After winning the ACC Tournament in Charlotte earlier in the day, Syracuse (11-5) earned the 6th seed and a home game in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday evening, facing at-large selection Harvard (10-4) from the Ivy League.

The game will be a rematch from the regular season when the Crimson shocked SU 15-14 with a late comeback victory.

There were two immediate surprises when the NCAA bracket was released on ESPNU Sunday night - the Orange, expected to be seeded 5th or 6th, were given a rematch from the regular season, something the selection committee prefers to avoid if possible in the bracketing (although geographic considerations are given high priority), and SU is NOT playing at 7:30 p.m. on Mother's Day evening for once, instead placed in the earlier evening window at 5:00 p.m. ET.

As for the opponent, there are different perspectives to the matchup for each side. The 'Cuse is coming off the momentum of playing some of its best lacrosse of the season in spurts against Notre Dame and Duke to take the ACC title, and the selection committee may have provided the perfect opponent for this team at this point in its season - seeking revenge.

Harvard grabbed the final at-large bid in the overall 18 team field, and since upsetting SU in the Dome February 22, has won 8 of 11, the only defeats coming to NCAA top-seed Cornell and No. 3 seed Princeton.

And, of course, the Crimson players know the feeling of coming into the Dome and silencing the home crowd with a fourth quarter comeback in a game the Orange led 5-0 and 8-5 before a furious Harvard rally and great defense late while a man down, ended with the 15-14 final score.

The Dome crowd was 5,235 for the February game, with Mother's Day this Sunday it will be interesting to see if that number is topped.

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