1974 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament

The 1974 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the fourth annual tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the team champion of college lacrosse among its Division I members in the United States.

Johns Hopkins, in the national championship game for the third straight year, defeated defending champion and top-ranked Maryland, 17–12, to win the title.

The championship game was played at Rutgers Stadium on the campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey and was played in front of a crowd of 7,728 fans.

Overview
The championship game saw Johns Hopkins, 12-2 for the season and led by legendary coach Bob Scott and Hall of Fame attackman Jack Thomas, defeat University of Maryland, led by Hall of Famer Frank Urso.

This was the seventh Johns Hopkins team that Scott had directed to part or all of a national title dating back to prior to the start of NCAA participation in the lacrosse championship playoffs. Scott retired as head coach following this game to become Athletic Director. All American Franz Wittlesberger scored five goals in the final. Hopkins' senior defenseman Bob Barbera scored the only goal of his career in the championship game. Hopkins built a lead of 14-6 in the 3rd quarter, and was able to hold off the Terps despite Frank Urso's 3 goals and 5 assists. Freshman Kevin Mahon finished with 21 saves for the day.

This tournament is also notable for the Johns Hopkins versus Washington and Lee semifinal game won by Hopkins in a close 11 to 10 matchup. Trailing 10 to 7 in the fourth quarter, Hopkins scored four straight goals, including the game winner with two minutes left, to overcome previously unbeaten Washington and Lee. Rich Kowalchuk scored on a feed from Tom Myrick for the game-winning goal with 1:50 to play in the fourth quarter. Hopkins outshot Washington and Lee 21 to 5 in the 4th quarter. With the game tied and 4 minutes left to play, Washington and Lee with the ball went into a stall, where a bad pass turned possession over to Hopkins and leading to the game winning goal.

Washington and Lee, which finished the season 15-1, was coming off their second straight undefeated regular season and had defeated Navy twice, Princeton, Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia before losing to Hopkins. Jack Emmer, who had previously led Cortland State to a tournament appearance coached the Generals to six straight NCAA tournaments from 1973 to 1978.

Outstanding players
The NCAA did not designate a Most Outstanding Player until the 1977 national tournament.