The regular season is winding to an end at a rapid pace, as this coming weekend ends the regular season for most teams, while the Big Ten begins their postseason tournament. The Top 20 is shaken up a bit after a few big games this past weekend. Teams are scratching and clawing at the postseason and it is a bit clearer who the favorites are to make it to May.
Duke and UNC move up a spot after both taking down Notre Dame. Lehigh cracks the Top 5 after Virginia drops their game against Cuse. Navy is flying into the 12th spot after a dominant win over Army.
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Top 20: April 26th
- Maryland
- Duke
- North Carolina
- Notre Dame
- Lehigh
- Virginia
- Georgetown
- Syracuse
- Rutgers
- Denver
- Army
- Navy
- Richmond
- Drexel
- Delaware
- Villanova
- Albany
- UMBC
- Ohio State
- St. Joes
Receiving Votes: Stony Brook, Penn State, Hofstra, Loyola
WEEKEND RECAP
Notre Dame goes 0-2 on the East Coast
Beginning with 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter on Thursday night, the nation saw the Fighting Irish play 4.5 quarters of lacrosse that were plain and simple not like the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame was leading Duke 12-7 with 8 minutes to go on Thursday night, and they woke up Friday morning to the tune of Duke scoring 6 unanswered goals including the OT winner to seal it. Duke’s midfield and 1 on 1 dodging essentially took over during the second half after they were held to just three first half goals. Nakeie Montgomery had three goals and Owen Caputo had two. Michael Sowers had two insane goals in the fourth quarter and the assist in overtime. But the most interesting highlight must have been Notre Dame’s Pat Kavanagh scoring with about 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter but the play getting blown dead due to him losing a shoe. All in all, this was an insane and awesome way to cap off the ACC Thursday night play.
The Irish travelled down Tobacco Road to take on North Carolina on Sunday afternoon, and I couldn’t imagine a tougher two game stretch in the country. The game was closer throughout, a 5-4 game at halftime, but North Carolina pulled away in the third with a four goal run to go up 9-5. UNC took home the 12-10 win, but Notre Dame never made it closer than two after the run. More importantly than the senior day win that was bolstered by stout defensive play and 13 saves from Collin Krieg, the Heels set up a huge game with Duke this weekend, one that will be for the ACC Championship.
The CAA
The CAA is easily the most contested conference this year, with three teams vying for the final tournament spot this coming weekend. Delaware showed its true self, knocking off Towson 16-8 this past weekend to sit at 6-1 and secure their spot. Umass moved to 4-3 in conference after their 21 goal dismantling of Fairfield. Drexel beat Hofstra 12-8 to move to 5-2 in conference. The upcoming weekend in the CAA could see Umass, Towson or Hofstra in the final two spots.
The Big Ten’s Saturday Afternoon
The Big Ten had a wild Saturday afternoon, with the Maryland-Hopkins and Ohio State-Penn State games turning into must watch television. Maryland got out to a 4-0 lead over Hopkins, but the Blue Jays battled back on senior day to tie the game at 9 and end up with a 13-11 lead late. But what happened next was absolutely unreal, as Maryland scored three goals in the final 1:48 to close out their undefeated regular season in fashion with a 14-13 win. Logan Wisnauskas (Boys’ Latin) ended it with 18 seconds left.
In the late afternoon game Penn State and Ohio State battled until the end. There were 4 lead changes and 8 ties throughout the game. Penn State was simply able to score in the 4th quarter when it mattered most. Dylan Foulds had four goals for the Nittany Lions, three in the fourth and the last two of the game to tie it and win it for Penn State. Aleric Fyock had 15 saves on the afternoon including the foot save below that sealed the deal. Ohio State received the 4th seed after this game and takes on Michigan this weekend, while Penn State received the 3 seed and will not potentially take on Maryland until the Big Ten Championship game.
Cuse over Virginia
In just the game Syracuse needed, they rattled off a nice Top 10 win without starting attackman Chase Scanlan to essentially secure their spot in the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse had six players who scored multiple points and Jamie Trimboli might have played his best game this year, winning his matchup from the midfield and scoring three on the afternoon. After getting out to a hot start with an 8-4 halftime lead, the Orange held on despite Virginia making a late three goal run that looked like it was going to be a re-run of this past Thursday’s Duke-Notre Dame game. Virginia’s Xander Dickson had a solid game with three goals and an assist. Virginia’s regular season is over, and they will wait a couple weeks until their NCAA Tournament matchup, as there is no ACC tournament this spring. Syracuse has two more games, at Notre Dame and against Robert Morris.
Retrievers Making a Run
Our Retrievers down in Catonsville are having a solid season, and just knocked off Stony Brook in OT (again) to sit atop the America East standings with one game to play. The America East tournament will be deep, with all four teams (UMBC, Stony Brook, Albany, Vermont) posing a threat to win, but sitting at the 1 seed is a good spot to be for UMBC.
BRACKETOLOGY – April 26th
With that we are one week closer to the NCAA Tournament, beginning May 15th. With Selection Sunday just about a week away take a look at my projected field of 16 if the season were to end today.
