First round

The 1st round of the tournament, seven of the eight seeded teams advanced. Every past NCAA tournament had been won by seven of the eight teams that advanced to the quarterfinals, with Duke being the only one to have never won a national title, up to this tournament.^[17] For the first time, all four Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams advanced to the second round. It was just the second time in tournament history that four teams from the same conference advanced. The first instance occurred in 1990 with Brown, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale of the Ivy League.^[18]

The tournament began on Saturday, May 9, when the Brown Bears traveled to face the eighth-seeded Johns Hopkins Blue Jays at Homewood Field in Baltimore. The Blue Jays pulled away to three-goal leads in the first and final quarters, but the Bears equalized both times. In the final ten seconds of regulation, Brown attackman Kyle Hollingsworth batted in a loose ball to even the score, 11–11. In overtime, Hopkins won the faceoff and called a timeout, before Brian Christopher drove up the right side of the field and made a game-winning top-corner shot on the run. It was the third overtime goal by Christopher in Hopkins' past four games.^[19]

UMBC then played at number-six seed North Carolina. The UMBC Retrievers possessed the most efficient extra-man offense (EMO) and the best-rated midfield in the nation. Their roster, however, lacked depth, and the first-string midfielders were forced to play in the 90 °F (32 °C) heat for almost the entire game. At halftime, the Retrievers led the Tar Heels, 8–6. The lead changed hands several times in the third period, before North Carolina took control for the remainder of the game to win, 15–13. Tar Heels attackman Billy Bitter, who attempted only nine shots, matched the school single-game record with eight goals.^[20]

Hofstra played at fifth-seeded Cornell, where the teams were even at halftime, 5–5. The third period was the decisive quarter, and Cornell won three face-offs and outscored Hofstra five-to-one.^[21] In Durham, third-seeded Duke hosted Navy. At halftime, the Blue Devils led 10–0 and expanded the rout to 13–1 at the start of the final period. Duke advanced with a final score of 14–5.^[22]

The second day of the tournament began with the Maryland Terrapins facing the seventh-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish at home in South Bend, Indiana. The Fighting Irish entered the game in possession of a perfect 15–0 record, but still considered an unknown variable due to their schedule.^[23] The magazine Inside Lacrosse called the Terrapins a talented team that had underachieved during the regular season.^[24] The first-ranked Notre Dame defense frustrated Maryland, but the Terps still managed to gain a 6–1 lead in the third quarter. Maryland's defense effectively shut-down Notre Dame and the leading Irish scorer Ryan Hoff was unable to make a single shot on goal.^[25][26] Maryland was the only unseeded team to advance to the quarterfinals.^[16]

Both schools making their inaugural NCAA tournament appearance suffered quick elimination. The Villanova Wildcats were trounced by the Virginia Cavaliers, 18–6. The Cavaliers were led by Brian Carroll's career-high five goal performance.^[27] The Siena Saints were held scoreless for nearly 42 minutes in their loss to the Syracuse Orange, 11–4. Onondaga Community College transfer Cody Jamieson, who had just been cleared academically, scored three goals in his first start for the Orange.^[28]

At Princeton University, the Tigers defeated the visiting UMass Minutemen, 10–7. Princeton was led by Mark Kovler's six-point effort. The game was the final in the collegiate career of Minutemen goalkeeper Doc Schneider who led his team to the 2006 championship game as a freshman. His opposite number, Princeton's Tyler Fiorito, became just the second freshman goalkeeper to start an NCAA tournament game for the Tigers.^[29]

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals took place over the weekend of May 16 to 17 at two neutral sites. The first doubleheader was sponsored on Saturday by Hofstra University, followed by games held at the United States Naval Academy on Sunday. Despite overcast weather at both locations, it was the first time that each NCAA quarterfinals venue attracted in excess of 11,000 spectators.^[30]

The second round opened at Hofstra's James M. Shuart Stadium with the Maryland–Syracuse match-up. Al Cavalieri filled in as the Orange goalkeeper for long-time starter John Galloway who was sick with the flu. Syracuse scored three unanswered goals in the first quarter before Maryland goalie Brian Phipps suffered an ACL tear. Terrapins midfielder Grant Catalino narrowed the deficit to 5–3 before halftime on an extra-man score. In the second half, Syracuse made defensive adjustments to shut down Maryland's behind-the-goal attack,^[31] and the Orange tallied three times in the span of 2:10 to pull away in the third quarter. Syracuse won, 11–6, and extended its postseason streak against Maryland to five.^[32]

Ivy League rivals Cornell and Princeton then had their 70th meeting, but first in the NCAA tournament.^[33] Earlier in the postseason, the Big Red defeated the Tigers to split the Ivy League championship.^[34] Three Princeton shots hit the post in the first half of the second quarter, and Cornell entered halftime with a 5–1 advantage. In the third quarter, Tigers attackman Tommy Davis ended their 27:58 scoring drought with a 15-yard shot. Princeton quickly tallied again with 28 seconds in the period. In the final quarter, the Big Red withstood two penalties to win, 6–4.^[35]

The second day of the quarterfinals took place at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. The first game featured top-ranked Virginia and Johns Hopkins.^[36] The Cavaliers dominated the Blue Jays, 19–8, in their worst postseason defeat in school history.^[37] Shamel Bratton of Virginia scored a career-high five goals. The victory marked the 300th of head coach Dom Starsia's career, and he became the third coach in Division I lacrosse history to win as many games. Virginia advanced to their fourth Final Four appearance in five seasons.^[36] With the quarterfinals elimination of both Maryland and Johns Hopkins, 2009 became only the third time since the NCAA tournament began that no team from the state participated in the Final Four.^[38]

The final game of the round featured intrastate rivals Duke and North Carolina in their third meeting of the season.^[39] In the first quarter, the Blue Devils jumped out to an early lead and survived a two-man-down penalty, but the Tar Heels scored four unanswered goals to briefly take the lead in the second quarter. Late in the final period, North Carolina rallied from a four-point deficit to trail by one goal, 12–11. As time expired, a shot by Sean Delaney missed high over the goal, and Duke defeated North Carolina for the third time of the year. The Blue Devils' Zach Howell scored a career-high three goals and Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Ned Crotty tallied twice and had six assists.^[40] The Duke defense held Carolina's leading scorer, Billy Bitter, to just two assists.^[41]

Semifinals

Championship