[3] The championship game was played at Gillette Stadium, the home of the NFL's New England Patriots, in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with 41,935 fans in attendance.

[6] Villanova earned an automatic bid by winning Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship and also made its NCAA tournament debut.

Duke won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament for the third straight season,[13] but the league does not receive an automatic bid because it does not have at least six members.

[14] Additionally, the NCAA Selection Committee awarded at-large bids to: independents Johns Hopkins and Syracuse, Brown and Princeton of the Ivy League, and Hofstra of the CAA.

[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.

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.

Tar Heels attackman Billy Bitter, who attempted only nine shots, matched the school single-game record with eight goals.

[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.

Maryland's defense effectively shut-down Notre Dame and the leading Irish scorer Ryan Hoff was unable to make a single shot on goal.

Onondaga Community College transfer Cody Jamieson, who had just been cleared academically, scored three goals in his first start for the Orange.

His opposite number, Princeton's Tyler Fiorito, became just the second freshman goalkeeper to start an NCAA tournament game for the Tigers.

The first doubleheader was sponsored on Saturday by Hofstra University, followed by games held at the United States Naval Academy on Sunday.

Syracuse scored three unanswered goals in the first quarter before Maryland goalie Brian Phipps suffered an ACL tear.

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.

[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.

The Blue Devils' Zach Howell scored a career-high three goals and Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Ned Crotty tallied twice and had six assists.

[41] Syracuse met Duke for the first game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which was attended by 36,594 fans, a decrease from the previous year's 48,224.

[46] Big Red freshman Rob Pannell, junior Ryan Hurley, and senior Chris Finn each scored three times.

With just over five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Big Red led, 9–6, before Syracuse's Stephen Keogh and Cody Jamieson narrowed the deficit to one goal with 2:46 remaining.

[48] Cornell won the overtime faceoff, but Syracuse defenseman Sid Smith stripped Ryan Hurley to create a turnover.

[48][49][50] After the championship, Cornell midfielder Max Seibald was honored with the Tewaaraton Trophy for the most outstanding Division I men's lacrosse player.