A first glance at the NCAA's 2024 Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship bracket left little to imagine about the ACC's path to the national championship game after three top seeds earned spots on the same side of the bracket. The natural order progressed through the motions of handing the conference champion top honors among teams that weren't top-ranked, unbeaten Northwestern, but the idea of slotting the teams into brackets formed a secondary, mini-ACC grouping among the at-large bids and mid-major conference champions.
All three teams advanced to the conference semifinals of the ACC Championship less than two weeks ago, and offering them an opportunity to play their way to the national championship against one another felt little to the imagination.