1. Maryland (Big Ten)
Monmouth (MAAC)
8. Syracuse (ACC)
Denver (Big East)
5. Lehigh (Patriot)
Richmond (SoCon)
4. Notre Dame (ACC)
Navy (Patriot)
6. Virginia (ACC)
Delaware (CAA)
3. North Carolina (ACC)
UMBC (America East)
7. Georgetown (Big East)
Rutgers (Big Ten)
2. Duke (ACC)
St. Joes (NEC)
First four out: Army, Drexel, Villanova, Albany
WEEKEND SLATE
Notre Dame-Syracuse – Saturday, 12pm
The big story surrounding Syracuse lacrosse is not that they beat Virginia and have a chance to beat another top-5 team this weekend. It is the story surrounding Chase Scanlan, who was involved in an incident that led to his indefinite suspension and then subsequent reinstatement. Not many know what happened, or what is going to occur this weekend when Syracuse steps on the field (with or without him), as it continues to be a developing story.
On to the game, as Syracuse does have a chance to get another top-5 win, while Notre Dame attempts to end a two game losing streak. If you haven’t caught on that the ACC is tough by now, I’m not sure when you will. For these two teams, ending the season with a win or a winning streak is big, especially with no ACC Tournament. Syracuse has another game scheduled, while I believe Notre Dame could if they want to. Keys to this game for Syracuse are getting the midfield involved early and often. They did so last weekend and were able to ride their hot start all the way. For Notre Dame the key is to attack Syracuse in transition and compile goals that way. I think it is going to be a tight game, but Notre Dame will edge out Cuse.
Big Ten Tournament
The Big Ten begins their conference tournament this weekend with the 3/6 and 4/5 matchups. Penn State notched the 3 seed with their win over Ohio State and with Michigan and Hopkins finishing tied at 2-8, they flipped a coin for their spot.
Ohio State and Michigan in their rivalry will be an interesting game, especially considering the way Michigan has been playing the past couple of weeks. With two straight one goal losses to Penn State and Rutgers, this young team looks to be on the verge of some good seasons. After two losses to Ohio State this year so far, Michigan looks to change that narrative and make a run in the Big Ten tournament. Both teams are playing great lacrosse, as I think it will be a great game, but I give the edge to Ohio State’s experience in this one.
Penn State and Hopkins will be a good one as well, as the two have traded games with each other in the regular season. Hopkins also with a big performance over the weekend in a losing effort as they had Maryland on the ropes but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch. Penn State is coming off a big win and Mac O’Keefe has been lights out the past few games with 10 goals in the past three. Hopkins is going to look to replicate their effort from senior day as they were very balanced offensively and took advantage of the mistakes Maryland made to control the middle of that game. The third matchup of the year should be yet another good one.
MAAC Tournament
The seven MAAC teams will battle it out starting this Friday in the MAAC tournament. With the home seed hosting each game besides Detroit Mercy, Monmouth, St Bonaventure and Canisius will host this Friday. The favorites here would be Monmouth and Manhattan along with the #4 seed Marist who have only played three games so far this season. Marist took down Manhattan 14-7 over the weekend and have not played Monmouth yet this year. Games starting Friday afternoon and continuing into happy hour.
Duke-North Carolina – Sunday, 4pm (ACC Championship)
The pseudo ACC championship will be played this weekend when (you guessed it) North Carolina and Duke will meet once again. Their last meeting came a month to the day before Sunday’s game as Duke edged North Carolina in overtime from the stick of Joe Robertson. Duke goalie Mike Adler had 17 saves and Robertson led all scorers with 7 points. I expect to see a similar matchup coming this weekend in Chapel Hill.
Behind Maryland, these two teams have the best chance to make a run to Memorial Day weekend. Led by experienced, talented offenses, they also boast stout defensive units and goalies who can stand on their head when need be. Both teams need to do what they do well to win. For Duke, it is getting back to the midfield dodging, and beating guys in the 1v1 situations. Plenty of times they have relied too much on Sowers to make plays from X than to spread the wealth in their talented offense. For North Carolina, they need to set up their offense with the attack making plays to distribute to the midfield. When UNC is at their best, Sowers and Solomon (47 combined assists) have been finding Perry and Cook (48 combined goals). I expect a tightly contested end to the ACC regular season in Chapel Hill and a potential one goal game.
Other Notable Games
The CAA has a lot at stake this weekend. We are going to have to wait until the games are played but Hofstra, Towson and Umass are battling for the last two spots. I believe the scenarios are as follows: Win and you are in for Hofstra and Umass. Towson needs a win over Drexel and a loss by either Umass or Hofstra. The best chance for the Tigers is to have Delaware take down Umass but before anything they need to shake off last week’s 16-8 loss to Delaware and take down Drexel.
The Big East and Patriot League are playing a little interleague action this weekend as Villanova takes on Lehigh and Georgetown sees Loyola. Villanova is a tricky team, as they sit at 6-4 with those four losses coming against only Denver and Georgetown. If Villanova can make a run in the Big East tournament, it could very well shake up the selection committee’s decisions in a couple of weeks. I think Lehigh at 10-0 is a legit contender and will be able to have their way with Villanova, but we have seen crazier things. Georgetown and Loyola is a different story, as Loyola has been reeling as of late and Georgetown is a top-10 team. Coming off of two losses, Loyola only beat Lafayette by four this past weekend, while the Hoyas sit at 10-1 overall and has an offense that can score at will.
Vermont is going to look to break through in the last America East weekend against Stony Brook. Coming off of a 16-14 weekday win over Albany, the Catamounts could move up to the #2 seed if they are able to shake off the Brook.
Two weekends left in the regular season. Selection Sunday scheduled for May 9th. Now is the time where the games matter even more for some. Time to win or go home. Welcome to May.
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.