A lot can change in one week and boy did it this past weekend. Last week I had five teams pegged as way too early Final Four teams, and that is exactly what they were. I had my eyes on UNC, Princeton, Syracuse, Duke and Penn State. Three of five lost over the weekend and a couple of the losses were not pretty.
It is a long season and we still have a full month until selection Sunday. Teams still CAN bounce back from April conference losses. We will run through the results but first lets update the Top 20. A lot of movement in the Top 10 this week including another new #1.
1. UNC
2. Princeton
3. Notre Dame
4. Syracuse
5. Richmond
6. Harvard
7. Maryland
8. Virginia
9. Cornell
10. Hopkins
11. Penn State
12. Duke
13. Georgetown
14. Ohio State
15. Army
16. Towson
17. Yale
18. Penn
19. Rutgers
20. Loyola
North Carolina jumps up to #1 in the rankings after their beat down of Syracuse. The UNC offense jumped all over Syracuse in the middle part of the game and Brady Wambach provided them with make it take it lacrosse all afternoon. Cuse didn’t get great goalie play out of Jimmy McCool and their offense was stagnant. North Carolina is a clear front-runner right now to make Championship weekend.
Notre Dame got out to an 8-0 lead over Richmond in Chicago over the weekend and didn’t look back. It was an unexpected beat down in my eyes. I really thought Richmond would be able to hang and maybe even take down Notre Dame. They will have to survive through the A-10 schedule and hope nothing crazy happens in the conference tournament. Meanwhile the Irish pick up a must needed non-conference win before going back to a crowded ACC.
Speaking of the ACC, Virginia and Duke flip flopped after the Hoos took it to Duke in Durham. After starting the season undefeated, Duke has lost two straight and have three ACC games to finish the season. They are on the bubble now and on the verge of missing the tournament if they don’t pick up multiple wins–and they will not be favored to win any games. Meanwhile, Virginia’s season has done a complete 180. Their defense and goalie play has improved dramatically and it allows the nation to see the real power of their offense. Brendan Millon is a star and he has shown it over the past few games. The freshman is second to his brother on the team in points (McCabe 54, Brendan 53). Virginia was unranked a couple of weeks ago, they now sit at #8.
Lets head over to the Big Ten, a conference that is up for grabs this year. All six teams have a conference loss after Penn State blew a 9-3 lead on the road at Homewood. Hopkins left no doubt who wanted it more after a slow start. Maryland senior defensemen Riley Reese turned into a crease attackman on Saturday night in overtime to beat Ohio State and Rutgers saw a second half Easter Sunday lead vanish in Ann Arbor.
Elsewhere around the country Loyola and Army took big steps forward in the Patriot League, taking down the #3 and #4 teams by decent margins. Loyola jumped out to a 11-1 lead at halftime over Boston U. Mason Cook continues to impress, he had 6 goals Saturday. Army was up 7-2 over Bucknell at halftime on Saturday as well. The Patriot League will be a 1-bid league this spring. Navy is lurking in the Patriot League, could see them making a run as well.
Cornell took it to Penn in Philly. Harvard narrowly beat Brown. Yale hung 18 on Dartmouth in a win. The Ivy League should get at least three teams in the tournament, but what Yale and Penn do down the stretch could increase that number. Both remain on the bubble.
Bracketology Update
1. UNC vs Albany/Siena
8. Virginia vs Maryland
2. Princeton vs Utah/Robert Morris
7. Harvard vs Cornell
3. Notre Dame vs Army
6. Hopkins vs Georgetown
4. Syracuse vs Towson
5. Richmond vs Penn State
Bubble: Duke, Rutgers, Ohio State, Penn
I’ll make updates to this as we continue through April and towards selection Sunday on May 5. Seems like a good time to remind the readers that this is going to get flipped upside down in a couple weeks. There are a lot of awesome conference matchups this weekend and the rest of the spring.
This Saturday’s slate starts with Hopkins at Ohio State. The Buckeyes season is hanging on by a thread. The thread is having a good defense/goalie. Their offense stinks and the loss of Russell Melendez tells me its going to be tough to see Ohio St make any noise in May. Hopkins however is coming off a big win at home and would love to stack another one. They are rising up the polls and have a good hold on RPI with their tough OOC schedule. Staying in the Big Ten Maryland has looked like Maryland of old the past few weeks. They have grinded out tough, low scoring wins. Rutgers just suffered a bad loss to Michigan and needs to bounce back. I think the Terps will shut down Rutgers offense again this weekend. John Tillman has his team looking dangerous heading into the spring.
Two conference championship previews this weekend as Sacred Heart travels to Siena to preview the MAAC championship. Both teams have been impressive so far this season, but Siena will have to play without star attackman Patrick Radomski. Utah makes the cross-country trek to conference foe Jacksonville. Both of these squads have been teetering on the edge of the rankings all season and have a handful of losses to ranked teams. Should be a good one in the Florida sun.
Two Ivy teams who would love a win this weekend are: Penn who is at Princeton and Yale who hosts Harvard. Either one of these two underdogs winning would flip the Ivy League on its head going into the last few games. Duke and Cornell play a rare April non-conference neutral site game. At this point Duke needs simply one win. They are out if they continue to lose. Defensively the Blue Devils have looked flawed and Cornell has begun to hit their stride offensively.
America’s game takes to the lacrosse field when Navy travels to Army. The Black Knights were top-5 to start the year and now sit on the edge of the rankings. I expect this to be a close game. Navy has looked like an offensive juggernaut lately. The Patriot League is up for grabs this year, and the winner of this game will make a statement across the conference.
Finishing this weekend’s preview with the ACC. Virginia is red-hot heading into the dome. Syracuse’s stagnant offense and lackluster goalie play last week are worrisome. Virginia will get up and down the field and so will Cuse. John Mullen will need to control the possession game for Syracuse and create offense through winning faceoffs. This has the makings to be a tight game. I side with the experienced Syracuse roster, but I think Virginia could test them if they get to Jimmy McCool early and get a solid outing from goalie Jake Marek.
North Carolina also takes their red-hot team out to South Bend this Saturday. Nobody in the country is playing better than UNC right now, led by Brady Wambach who leads the nation in faceoff win percentage and the two-headed monster in Dom Pietramala and Owen Duffy at attack. Getting to play make it take it lacrosse and handing it to those two
is dangerous. I can’t wait to see the matchup between Duffy and Shawn Lyght. On the other end, Notre Dame played really fast last weekend against Richmond. Curious to see how they adjust against UNC given they may expect to be playing a lot of defense in this one. When they slow down their offense, I think that is when they begin to struggle. On paper, this seems like a good one but I give UNC the edge.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy another beautiful weekend of college lacrosse!
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.