ESPN

The DI, DII and DIII lacrosse championship will be held this weekend at Gillette Stadium. First up will be the DI semifinals on Saturday, followed by the DII and DIII finals on Sunday and the DI final on Monday.

In a piece posted on ESPN.com, Mark Dixon breaks down the two D1 semifinal matchups. Also, Quint Kessenich and Co. preview the semifinals in this podcast.

You can watch the two DI semifinal games on ESPN2 and ESPN3 and the DI final on ESPN and ESPN3.

Schedule of games:

Saturday
-- Notre Dame-Loyola (Md.), 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2/ESPN3 (click here to watch)
-- Duke-Maryland, 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2/ESPN3 (click here to watch)


Sunday
-- DII Final – Limestone-Dowling, 1 p.m. ET
-- DIII Final – Salisbury-SUNY Cortland, 4 p.m. ET

Monday
-- DI Final, 1 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN3 (click here to watch)

Single-day tickets for the 2012 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships at Gillette Stadium go on sale Monday, May 14 (tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com). Fans can buy tickets for any of the individual days (Saturday, Sunday or Sunday) or can buy a ticket for all three sessions.

The Division I semifinals will be on Saturday, May 26 and the finals will be on Monday, May 28. The Division II and III championships will be on Sunday, May 27.

Here’s the full schedule with game times:

Saturday, May 26
2:30 p.m., D1 semifinal
5 p.m., D1 semifinal

Sunday, May 27
1 p.m., D2 championship
4 p.m., D3 championship

Monday, May 28
1 p.m., D1 championship

The NCAA is launching an inquiry into the recruitment of Everett's Nerlens Noel, the top ranked prospect by ESPNU who recently committed to the University of Kentucky, the New York Times reports.

According to the Times report, Cindi Merrill and Frank Smith, assistant directors of enforcement with the NCAA, went to Everett High School on Tuesday to meet with school officials about the 6-foot-10 Noel, who spent his freshman and sophomore years there. Merrill and Smith specialize in basketball-related issues.

The report says a person who has been briefed on the NCAA's inquiry said the topics officials were planning on inquiring about included Noel's relationship with Chris Driscoll, a former Providence assistant who is close to Noel. Driscoll was barred this year from campus at the Tilton School, the New Hampshire boarding school where Noel has spent the past two years and is completing his final year of high school.

The Times also said NCAA officials also planned to find out about Noel’s relationship with Errol Randolph, a former substitute teacher at Everett High School who is another of Noel’s advisers, according to the person briefed on the inquiry. Until recently, Randolph had a link on his LinkedIn page directing people to the Web site of the sports agency run by the prominent basketball agent Andy Miller.

Click here to read the full Times story.

In previewing the first round of the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament, ESPN's Quint Kessenich expects UMass "will play with a chip on its shoulder as the undefeated No. 6 seed." The Minutemen play Colgate on Saturday (2:30 p.m.) at Amherst in a game on ESPNU and ESPN3.com.

Here's Kessenich's breakdown of the game:

These two teams are a combined 28-3. UMass (15-0) will play with a chip on its shoulder as the undefeated No. 6 seed. Its 11 seniors get to play a final game on Garber Field and will be flying around with great passion. It's still hard to tell how good this team is. Its wins are over teams rated 16, 17, 19, 20 and 27 in the RPI. It did not play a single team in the tournament field.

That being said, coach Greg Cannella has made a run late into May. The team's stats are really solid. In the Minutemen's past 61 games, they are 58-3 when scoring more than 10 goals. They face off well, and scrap for ground ball and possession dominance (plus-3.9 per game), and goalie Tim McCormack makes saves at a high rate. Can Tom Celentani cover Peter Baum? If Colgate is hesitant to slide, Anthony Biscardi might be the key chess piece. One Achilles' heel would be an affinity for taking penalties, which will hurt against a Raiders EMO group that clicks at 50 percent.

First-year coach Mike Murphy has Colgate (13-3) playing fast. The Raiders score 13.56 goals per game, force lots of turnovers, ride well and are the No. 5-rated ground ball team. Peter Baum leads the nation in points. Freshman Ryan Walsh has hit the net 33 times, and underrated midfielder Jeff Ledwick has 44 points. Defensively, they are slow to slide.

This game will be a street fight, an entertaining slugfest for fans.

For a preview of the rest of the first-round games, click here.

ESPN.com's Quint Kessenich previews all of this weekend's NCAA D1 lacrosse action, including UMass' first-round matchup with Colgate (the Final Four will be played at Gillette Stadium, May 26-28).

Colgate at No. 6 UMass (Saturday on ESPNU/ESPN3, 2:30 p.m. ET)

These two teams are a combined 28-3. UMass (15-0) will play with a chip on its shoulder as the undefeated No. 6 seed. Its 11 seniors get to play a final game on Garber Field and will be flying around with great passion. It's still hard to tell how good this team is. Its wins are over teams rated 16, 17, 19, 20 and 27 in the RPI. It did not play a single team in the tournament field.

That being said, coach Greg Cannella has made a run late into May. The team's stats are really solid. In the Minutemen's past 61 games, they are 58-3 when scoring more than 10 goals. They face off well, and scrap for ground ball and possession dominance (plus-3.9 per game), and goalie Tim McCormack makes saves at a high rate. Can Tom Celentani cover Peter Baum? If Colgate is hesitant to slide, Anthony Biscardi might be the key chess piece. One Achilles' heel would be an affinity for taking penalties, which will hurt against a Raiders EMO group that clicks at 50 percent.

First-year coach Mike Murphy has Colgate (13-3) playing fast. The Raiders score 13.56 goals per game, force lots of turnovers, ride well and are the No. 5-rated ground ball team. Peter Baum leads the nation in points. Freshman Ryan Walsh has hit the net 33 times, and underrated midfielder Jeff Ledwick has 44 points. Defensively, they are slow to slide.

This game will be a street fight, an entertaining slugfest for fans.

Click HERE to read the rest of his analysis

The University of Massachusetts, the only unbeaten team in the country and ranked first in both national polls, headlines 11 New England schools that qualified for the 2012 NCAA Divisions I, II and III men's lacrosse championships.

The first round of the Division I tournament will be this Saturday and Sunday, May 12-13, with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals May 19-20. The semifinals are set for May 26 and the finals May 28, both at Gillette Stadium. All 15 tournament games will be on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, and all will be streamed online at ESPN3.com.

UMass (15-0), champion of the Colonial Athletic Association and the sixth seed of the NCAA tournament, opens play Saturday, hosting Colgate (13-3) at 2:30. The winner of that game will play the winner of Duke-Syracuse in the second round at PPL Park in Philadelphia with a berth in the Final Four on the line.

Yale, which won the Ivy League, also got an automatic bid to the 16-team tourney. Yale will play No. 4 seed Notre Dame on Sunday at 5:15 p.m.

The UMass women's lacrosse team also made the NCAA tournament field and will play at third-seeded Maryland on Saturday at 2 p.m.

To check out the men's schedule and matchups, CLICK HERE.

For the men's bracket, CLICK HERE.

To see the women's schedule and matchups, CLICK HERE.

For the women's bracket, CLICK HERE.

Roxbury Latin quarterback Mackay Lowrie verbally committed to Boston College for the fall of 2013, Rivals.com reports.

At this time, his only scholarship offer is from the Eagles. However, Rivals reports that Maryland, N.C. State, UConn and Virginia were also recruiting the 6-foot-3, 200-pound prospect.

Boston College now has three verbals for 2013.

They have been playing without him for so long now, the instinct is to say the loss doesn’t hurt as much. Then again, before Tuesday’s news that Montel Harris has been dismissed from the Boston College football team for repeated violations of team rules, there had always been the hope that at some point the school’s all-time rushing leader would return to the lineup.

