1978 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament

The 1978 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the eighth annual tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the team champion of men's college lacrosse among its Division I programs at the end of the 1978 NCAA Division I lacrosse season.

Johns Hopkins defeated Cornell in the championship game, 13–8, using a three-goal performance by midfielder Bob DeSimone. This was the Blue Jays' second national title. Before this loss, Cornell had come into the game on a 42-game unbeaten streak and had not lost a game since May 24, 1975, a 15–12 setback to Navy in the 1975 NCAA tournament semifinals.

The championship game was hosted at Rutgers Stadium on the campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. The game grew a crowd of 13,527 fans.

Overview
Twelve NCAA Division I college men's lacrosse teams met after having played their way through a regular season, and for some, a conference tournament.

The finals was a showdown of the #1 and #2 ranked teams, with Johns Hopkins lone loss coming on April 15 to Cornell (16–11) at Homewood Field in Baltimore. Up until this game, Hopkins had lost only three games in the prior two seasons, all losses to Cornell.

Before their finals loss, Cornell set the NCAA consecutive victories record of 42 games, not losing a game from March 20, 1976, to May 20, 1978. During this win streak, Cornell was 16-0 in 1976, 13-0 in 1977 and 13-1 in 1978. This was the first game since 1975 in which Cornell had been limited to less than 10 goals.

Mike O'Neill, attackman from Johns Hopkins, was later named the Division 1 National Player of the Year and was named the tournament outstanding player, finishing with one goal and three assists in the finals. Johns Hopkins would go on to win three straight national titles and appear in an unprecedented nine straight NCAA finals, from 1977 through 1985, finishing with five national titles against four losses during that stretch. Ned Radebaugh dominated at face off winning 20 of 22 draws, with Radebaugh's dominance contributing to the NCAA's decision for the 1979 season to eliminate faceoffs.

Outstanding players

 * Mike O’Neill, Johns Hopkins, tournament Most Outstanding Player