Tournament Overview
Hopkins had defeated Virginia, 12-9, and Maryland beat Washington and Lee, 18-5, to reach the finals.
This was Maryland's eighth overall men's lacrosse national championship, but first under the newly instituted NCAA playoff format. For his effort, Bud Beardmore was named USILA Coach of the Year. Prior to the Hopkins overtime win, the Terrapins closest game was a five goal victory against UMBC. Maryland had beaten Hopkins 17 to 4 in a regular season game about a month prior to the finals. In the Terps' eleven regular season games, they averaged 17.6 points and held opponents to 5.5 points.
Johns Hopkins employed a possession game, to counter the Terrapins' vaunted offense, which resulted in over 15 minutes of limited-shooting possessions by the Blue Jays in the first half. The Maryland countered with a patient and mistake-free defensive play to offset the stall tactic. Despite this, Urso was able to get free scoring three goals.
Maryland overcame the stall tactics of Johns Hopkins in the championship contest, scoring a goal in the second overtime, to win 10-9. The Terps had encountered little resistance on their way to the title bout, as they downed Brown, 16-4, and Washington and Lee, 18-7, Johns Hopkins had disposed of Army, 11-5, and the defending champion, Virginia, 12-9. The busiest man in the tournament was Washington and Lee goalie Skeet Chadwick, who did not even play in the title game, and who in two contests had 52 saves. Jack Thomas of Johns Hopkins had 11 tournament assists.
Read more about this topic: 1973 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship