Brown University:

2009 Record: 12-4
NCAA At-Large Tournament Selection (Lost to John Hopkins 12-11 in OT)

In 2009, the Brown Bears made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1997, falling in overtime to Johns Hopkins in an exciting first round game televised on ESPN. The 2009 team posted a 12-4 record, just one win short of the school record, and was ranked as high as eighth nationally during the season. Under the leadership of Head Coach Lars Tiffany, Brown has posted 23 wins over the last two years, including an Ivy League title in 2008. The Bears were a NCAA Final Four team in 1994, and last appeared in the NCAA Championship in 1997, falling to Duke 11-6 in a game played at Army.

In addition to back-to-back honors for Tiffany as New England Coach of the year, senior goalie Jordan Burke was named USILA Goalie of the Year. Burke is the first goalie in Ivy League history to be named Ivy League Player of the Year in consecutive seasons, and was also honored as New England Player of the Year in both 2008 and 2009. In addition, Burke, junior attackman Thomas Muldoon, senior midfielder Brady Williams, junior long stick midfielder Jake Hardy, and sophomore defenseman Peter Fallon, were named first team All-New England. Burke was also named first team USILA All American, and both Muldoon and Fallon received honorable mention. Burke and Williams were also selected to play in the 68th annual North/South All-Star Game this summer. Read more about Brown Lacrosse.

About Brown Head Coach Lars Tiffany In his three years as head coach at Brown, Lars Tiffany, the 2008 and 2009 New England Coach of the Year, has returned the Bears to national prominence. Taking over a team that was winless in the Ivy League in 2006, Tiffany turned around the program and captured an Ivy League crown in 2008. A 1990 graduate of Brown, Tiffany was two-time team captain and defensive starter for legendary coach Dom Starsia, and participated in the NCAA tournament twice as a player in 1987 and 1990. Before returning to Brown in 2006, Tiffany was head coach at Stony Brook, and prior to that he served as assistant coach at Washington & Lee, Dartmouth, and Penn State.  After graduating from Brown, Coach Tiffany spent four years teaching biology and coaching football and lacrosse at Robert Louis Stevenson School in Pebble Beach.

University of North Carolina

2009 Record: 12-6
NCAA #6 Seed in Tournament (Beat UMBC 15-13 in first round, Lost to Duke 12-11 in Quarterfinal)

In 2009, the sixth ranked Tar Heels notched impressive victories against Navy, Hopkins, Ohio State, and Maryland, before falling to Duke in both the ACC Championship and the NCAA quarterfinal, after having beaten UMBC in the first round of play. The Tar Heels have won four NCAA championships - 1981, 1982, 1986, 1991 - and finished as the NCAA runner up in 1993.

North Carolina had five players named to the 2009 USILA All-America team, including sophomore attackman Billy Bitter, named Carolina's first first-team All-America selection since 2005. Midfielder Ben Hunt was a second-team selection, while midfielder Sean Delaney and defenseman Ryan Flanagan earned third-team mention. Senior midfielder Shane Walterhoefer was an honorable mention selection. Bitter had a remarkable 2009 season, scoring eight goals in the UMBC game on only nine shots, missing only on his final attempt of the game when his shot into an empty net was deflected by a defenseman. He also had an assist in the game to give him a career high nine points in a game. He fell only one goal short of the record of nine goals in an NCAA Tournament game that has been accomplished twice. He is just the third Tar Heel to ever score eight goals in a single game. Read more about UNC Lacrosse.

About North Carolina Head Coach Joe Breschi Joe Breschi, a 1990 University of North Carolina graduate, first-team All-America defenseman, and former assistant coach for the Tar Heels, became the 12th head men's lacrosse coach in Carolina history after 11 years as head coach of the Ohio State University. As a player, Breschi was an All-ACC selection in both 1989 and 1990, and played in the USILA North-South All-Star game in 1990. He was a first-team All-America pick on defense in 1990 and an honorable mention All-America in 1989. After captaining the Tar Heels in his senior season to the NCAA semifinals and an ACC title, Breschi was selected as UNC's nominee for the 1990 Anthony J. McKevlin Award, given annually to the outstanding male athlete in the ACC.  Breschi also served as assistant coach at UNC, and defensive coach at Brown University, before becoming head coach at Ohio State.