rienhoff 3, Skip Lichtfuss 3, Bryan Chasney 2, Ted Bauer, Dave Warfield Shots: Johns Hopkins 30, Washington and Lee 25

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Maryland	3	5	7	4	19
Cornell	3	4	1	2	10
Maryland scoring – Ed Mullen 3, Dave Dempsey 3, Roger Tuck 3, Pat O'Meally 2, Frank Urso 2, Dino Mattessich 2, Kevin Boland 2, Bob Mitchell, Doug Radebaugh Cornell scoring – Jim Trenz 3, Mike French 2, Bill Marino 2, Jon Levine 2, Tom Haggerty Shots: Maryland 66, Cornell 30

Quarterfinals

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Maryland	2	5	0	5	12
Rutgers	2	1	2	1	6
Maryland scoring – Frank Urso 3, Ed Mullen 2, Dave Dempsey 2, Pat O'Meally, Dino Mattessich, Brooks Sleeper, Doug Radebaugh, Mike Hynes Rutgers scoring – Steve Arata 3, John Danowski, Mike Rinck, Pete Dorne Shots: Maryland 63, Rutgers 31

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Cornell	4	1	3	7	15
Virginia	1	3	2	2	8
Cornell scoring – Mike French 6, Jim Trenz 4, Jon Levine 3, Tom Haggerty, Steve Sanford Virginia scoring – Barry Robertson 4, Greg Montgomery 2, Doug Cooper, Bruce Barker Shots: Cornell 46, Virginia 44

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Johns Hopkins	1	3	6	8	18
Hofstra	1	5	2	2	10
Johns Hopkins scoring – Franz Wittlesberger 7, Jack Thomas 4, Rick Kowalchuk 2, Rich Hirsch, Bill Nolan, Bill McCutcheon, Don Kurz, Mike Perez Hofstra scoring – Kevin Hill 3, Pete Rose 2, Gary White 2, Jeff Fenton, Tom Calder, Teddy Betty Shots: Johns Hopkins 39, Hofstra 26

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Washington and Lee	4	3	4	2	13
Navy	4	2	3	1	10
Washington and Lee scoring – Dave Warfield 5, Ted Bauer 4, Bryan Chasney 2, Don Carroll, Skip Lichtfuss Navy scoring – Wayne Dunham 2, Pat Meaney 2, Bob DeSimone, Tim Supko, Marty Mason, Dave Bayly, Bill Ayres, Joe Avveduti Shots: Washington and Lee 41, Navy 41

Outstanding players

Franz Wittlesberger, Johns Hopkins, 15 points, leading tournament scorer

• The NCAA did not designate a Most Outstanding Player until the 1977 national tournament.
  The Tournament outstanding player is listed here as the tournament leading scorer.

See also

• 1974 NCAA Division II Lacrosse Championship

References

1. "NCAA Lacrosse Division I Results / Records" (pdf). NCAA. p. 3 (51). Retrieved 24 April 2014.
2. "NCAA News Archive, JHU - From Bridesmaid to Bride, p. 7" (PDF). NCAA.org. August 1, 1974.
3. . UMTerp.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17.
4. . WLU.edu. 2008. Archived from the original on 2010-06-01.
5. . WLU.edu. Archived from the original on 2007-11-04.