“There’s a lot of aspects to it that’s disappointing,” Frank Spaziani said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It’s disappointing.”

The head coach wouldn’t discuss the violations, and when asked how it affects the team, he pointed to the fact the Eagles have already been playing without the 2011 ACC Preseason Player of the Year.

“Once again, he hasn’t been there for a while,” he said. “So we go with the running backs we have.”

That means Rolandan “Deuce” Finch, Andre Williams and Tahj Kimble will be expected to carry the load as they did for most of the Eagles’ disappointing 4-8 season in 2011.

Harris missed the first three games of the season after undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on his injured left knee in training camp. The 5-foot-10, 207-pound running back from Jacksonville, Fla., returned to action against UMass and became the Eagles’ career rushing leader (3,735 yards) in the next game, against Wake Forest.

But the running back reinjured the knee in that game, and ultimately missed the rest of the season. He received a medical hardship waiver for a fifth year of eligibility, and BC’s all-time leader in rushing yards, carries (786) and 100-yard games (22) was expected to make a run at the ACC’s all-time rushing record (held by NC State’s Ted Brown, with 4,602) with a healthy senior season.

After participating in the first workout of spring practice, however, Harris complained of soreness in the knee and was shut down for the rest of the spring session.

Spaziani acknowledged that the Eagles never knew what to expect from Harris during his extended battle with knee problems.

“That’s been precarious at best,” he said of Harris’ recovery. “We thought he was gonna be all right three weeks after the first surgery. Nothing has ever changed on that.

“It was always a very delicate situation and hopefully it’ll resolve itself.”

The Eagles had been hoping for a while that they would get a healthy Harris back. Then came Tuesday’s announcement.

“We’re disappointed but we went through the whole spring [without him],” Spaziani said. “He hasn’t been out there for a while now.”

Asked how the loss has affected the team, Spaziani said: “The team hasn’t been out there, so I’m not sure what their reactions are. ... Their reactions are they move on.

“He hasn’t been out there,” he said. “Ever since he was first injured he’s been in and out. So I don’t have any doubt that they will [move on]. They don’t have a choice. He only played two games last year, right?”

Harris has an effervescent, upbeat personality and a work ethic that Spaziani called “exemplary,” and would’ve been expected to provide leadership for the still-young Eagles in 2012.

Spaziani is fond of saying you can’t just create fifth-year seniors; it takes five years to make one. Assuming his knee would’ve allowed him to get back on the field, Harris would have been a valuable one.

“You can’t have enough, but there’s guys [on the roster] that have had some experience, have been in games and understand what it takes,” Spaziani said when asked about the loss of leadership. “It’s like pitching, you can never stockpile enough experience.”

The coach cited offensive tackles John Wetzel and Emmett Cleary, tight end Chris Pantale, wide receivers Colin Larmond Jr., Bobby Swigert and Alex Amidon and quarterback Chase Rettig as examples of players who’ve been on the field enough to know what it takes to succeed. The first four will be seniors in 2012, while the last three will be juniors.

BC opens the 2012 season Sept. 1 at home against Miami, but the most accomplished running back in school history won’t be taking the field in Alumni Stadium in the maroon and gold.

“I think they’ll remember all the exciting things that he did,” the coach said when asked how he thinks Eagles fans will remember Harris. “What he did was spectacular in a lot of ways. He’s a great player.”

But will the disappointing end take away from what he did at BC at all?

“From your accomplishments?” Spaziani asked, rhetorically. “I don’t think anything can take away from what you accomplished, can it?”

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.

If you told Nick Schwieger four years ago that he’d have a shot at the NFL, he wouldn’t have believed you.

After becoming Dartmouth’s all-time leading rusher, the Bishop Feehan product and Norton native signed an undrafted free agent contract with the St. Louis Rams on Saturday.

