The opening round of the NCAA Tournament is in the books and we had some exciting lacrosse over the weekend. Three underdogs won outright and Yale took Syracuse to the final minute. A lot of media minds thought Army would have competed better with Penn State and thought Cornell would run by Hopkins. In the end, the parity of college lacrosse in 2026 was on the main stage, and I think we will see more of that coming up in the final two weekends.
UNC 24, Albany 6
North Carolina raced out to an early lead and didnt look back without Tewaaraton finalist Owen Duffy who was sidelined by a hamstring injury. Dom Pietramala scored an NCAA record 10 goals in the win and UNC is moving on. The Heels did not start Josh Marcus in goal and went through three goalies in Saturday’s game. Notably the defense kept Albany star Silas Richmond without a point.
Penn State 10, Army 6
Complete offensive domination by the Nittany Lions in this one, as they outshot Army 55-29. Sean Byrne had to make 20 saves and Army still was never really close here. Fueled by going 16-20 at the faceoff x, Penn State played make it take it in the third quarter to extend their lead from 6-4 to 10-4. I thought the Army offense could have kept this one closer but they were sloppy early and couldn’t overcome the late deficit.
Hopkins 9, Cornell 8 (OT)
The Jays and Big Red played an instant classic on Saturday evening in Ithaca. The Jays needed OT and a big defensive ground ball at the midline to get the ball back to their offense and into the net. Cornell jumped out to an early first half lead and scored a halftime buzzer beater to make it 6-3. But Hopkins does what they did best all year and grinded out a second half comeback with lock down defense to secure the win. Oran Gelinas did not make a second half save. Cornell had zero shots on goal in the third quarter and Hopkins was able to cut the deficit and take the lead in the fourth quarter. Another defensive stop in OT led to a Jimmy Ayers goal to propel the Jays to the quarterfinals. Coach Peter Milliman won his first game against the team he last coached.
Duke 14, Richmond 12
Behind a record-breaking crowd in Richmond, Duke was able to pull off the upset with a fourth quarter comeback. After leading 7-4 early in the third quarter, Richmond was able to claw back in the game with a couple of crazy plays including a full field heave and Aidan O’Neill third quarter buzzer beater. But After Richmond took a three goal lead in the fourth, Duke relied on stellar defensive midfield play to run down the clock on Richmond possessions and a major faceoff advantage to score five straight late to win it. After barely squeaking into the field, Duke took down the #4 seed behind a huge crowd and will be moving on to the quarterfinals.
Notre Dame 18, Jacksonville 5
Jacksonville had an awesome year and I thought they would be able to keep it close. The Irish proved their dominance via the transition game, lockdown defense and 16 saves from All American Tommy Ricciardelli (7 in the first quarter). Early in the game Jacksonville controlled the ball offensively but couldn’t break through and every defensive stop for ND ended up in a transition goal on the other end. The deficit continued to climb and climb for Jacksonville. In the end the Irish hung their hat on a solid defense and awesome transition play.
Princeton 17, Marist 8
Marist was able to hang around for the first half before Princeton pulled away. The Red Foxes outshot Princeton in the first half and only saw a deficit of 8-4 heading into halftime. The three headed monster at attack for Princeton didn’t like that and came out firing in the second half with an 8-0 third quarter before their day was complete midway through the fourth. The Princeton attack line combined for 12 goals and 8 assists.
Syracuse 16, Yale 15
A back and forth battle in the dome went the way of the Orange after Jimmy McCool made a kick save with under a minute to go to seal this one. This game was tied seven times after 0-0 and included five lead changes. The Yale defense locked in during the second half and only allowed 14 total shots for the Orange. It allowed them to build a third quarter lead and make a late comeback when they saw themselves down 4. Unfortunately McCool had 12 second half saves and his biggest one with under a minute to go and Syracuse will end up with what seems like a home game up in Long Island.
Georgetown 14, Virginia 10
This was the craziest game of the weekend. Virginia looked like they were in cruise control early on, building a 6-3 lead shortly into the second quarter. However after there the wheels fell off offensively. The Hoos turned the ball over 19 times in the final three quarters including a stretch in the fourth quarter with 4 or 5 offensive offsides in a row. Georgetown turned a three-goal deficit into a three goal lead. After Virginia cut it to one, Georgetown scored four straight late to seal it. The defensive duo of Ty Banks and Robert Plath held the Millon brothers to only 2 goals and 4 assists after the duo led the ACC in points during the regular season. Virginia didn’t get their standout game from goalie Jake Marek who finished with 9 saves to Anderson Moore’s 15. They have a tough matchup coming up with Duke but dont sleep on the Hoyas.
Quarterfinals Preview
Four awesome games coming our way this weekend from Hofstra (Saturday) and Delaware (Sunday) equipped with a bunch of interesting storylines and four tickets to Charlottesville for the Final Four.
Hopkins vs Notre Dame – Saturday, 12pm
Hopkins has not made a Final Four since 2015.
Notre Dame (5th) and Hopkins (17th) both rank in the top-20 defensively, giving up under 10 goals per game.
Hopkins senior captain Quentin Kilrain is expected to be out again for Hopkins. In his absence Luke Martin caused five turnovers and scooped up the game winning ground ball in OT
Next man up for Notre Dame. 14 players recorded a point for Notre Dame in the first round. Luke Miller had five goals. They have one player with 40+ points this season. Who will step up Saturday?
Pick: Notre Dame 9, Hopkins 8
Syracuse vs North Carolina – Saturday, 2:30pm
Third meeting between Syracuse and UNC this season. UNC is 2-0 with wins 14-9 and 12-10.
Owen Duffy is reported to have a hamstring injury and it is uncertain if he will play.
Syracuse is undefeated at home this season and 4-5 on the road. With a large contingency of players from Long Island, this may have a home atmosphere for Syracuse.
Syracuse won their quarterfinal matchup last season 19-18 against Princeton at Hofstra.
UNC started senior Kent Goode in cage against Albany, benching freshman Josh Marcus.
Pick: Syracuse 13, UNC 11
Penn State vs Princeton, Sunday 12pm
Penn State is looking to advance to its third final four in four seasons; Princeton hasn’t been to the final four since 2022.
Princeton is 3rd in the nation in scoring offense while Penn State sits at 7th in the nation in scoring defense.
Matchups to watch: Nate Kabiri vs Alex Ross and Hunter Aquino vs Jack Stahl.
Extra possessions: Penn State ranks fifth in the nation in faceoff win percentage. A big reason they won against Army.
Pick: Princeton 14, Penn State 9
Duke vs Georgetown, Sunday 2:30pm
The winner of this game will be the first unranked team to make the Final Four since Towson in 2017.
Duke has not made the Final Four since 2023 when they advanced to the championship game due to a controversial call that introduced instant replay to college lacrosse.
Cal Girard gave Duke a big advantage at the faceoff x against Richmond, winning 21 of 27. Georgetown ranks 60th of 75 nationally at the x.
Georgetown is currently on a 8 game winning streak after starting the season 3-4.
Will Duke send Aidan McGuire down low to match up with one of the Connor brothers?
Pick: Duke 13, Georgetown 12
Next week the Final Four will be set. Memorial Day weekend is almost here. Enjoy the games this weekend!
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.