Believe it or not, the regular season is coming to an end for a few teams this coming weekend as the Big Ten plays their last set of conference games before the Big Ten Tournament begins on April 26th. With just under three weeks until Selection Sunday, the field is beginning to shake out after some of the results from last weekend’s action.
The unfortunate reality for many teams is that their season is coming to an end. Coach Sean Kirwan has done an outstanding job with Dartmouth this spring, winning multiple big games en route to a national ranking. They gave up 21 to Yale on Saturday and in the process missed their shot at the Ivy League tournament.
Virginia sits at 5-7 on the season after losing to Notre Dame and dropping to 0-3 in the ACC. Unless they pull off an upset over Duke (one of the two bubble teams) in two weeks, their season will end with only 4 teams making the ACC tournament.
Hopkins is on a fast path to having their season end on Big Ten quarterfinal Saturday. They have fallen off a cliff with their fourth straight loss and are not competitive in the Big Ten.
The exciting part about this time in the season is the anticipation of the conference tournament week which begins on April 26th where the “best of the rest” book their trip to the NCAA tournament. Right now there are 12 teams for 11 spots and the final spot will pretty much come down to Duke and Michigan. But the remaining seven spots are up for grabs in the conference tournaments and there are multiple teams in each that have a shot. A Patriot League or Ivy bid stealer (Boston, Yale) would seal the deal for Duke/Michigan and if both steal get ready for a team like Notre Dame, Syracuse, Harvard, Army to be on the hot seat.
America East – Bryant, UMBC, Albany
ASUN – Jacksonville, Utah, Bellarmine
A10 – Richmond, St Joes
Big East – Georgetown, Denver
CAA – Fairfield, Towson
MAAC – Sacred Heart, Siena, Canisius
NEC – Le Moyne, Robert Morris, LIU
Not much has changed in this week’s versions of Bracketology and the rankings, but the bottom eight teams of the top-20 is a true revolving door.
Week 10 Top 20
- Cornell
- Princeton
- Maryland
- UNC
- Army
- Syracuse
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Harvard
- Penn St
- Richmond
- Michigan
- Duke
- Fairfield
- St Joes
- Rutgers
- Denver
- Yale
- Boston
- Sacred Heart
Bracketology (April 14th)
- Cornell (Ivy) vs Robert Morris (NEC) / Sacred Heart (MAAC)
- Maryland (Big Ten) vs Utah (ASUN) / Bryant (AE)
- Princeton vs Duke
- North Carolina vs Denver (Big East)
- Penn State vs Richmond (A10)
- Army (Patriot) vs Fairfield (CAA)
- Ohio State vs Notre Dame
- Harvard vs Syracuse
Enough of the projections, there were a bunch of big matchups this past weekend that ironed some things out about who is who this year.
Ohio State’s win streak came to an end in Columbus when big bad Maryland came to town and played Maryland lacrosse in a win that was never really close. They made saves and got stops and didn’t mess around on the offensive end. It was 9-3 at halftime and Ohio State finished the game with 8. I don’t expect to see Maryland mess around and lose these games the rest of the season. They are too well coached to not make the Final Four this season.
Continuing in the Big Ten, Penn State’s Matt Traynor had 7 of their 10 goals in a win over Hopkins. Penn State falls into the same category of Big Ten teams who play consistently outstanding defense. They also have a great goalie in Fracyon, they have MDW experience and have their sights set there again this spring.
Rutgers hung around with Michigan for a bit on Sunday but were sloppy enough to let the game slip away and watch Michigan hold on in the second half. Both teams are bubble contenders and I wouldn’t be surprised to see either make some noise in the Big Ten tournament to cling onto NCAA tournament hopes.
I’m not too sure what to make of the Big East with Villanova, Denver and Georgetown vying for that automatic berth. Denver’s 7-3 win over Georgetown illustrates more the dud that Georgetown laid over Denver dominating a conference game. With Denver already losing to Villanova, it makes this a three team race.
