This past weekend proved that the college lacrosse landscape is a lot deeper than many thought a couple weeks ago when four ACC teams were the talk of the town. Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse in my opinion are still going to be big pieces and dangerous teams throughout 2021. A few teams formerly painted as “on the cusp” might have proved otherwise this past weekend.

There were 20 Division 1 games this past weekend as Big Ten started up. The 6 teams will play a round robin format, playing each opponent twice. Rutgers, Maryland and Ohio State got out to hot starts and look to be the three teams that will compete for the Big Ten Championship.

We saw again teams capitalize on having game experience in this confusing COVID year. Cuse came out firing but was not able to put together a full 60 minutes. We also saw an Ohio State team dominate in their first full field action of the year. I still haven’t answered my question of how to go about playing through COVID, so we will just have to see how it plays out.

So let’s skip right to my Week 2 Top 20.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Kuhn’s Week 2 Top 20

  1. Duke
  2. Virginia
  3. North Carolina
  4. Maryland
  5. Georgetown
  6. Ohio State
  7. Army
  8. Syracuse
  9. Rutgers
  10. Loyola
  11. Notre Dame
  12. Penn State
  13. Denver
  14. Stony Brook
  15. Umass
  16. Richmond
  17. High Point
  18. Lehigh
  19. Albany
  20. Navy

THIS PAST WEEKEND: WEEK 2

Army pulled off the biggest upset of the weekend Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. They overcame a 6-1 first quarter deficit to win 18-11. They won with gritty, tough play all around the field and even brought some flare with a couple of #SCTop10 finishes. Syracuse showed its muscle early when their midfielders were able to get open and score. But later in the game had to rely on their attack who were not able to create all day. Army had a consistent offensive attack led by Brendan Nichtern (4g, 3a) and Bobby Abshire (4g, 2a). Army jumps into the Top-10 while Syracuse drops a bit while they stare at their matchup against Virginia next week.

Rutgers also played spoiler to a Penn State team who didn’t have Grant Ament operating from X. They looked like they didn’t have a consistent ball handler on the offensive end and Rutgers duo of Adam Charlambides and Connor Kirst connected a few times to give Rutgers a 11-9 win. This game was tight throughout but behind Rutgers offensive performance and goalie Colin Kirst (15 saves), the Scarlet Knights began their B1G season in a big way. They are on the road at Ohio State next weekend while Penn State visits Maryland.

Georgetown is the final team this weekend that showed us they are not to mess with, winning 16-1 against Big East foe Villanova. I wasn’t able to stream this game but the story behind Georgetown is that they were the dark horse coming into this season. They were undefeated last year but didn’t have a signature win under their belt. Jake Carraway (8g, 1a) will be a Tewaaraton candidate in a couple of weeks. With a long Big East slate ahead, they should have some success and a couple of good games with Denver.

Quick hitters from this past weekend:

Ohio State took it to Hopkins who didn’t look like its normal self in their home opener. The Blue Jays were sloppy all over the field and Ohio State took advantage of its mistakes. Look for the Buckeyes to compete with Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State in the Big 10 this year.

Maryland dismantled Michigan 20-9 on Saturday. The Terps got goals from 11 different guys on the afternoon. Daniel Maltz started off his sophomore campaign with 5 goals and Jack Koras (Loyola) scored his first career goal. This game was never close, as Michigan scored a few later on in the game.

Duke also took care of Towson at Johnny U Saturday afternoon. Duke led 11-2 at the half and never looked back. Inside Lacrosse’s #1 recruit in the nation Brennan O’Neill had a #SCTop10

Loyola and Virginia capped off Saturday evening with a close game where UVA pulled away late. Matt Moore scored at will from all over the field, totaling 5 goals on the evening. Loyola has one more tune up before Patriot League play.

Denver held off a late comeback by Marquette to win their first Big East game of the year 10-8.