“All I wanted to do was establish myself as a player [at Dartmouth],” said Schwieger during in a phone interview Monday after he finished an exam.

Schwieger admits he didn’t take a direct route to pro football, noting the perceived knock on Ivy League football. But after racking up 3,150 career rushing yards with the Big Green, he certainly made a name for himself.

Schwieger said he started to hone in on his NFL dream during junior year, when he was a co-recipient of the Ivy’s Bushnell Cup — its MVP award. Interest continued through his senior year and built in the pre-draft process. Schwieger said he’d been in touch with the Rams, along with the Cincinnati Bengals and Carolina Panthers before the draft. When the seventh round came and went, Schwieger became a free agent and immediately fielded calls with offers from the Bengals and Rams.

He settled on St. Louis citing several factors, including the composition of the team’s roster, coaches and the ability to run with one of the league’s preeminent backs.

“Stephen Jackson will be a great guy to learn from,” Schwieger said with a laugh. “I’m really looking forward to that. And Coach [Jeff] Fisher, you know what a great player coach he’s been for such a long time. It’s just a great opportunity.”

As Schwieger is finishing course work at Dartmouth, he will not be able to join the Rams until their June camps, after he’s graduates.

Then, his attention will turn to carving out a roster spot, whether that’s as a running back or a special teamer. For now, the former MIAA Super Bowl champion with the Shamrocks has time to reflect on what go him there.

“I definitely believe that Massachusetts football is on the rise, you see better and better prospects coming out every year and more and more people are making it [to the NFL]. Looking back, I probably took hard way, or the long way there, but that makes it all that much more rewarding.”

New Englanders signing with NFL teams:
Here is a list of the players with New England roots who’ve signed undrafted free agent contracts with NFL teams. It should also be mentioned that former Nashua North (N.H.) standout and UConn product Kendall Reyes was drafted 49th overall (second round) by the San Diego Chargers.

Dartmouth
Nick Schwieger (Norton, Mass.) RB – St. Louis Rams

Endicott
Kevin Eagan (West Hartford, Mass.), DE – Indianapolis Colts
Taylor Allen (Westborough, Mass.), LS – Jaguars

Merrimack
Shawn Loiseau (Shrewsbury, Mass.), LB – Houston Texans

Rhode Island
Jason Foster (East Pittsford, Vt.), OL – Indianapolis Colts

St. Anselm
Marc Wilson (Farmington, Conn.), WR – Arizona Cardinals

UMass
Emil Igwenagu (Shrewsbury, Mass.), FB/TE – Philadelphia Eagles

Dave Teggart is among the longest of long shots: a place-kicker hoping to hear his name called in the NFL draft.

“Unless you’re Sebastian Janikowski, taken in the first round, you’ve gotta go in there and beat somebody in camp no matter what,” Teggart said by phone this week.

The Northborough, Mass., native finished up his career at UConn as the Huskies’ career leader in field goals made, PATs and total points. As a junior in 2010, Teggart hit a 52-yard field goal in overtime to beat South Florida and clinch a BCS berth for UConn.

The 6-foot-1, 203-pounder was one of three Mass. natives to take part in the annual NFL combine. UMass fullback/tight end Emil Igwenagu, of Boylston, and Merrimack linebacker Shawn Loiseau, of Shrewsbury, also received invitations to Indianapolis, where they underwent the barrage of medical testing teams put prospects through and got a chance to impress scouts in workouts.

Teggart called the experience “hectic” but enjoyable.

“I took it as a five-day job interview,” he said. “These teams are making a pretty big investment in players and they have to make sure they check them out.

“It was definitely an experience.”

The biggest benefit of the combine for Teggart, who says he’s had interest from a number of teams, was proving that he can kick off after he wasn’t asked to at UConn.

“That was a big thing with teams: ‘How come you don’t kick off? You can’t kick off?’” he said.

The feedback on his kickoffs was positive after the combine.