Your usual Ivy League suspects took care of business this weekend. Yale was favored over #20 Dartmouth and ended up scoring 21, winning by 9. Yale will likely make the conference tournament and run into Cornell, who woke up this week feeling the happiest about themselves. The Big Red won a top-5 neutral site game over Syracuse and jumped into the top-5 of RPI by doing so. CJ Kirst scored five goals and is now six away from the all-time goals record. The supporting cast showed up (Goldstein 3g, 5a; Long 1g, 2a; 10 different goal scorers for the Big Red). Syracuse rounds out the regular season with Duke and UNC – two tough games. Harvard over Penn 13-6 and Princeton over Brown 17-7.
North Carolina used a 4-1 third quarter to erase a halftime deficit and beat their rival Duke, moving them to 2-0 in the ACC and Duke to 0-2. If Duke loses to Syracuse this coming weekend it sets up a true elimination game in Duke-Virginia on April 26th. The big story coming out of this one is the defense from UNC smothering Duke’s attack of McAdorey, Malever, Kershis who combined for 1g, 2a. Gianforcaro made 12 saves and UNC’s freshman Mason Szewczyk led the way offensively with 2 and 1 on a day that Duffy and Petramala were quiet.
To finish things off from last weekend we will head to Annapolis for the weekend’s most exciting game, Army-Navy. The rivalry delivered. Navy as five goal underdogs saw the scoreboard tied up at the end of the first and second quarters before Army’s 4-2 third quarter gave them the lead which ultimately Navy took back late in the fourth quarter. Army wound up getting the ball to midfielder of the year candidate Evan Plunkett who tied the game after being slowed down for most of the day. Army tied it late, and Jackson Eicher won it minutes into overtime to avoid the upset on the road.
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As much as the regular season is wrapping up, there are a lot of teams looking forward to the postseason already. But there are a few that still need some quality results in the next couple of weekends to boost the resume. Here are a few games coming up with some big implications for the postseason.
Rutgers needs to win a couple of these Big Ten games coming up to improve their seeding and RPI heading into the Big Ten Tournament. Beating Penn St would jump them in the standings and although it will be tough it is not impossible. Clean up the offensive sloppiness from last weekend and hope they can break through the tough Penn State defense.
Hopkins would also love a win Friday night in the Rivalry against Maryland but unfortunately I don’t see that happening. Maryland is a complete team and Hopkins has looked in shambles the past five or six games. The good thing about the Big Ten is the style of play is slow, grind you down lacrosse. Underdogs can hope for a defensive battle and a low scoring game.
Cornell could lock up the #1 seed in the Ivy tournament on Saturday against Harvard. Expect a lot of goals in this one. CJ Kirst is on record watch.
Fairfield at Towson is a battle of the two best CAA teams and could be a championship preview. Towson after starting slow has seemed to find their groove and this would be a big confidence boost to beat a Fairfield team that has impressed all year.
Notre Dame travels to Chapel Hill and I think the focus has to be similar to what Duke did – slow down Duffy and Pietramala and see who wants to step up for UNC. The Notre Dame attack should pose more problems for Duke’s defense so they may need another big day from Gianfocaro to beat the Irish.
Richmond hosts the second challenger to their A-10 automatic bid – Umass. Richmond is certainly more battle tested and their attach unit can fill it up. Umass always seems to have a tough defensive unit. Should be a fun conference battle.
Cuse and Duke also both will look to bounce back from conference losses. I don’t think the Duke offense has enough to play with Cuse who shut down Notre Dame a couple of weeks ago. Duke needs an offensive playmaker to step up for a chance at the upset.
High Point knocked off ranked Umass a couple weeks back. St. Joes will be a tougher test but we will see how “real” of a threat High Point could be in May.
In Le Moyne’s second year in Division 1 they look to stay atop the NEC. Currently undefeated in conference and 8-4 overall, they have taken a big step from their 3-8 record a year ago. LIU this weekend followed by Robert Morris is just who they want to see to end their season with the toughest tests.
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.