The first full weekend in college lacrosse provided much of what we thought. A lot of big name programs taking on smaller, less talented schools and winning big. The weekend also showed us a couple of surprises, as Duke lost their February home game on Sunday against Jacksonville. It happens every year. In 2020 it was Air Force, in 2019 High Point took down the Blue Devils at home. John Danowski always seems to find his way back to the Final Four each year and I don’t expect anything different this spring. Multiple other top teams began their 2022 campaign this past weekend and top-10 teams Georgetown and Syracuse got off to a great start.

A few teams are still awaiting their first game of the 2022 season, including all of the Ivy League programs, who I am sure are properly amped for their first games since the 2020 season was cut short due to COVID. Yale, Penn and Cornell grace my opening 2022 rankings, along with the others listed below.

Top 20: Week 1

  1. Maryland (2-0)
  2. Virginia (2-0)
  3. Notre Dame (0-0)
  4. Georgetown (1-0)
  5. North Carolina (2-0)
  6. Duke (3-1)
  7. Rutgers (2-0)
  8. Syracuse (1-0)
  9. Yale (0-0)
  10. Army (1-0)
  11. Penn (0-0)
  12. Denver (2-0)
  13. Cornell (0-0)
  14. Hopkins (2-1)
  15. Lehigh (1-0)
  16. Loyola (0-1)
  17. Delaware (2-0)
  18. Bryant (1-0)
  19. Villanova (1-0)
  20. Jacksonville (1-1)

Top Stories from Week 1

Maryland makes the jump from #2 to #1 in most rankings this past week, and they will begin the season atop my rankings, after dismantling a very talented Loyola team this past weekend. The outcome was a bit of a surprise to me as Loyola is bringing back plenty of talent from their team who went on a run into the NCAA tournament last spring. At the end of the day, the 20-8 Terps win over a top-20 team just shows how dominant this Terps team can be. Logan Wisnauskas is wearing the coveted #1 and is showing he was made for it. The Terps are deep on both ends of the ball, as they had 11 players score this past weekend and are anchored by most of the same group on the defensive end. Watch out for the Terps in 2022.

Both ACC teams in Carolina played twice this weekend. North Carolina opened with a 13-9 win over a talented Richmond team. The Heels are much younger this year, but still boast a Tewaaraton favorite in Chris Gray. Jacob Kelly (Calvert Hall) and Ryan O’Connell will need to be big for UNC if they want to take a big step in May. They finished the weekend with a 15-9 win over Colgate and will move on sitting at 2-0.

Duke wasn’t so lucky and wont be moving onto the third weekend at 4-0. Instead they dropped their Sunday game to Jacksonville as the Dolphins transfer from Tufts Max Waldbaum went off for four goals and an assist. It should be a wake up call for the Blue Devils, but the panic button is still safely sitting in Coach Danowski’s bottom drawer. One of the deepest teams in the league shouldn’t have much trouble bouncing back from this loss. I pray for Denver as the Blue Devils have a full week to prepare for that game.

Star attackman TJ Haley was inactive for Georgetown this past weekend. Although he is expected to be back this coming weekend, he missed Sunday’s game Hopkins, and the Jays had a few games to prepare for this test. The Jays got off to a fast start before Georgetown’s defense put the clamps on an upset bid. Owen McElroy is back in cage for the Hoyas and had 17 saves, while he has some more help with Will Bowen who transferred in from UNC. The Hoyas were impressive to begin 2022, and they will see their first test in Philly next weekend when they play Penn.

Syracuse was absolutely dominant from beginning to end at home against Holy Cross. Brendan Curry (Calvert Hall) had three goals in the first six minutes and the Orange led 19-3 at the half. It is safe to say that the Gary Gait era at Syracuse started out very well. The final was 28-5. Syracuse is fully tuned up for their next two games with Maryland (Feb 20) and Penn (Feb 26).

Other Notable Outcomes

The SoCon came to play this past weekend. Virginia was tested by another SoCon team on Sunday as High Point came into town and played the Hoos to a one goal game. Connor Shellenberger is off to a fast start offensively with 13 points in two games, but hes going to need some help if Virginia wants to 3-peat. Matthew Nunes has been a bright spot in the cage and had 16 saves to help Virginia escape. High Point, Richmond and Jacksonville will be fun to watch in the SoCon this spring.

Lots of goals for Michigan, who continued a fast start to their 2022 season, beating Detroit 21-5. They havent quite been tested like they will in the Big Ten, but a pair of 20+ point outings is a good start. Josh Zawada had an 11 point outing, bringing his season total to 21 in two games.

Utah impressed again with their victory over Vermont. They have a pair of one goal games under new coach Andrew McMinn. They should be a name to watch out for in the new ASUN conference and look to be the favorite thus far.

Navy needed to rebound from their dud of a loss to Mount St Marys and did just so with a win over Mercer. The Midshipmen will hopefully get their starting quarterback Xavier Arline on the field soon, as he will bring a huge presence to their offense.

Villanova and Penn State played a tight one on Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions had a few chances to tie it up late, and hit a post in the last minute as Villanova was able to hold on for a win in their opening game. Patrick Daly had six goals in the win. Nova gets to visit Yale for their opener this weekend while Penn State heads to St. Joes.

On Friday night, Hopkins moved to 2-0 with a big win at Towson, where Joey Epstien had 6 goals in the win. Hopkins was able to find their offense and put up 18 goals, something they struggled doing in their win over Jacksonville. They played faster, something they must do this season to keep pace in the Big Ten.

Week 2: What to Watch For

The Ivy League is back this weekend for their first official games since COVID halted their season back in 2020. Cornell, Penn and Yale are going to battle for the top spot in this loaded conference. Yale will host Villanova which could be a good game. It is hard to really tell how good these Ivy League teams will be, but all return a lot of starters from their 2020 seasons when all three of these teams were in the top-10. The extended eligibility will bring back a lot of guys who lost a year due to COVID. Cornell and Albany both play their first game this weekend in Ithaca. Former Cornell star Connor Buczek begins his first year as head coach. Penn will host Georgetown in what I think will be a fun battle. Penn has Sam Handley and a great offense while Georgetown is coached by a former All-American defensemen and boasts their success greatly on that defense.

There are a couple of big games in Baltimore, with Loyola traveling up Charles St. to faceoff against Hopkins at Homewood. This should be a competitive game, with Hopkins playing better and Loyola looking for a bounce back performance after getting handled at Maryland. Loyola is solid defensively and lets see if they can bring that defense to play on Saturday. Defending champion Virginia is also in town, as they are at Towson on Saturday.

Maryland heads upstate and visits Syracuse on Saturday. This should be an offensive slugfest, especially given what weve seen with both of these teams so far this season. Syracuse exploded for 28 goals on Saturday afternoon, while Maryland has scored at least 20 in both games this season. The key here will be making stops and enough of them. I am giving Maryland the early edge defensively, but that Syracuse offense has enough weapons to pose a major threat to that.

The season is officially in full swing, and after this weekend all 74 Division 1 teams will have opened their season after this coming weekend. Its awesome to see all the teams playing all (lets hope) of their games this season. 15 weekends remain in this year’s college lacrosse slate until we reach Memorial Day weekend and the finish line. After a few weekends so far, and some early observations in the rear-view mirror, I see multiple teams vying for a shot at the title.

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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