Patrick Stevens The Washington Times - May 3, 2009, 07:44PM

Time is ticking away slowly tonight as the 9 p.m. NCAA lacrosse tournament selection show approaches.

For now, here’s a final regular-season ballot (which is no way is a reflection of an attempt to come up with the 16-team field):

SEE RELATED:

1. Syracuse (12-2): Rolled through the latter portion of the schedule

2. Duke (13-3): Blue Devils look as good as anyone at this stage

3. Virginia (13-2): Cavaliers hope to regroup after ACC tournament loss

4. Notre Dame (15-0): Kudos to the Irish for their first perfect regular season

5. Princeton (12-2): For the first time in a while, the Tigers are exceptionally dangerous entering the tournament

6. Johns Hopkins (9-4): Gotta wonder about those close calls down the stretch

7. Cornell (10-3): Ivy champs ave earned a seed with defeats of Duke and Princeton

8. North Carolina (11-5): Heels harbor legitimate final four dreams

9. Hofstra (11-3): Not sure how the Pride lost to Villanova, but consider it an early May mulligan

10. Loyola (9-5): Five losses by seven goals … woe is the Greyhounds

11. UMBC (12-3): Zim has Retrievers back in the tournament as America East champs

12. Navy (11-4): Mids looked better and better as teams around them lost during their bye week

13. Maryland (9-6): Still possess the talent for a final four run

14. Brown (12-3): Goalie Burke might get his chance on a national stage

15. Massachusetts (9-5): Needed overtime to outlast an scuffling Rutgers bunch

16. Penn State (9-5): Usually safe to pencil Nittany Lions into spot around here

17. Georgetown (7-7): Tough year ends for Hoyas, who squandered opportunities from beginning to end

18. Harvard (8-5): Already pegging Crimson for 2010 surge

19. Villanova (11-5): Wildcats make NCAA tournament debut before bolting for Big East

20. Bucknell (9-7): Future is bright for Bison, but 2009 is over

21. Colgate (9-6): Three-game skid spoils promising season

22. Stony Brook (9-6): Two wins over Albany meant nothing Saturday at UMBC

23. Bryant (10-5): Will be curious to see how Bulldogs fare sans Greer next spring

24. Fairfield (7-6): Ex-Terp assistant Copelan’s debut with Stags exceeds expectations

25. Albany (7-7): Things just didn’t break right for defense-less Great Danes this spring

—- Patrick Stevens