“The best-case scenario is someone picks me up as a draft choice, as of now that’s a pretty real possibility,” Teggart said. “Usually kickers sign after the draft. Either way, for anybody you’ve gotta go in there [in camp] and you’ve gotta beat somebody out. That’s just the nature of the position.”

Both Igwenagu and Loiseau have seventh-round grades, according to Scouts Inc., and stand a chance of hearing their names called on Day 3.

Unlike many draft prospects, there was no trip to a fancy training camp in Arizona or Florida for Teggart. He worked out at UConn this winter, same as he has done the past four years.

As he waits to see if he’ll have a career in football, Teggart has been working as a substitute teacher in Shrewsbury. He’ll be home for the draft this weekend.

“Hopefully something good happens. If it does, I’d want to be with my family,” he said, “and if not I’d want to be with my family, also.”

Then Teggart laughed.

“It’s a little nerve-wracking not knowing where you’re gonna be or end up,” he said. “I feel like I’ve put in the work and hopefully something good happens.”

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.

Former BC All-American linebacker Luke Kuechly, is expected to be a first-round pick and could make his way into the top 10 in the draft, made the rounds at ESPN on Tuesday, stopping by NFL Live (video above). He also talked to ESPN Boston Radio.

Click HERE to listen to the podcast.

ESPN.com college football blogger Mike Fortuna kicks off a series on the most important player on each ACC team by looking at linebacker Steele Divitto of Boston College:

The departure of record-setter Luke Kuechly for the NFL draft obviously presents a significant hole in production to account for, but the Eagles are looking to build off last year's strong finish by having multiple linebackers up their production. At the head of that position is Divitto, who came from an intense environment at national power Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) three years ago and carried that mentality through spring ball and in offseason drills. With the Eagles' season over while other schools went on bowl trips, the junior-to-be took a trip of his own last year: to Athletes' Performance in Phoenix, where he trained for two weeks with NFL draft prospects. That's the kind of mentality BC needs to carry a unit that finished last season 43rd in the nation in scoring defense.

Click HERE for the full entry.

Boston College is pulling the plug on its annual men's basketball game against the University of Massachusetts for the 2012-13 season, according to a report in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

BC cited its expanded 18-game ACC schedule as the reason for ending the series, which has been played every season since 1995-96, when the schools revived their rivalry amid much fanfare. The game, dubbed "The Commonwealth Classic," was played at the sold-out and recently opened FleetCenter in Boston. The Marcus Camby-led Minutemen won that game, 65-57.

"We are expanding to an 18-game ACC schedule next season and playing UMass just didn’t work this year," BC athletic director Gene DiFilippo told the Gazette. "We will continue to play them some time in the future.”

UMass is coming off a 25-12 season in which it advanced to the NIT semifinals. BC finished the season 9-22. The Minutemen won this season's meeting, 82-46, at Chestnut Hill.

The third annual New England Lacrosse Classic will be held at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, April 21, with No. 1 UMass (11-0) headlining the event. UMass, which is tied for No. 1 in the USILA Division 1 Coaches’ poll, with Loyola College (Md.), will play Hofstra in the second game of the day at 5 p.m. ET.

The first game features Bentley and Merrimack and begins at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Tickets can be bought through Ticket Master or at the Gillette Stadium Ticket Office on the day of the games starting at noon.

Gillette Stadium will host the 2012 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships in May.

NEWTON, Mass. -- Practice makes perfect. And with three national championships in the past five years, the Boston College men’s hockey team is getting pretty good at celebrating.

More than an hour before the team was due to parade around the Chestnut Hill campus, five sightseeing buses were parked in front of Conte Forum. Workers busied themselves around them, hanging maroon and gold ribbon from the windows and taping banners listing the school’s five titles over the ads on the sides.

The two Zambonis in the convoy, one at either end, were draped with BC banners.