UNC and Richmond played a back-and-forth game for the first half, but by the end of the third quarter, North Carolina had pulled away and took down Richmond 14-8.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Look for once again, the biggest college lacrosse weekend yet. 24 Division 1 games from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. In-conference action is heating up and others are still finishing up their non-conference slate as we move towards the in-conference season. February is almost over, and as we get closer to March there are less and less teams beginning their seasons. It’s all out from here until Memorial Day.

Penn State-Maryland – Friday, 5:30pm

The Nittany Lions need to bounce back from their loss and give Maryland a game on Friday night. To do that they need to find creative ways to get playmaker Mac O’Keefe the ball. O’Keefe had a goal on three shots this past weekend, showing how valuable Grant Ament was in finding his sharpshooter. Along with this, they need to minimize mistakes on the defensive end. Time after time they got caught rotating early on Rutgers and Maryland will make them pay Friday as they have several weapons who can score this year. I see Maryland winning by a few.

Syracuse-Virginia – Saturday, 6pm

Biggest game of the weekend. Virginia enters 3-0 and one of the hottest teams in the nation, even without starting goalie Alex Rode (St. Paul’s) in the past two games. After Syracuse’s disappointing start, this would be the perfect opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. They have the offensive firepower to score from the midfield but need contributions from their attack. We might see freshman Owen Hiltz start at attack after running second line midfield this past weekend. Syracuse also needs better transition and defensive play. Virginia is one of the hardest riding teams in the nation and if they pair goals off the ride with their high-powered offense, they will roll on Saturday. Virginia in a close one.

Ohio State-Rutgers – Saturday, TBD

Both of these teams put up impressive coming-out parties last weekend with wins over Hopkins and Penn State. Ohio State looked like a very complete team despite not having much experience playing full field this year. Tre Leclaire can score at will and Ohio State’s defense consistently confused Hopkins by switching from zone to man-to-man. These two will play a close game with Rutgers winning late or in OT.

Other notable games to look out for:

Notre Dame opens their season against Robert Morris. The Irish are in a loaded ACC, but they have plenty of young talent to be able to compete with the top teams in the country. Let’s see how they look in their first contest of 2021.

The Battle of Long Island – Hofstra vs Stony Brook. Big game for pride purposes, as you don’t want to lose this one. Both teams are coming off wins and have offenses that can put the ball in the net. Expect a high scoring matchup.

Loyola plays host to Utah on Saturday at 11:30. The Hounds showed offensive improvement this past weekend against Virginia. This should be a good out of conference test for them that against a Utah defense that has allowed 26 goals in three games. Utah is a young team who is gaining valuable experience every week.

UMBC opens their season against the Mount on Saturday at 11am after their previous opener was cancelled due to COVID issues. The Retrievers bring back their top three scorers from last season. Mount St. Mary’s lost to Navy this past weekend but showed some fight towards the end, cutting Navy’s lead to 8-5 by the end.

Hopkins and Michigan will be an intriguing Big Ten matchup to look forward to. They might not be the best teams in the conference, but Michigan is still growing as a program and Hopkins is adjusting to a new head coach. This would be a big win for both teams, although I think Hopkins will clean up their offense and win this one.

It is crazy to say that February has come and gone in the 2021 college lacrosse season, but here we are entering the last week in February. This year’s landscape should take a bit longer to determine who is who just because many teams still have yet to start their season and many teams are playing mostly in-conference schedules.

Either way, we all hope the teams and players stay safe, and some schools around the area open it up to fans when the weather warms up in the coming weeks. Check back next week when I provide a rundown on the top-20 teams in the country.

Sam Kuhn
Sam Kuhn

Lacrosse Analyst

Sam Kuhn currently is the graduate assistant for the men’s lacrosse program at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio and is working to complete his Masters of Business Administration in 2020. Sam graduated from the College of Wooster in 2018, where he received his Bachelors Degree in English and played lacrosse as well. In his four years, Sam was a two time All-NCAC selection, a first team All-Region selection in 2018, and surpassed 100 goals for his career, one of seven members in program history to do so. Sam has interned with Inside Lacrosse, and wrote for the sports section of The Wooster Voice.

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