Bracket Set for 2024 ACC Men's Lacrosse Tournament in Charlotte

Matt Newton | Apr 29, 2024

American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. / Atlantic Coast Conference

Postseason play has arrived for the Virginia men's lacrosse team, who limps into May after ending the regular season on its first three-game losing streak since 2014. The last of those losses came at the hands of No. 1 Notre Dame, who won the rematch of last year's overtime thriller in the national semifinals and took down UVA 11-9 on Saturday at Klockner Stadium.

The Cavaliers don't have much time to dwell on that sour result, though, as they'll have an immediate chance for redemption in a very quick rematch against the Fighting Irish this Friday at 5pm in the first semifinal of the ACC Men's Lacrosse Tournament, which is being played for the first time since 2019.

Notre Dame finished the season unbeaten in ACC play and earned the No. 1 seed, while Syracuse checked in at No. 2 by finishing 3-1 in the ACC. Thanks to a surprising victory by North Carolina over Duke on Saturday, Virginia, Duke, and North Carolina all finished at 1-3, creating a complicated tiebreaking scenario to fill out the rest of the four-team bracket.

To determine which two of those three teams made the ACC Tournament, each team's combined score differential against the other two teams was used as a tiebreaker. As an important note, the ACC caps score differential at +/- 5, so a win or loss by more than five goals only counts as a five-goal margin for that game.

Virginia beat North Carolina by more than five (14-6) and lost to Duke by more than five (18-12), giving the Cavaliers a score differential of 0. North Carolina led Duke by as many as nine goals on Saturday, but the Blue Devils rallied to close the gap late, ultimately saving their bid for the ACC Tournament despite losing the game. The 15-12 final score gave North Carolina an overall score differential of -2 and Duke a score differential of +2 against the group. So, Duke earned the No. 3 seed, Virginia got the No. 4 seed, and North Carolina was left out of the ACC Tournament.

The 2024 ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship will be played this weekend at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Virginia will face Notre Dame on Friday at 5pm and Duke will take on Syracuse at 8pm. The winners of the two semifinal games will play for the ACC Championship on Sunday at noon.

See the full bracket below:

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝘾𝘾 𝙈𝙚𝙣'𝙨 𝙇𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙩.

See you in the Queen City 🫡

🗓️ May 3-5
🏆 https://t.co/nWSBkYhZfw
📰 https://t.co/L2bZvOt7tX pic.twitter.com/RQzzmTdtML

— The ACC (@theACC) April 28, 2024

The ACC Tournament returns after a five-year hiatus. The most recent edition of the tournament came in 2019 and the Cavaliers are the most recent ACC Tournament Champions, winning the tournament as part of an eight-game winning streak that ended with them hoisting the trophy on Memorial Day for their first NCAA national title since 2011. Coincidentally, Virginia defeated Notre Dame in that ACC Championship Game in 2019, smothering the Fighting Irish 10-4 in a game that was played at Klockner Stadium.

Virginia will look to make history repeat itself this weekend in Charlotte as the ACC Tournament returns and the Cavaliers look to get their season back on track and build some positive momentum with the NCAA Tournament right around the corner.