On O’Neill Plaza, the buses’ end destination, a jumbo screen had been set up and the Frozen Four finale was played on it. A small stage had been built, flanked on one side by neat rows of folding chairs and the other by the screen.

Nearby, the BC bookstore had set up a stand to sell championship merchandise -- which, of course, would be necessary for the autograph session after the rally.

As the crowd grew along the route and by the buses, other Eagles athletes came and went from the athletic offices seemingly unnoticed.

A basketball player emerged, adjusted his backpack and threaded his way through the crowd. A football player, a hulk of a man hard to miss even in a crowd, stood toward the back of the growing mass. He clapped and smiled along with everyone else as the hockey players, in their gold sweaters, emerged and made their way to the buses.

Led by the BC cheerleaders and marching band, the team set off on its victory lap, players smiling and pointing to the modest crowd as they passed.

Once the procession arrived at its destination, the ceremony began. Dignitaries in attendance were recognized (among them, Sen. John Kerry and Newton mayor Setti Warren). Every member of the hockey team was introduced (even the bus driver). Then the school’s first four national championship trophies were carried out and placed on a table, three of the four brought by a member of the team that won it.

Even the 1949 championship team was represented, with coach Len Ceglarski there to bask in the applause.

BC coach Jerry York then took the stage and, before promising many more championships to come, thanked the fans for their support. The Eagles will have more opportunities to bask in the glow of the title, with trips to TD Garden (for the Bruins' playoff opener against the Capitals on Thursday night) and Fenway Park (next Wednesday), along with a visit to the White House, in the offing.

“It’s going to be a magical tour for us,” York said. “I want to tell you how pleased I was and how proud I was of these young players to my left. They’ve done some remarkable things, these seniors in their four years. But this particular year was something that we’re extremely proud of.”

The Eagles were supposed to be rebuilding this season after losing several key pieces from last year's team. But after a rough midseason patch, the team ripped off 19 straight wins to bring a fifth national title back to Conte Forum.

BC captain Tommy Cross took the podium after his coach. The senior thanked the former players in attendance, saying they were the ones who taught him and his teammates the tradition that’s led to so much success at the Heights.

Then Cross showed he knows how to work a crowd.

“It’s been unbelievable to see the support that our team’s gotten this year,” Cross said. “My first three years here, there was great support from the student body and the BC community but this year it got taken to a new level.

“Thank you to all the fans. This trophy is for you guys.”

Cross had himself quite a day. Earlier Tuesday, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound defenseman signed an entry-level contract with the Bruins. Then he rushed back to campus for the celebration, toting the 2012 championship trophy, making a speech and signing autograph after autograph following the ceremony.

The Simsbury, Conn., native was in such demand from fans that long after his teammates had finished signing and posing for pictures, after the chairs had been folded up and carted off and the big screen carefully taken down, Cross still was surrounded.

He uncomplainingly crouched to take photos with young fans, signed banner after banner and photo after photo.

And after the fans had all come and gone, he talked about what it all meant.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “Just the number of people here, the enthusiasm. It’s just so much fun to bring a trophy back here.”

Cross said that in 2010, he thought winning couldn’t get any sweeter. But now he knows that perspective is everything.

“As a senior, you cherish it a little more, it means a little more,” he said. “Today was unbelievable.”

As for signing with the Bruins, Cross was excited.

“It’s special,” he said. “It’s a great organization. It’s an honor to sign [with them]. I think right now it hasn’t really settled in -- my mind is still here at BC. I’ve had four unbelievable years here. It’s sad to see it come to an end, but when one door closes another one opens.”

And while the day didn’t go off without a hitch or two -- BC president William P. Leahy said the sun was shining on a great football team before catching himself; and the 2012 championship banner that will hang in Conte Forum didn’t want to unfurl at first and it unwound very slowly when athletic director Gene DeFilippo gave the signal to let it loose -- one thing was abundantly clear.

All the practice has made the BC men’s hockey team pretty good at both winning and celebrating championships.

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.