There we have it; the regular season has come to an end and it is officially conference championship weekend in college lacrosse. With that came the most upsets we have seen all year, with three top ten teams taking a beating and (hopefully) getting their losses over with early to make a run in the NCAA tournament later this month. Selection Sunday is this Sunday, May 9th. Sixteen teams will hear their names called and will continue their seasons in the hopes of being the last on the field come Memorial Day.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Top 20: May 3rd

  1. Maryland (1)
  2. North Carolina (3)
  3. Notre Dame (4)
  4. Duke (2)
  5. Virginia (6)
  6. Rutgers (9)
  7. Denver (10)
  8. Lehigh (6)
  9. Georgetown (7)
  10. Syracuse (8)
  11. Villanova (16)
  12. Army (11)
  13. Navy (12)
  14. Drexel (14)
  15. Delaware (15)
  16. UMBC (18)
  17. Loyola (NR)
  18. Richmond (13)
  19. St. Joes (20)
  20. Vermont (NR)

MAJOR STORYLINES FROM LAST WEEKEND

Notre Dame Steamrolls Cuse

Notre Dame is back to their winning ways as they blew the doors off visiting Syracuse on Saturday afternoon, ending the game on a 22-6 run after Cuse led 2-0. Syracuse, playing without contributors at the midfield, defense and SSDM position, struggled the entire afternoon as they saw Notre Dame play one of their best games all year. Pat Kavanagh had another absurd goal which is linked below as he broke Notre Dame’s single game points record with 5 goals and 5 assists. Cuse is on to Robert Morris to try to end their regular season with a win while Notre Dame will have the week off in preparation for the NCAA tournament.

Lehigh is Perfect No More, Loses to Villanova

Lehigh’s perfect season came to an end at the hands of red-hot Villanova behind a defense that had no holes Saturday afternoon. The most bizarre thing about this game were the stats, which really show how dominant Villanova’s defense was. Villanova led 9-2 at halftime, and at the half had outshot Lehigh 27-14 despite losing the faceoff battle 10-2. Lehigh dominated the faceoffs the entire afternoon, but 24 turnovers and an 8-15 line on clearing the ball allowed Villanova to dominate the neutral zone and defensive end while pouring in shots and goals. I said it last week and I will say it again. Villanova has the best chance to throw a major wrench in the chances for teams on the bubble to get in. If they win the Big East, Georgetown and Denver will likely also get in, leaving one less spot up for grabs.

Duke and UNC Share the ACC Title

All those Thursday night and Saturday afternoon games and the ACC regular season ends in a tie. Duke and UNC will share the title as there is no conference tournament and UNC took it to the Blue Devils at home on Sunday afternoon. After Duke went up 4-2 early on, North Carolina answered with seven goals to end the first half leading 10-4. The key to this game was that second quarter, where UNC outshot Duke 22-4 mainly because they were playing make it-take it. Every UNC goal was followed by a UNC faceoff win and another possession, which killed Duke in the 2nd. Duke ended up battling back behind Michael Sowers 6 assists, but they didn’t have enough magic to recreate the comeback they had against Notre Dame a couple of weeks ago. North Carolina’s offense is so exciting to watch and equally dangerous all over the field. One of their top-line midfielders, Tanner Cook was injured and out of the lineup, giving Calvert Hall standout and freshman Cole Herbert a chance to run with the first line, as he scored his third goal of the season. Chris Gray continued his case for the Tewaaraton, with a few dazzling plays including the spin move below en route to 3 goals and 3 assists on the day.

Big Ten Quarters

Two games and two upsets on Saturday evening as both 2-7 teams, Michigan and Hopkins won in dominant fashion. In their first conference tournament appearance, Michigan showed up, beating rival Ohio State 15-11 to advance to play Maryland. In their past couple games Michigan has played their best lacrosse of the season, and this showed everyone those games were not flukes. The game was a back-and-forth battle earlier, but the young Wolverines pulled away late and didn’t allow Ohio State back in it. John Kiracofe played well in the cage with 13 saves on the afternoon. Michael Boehm, the freshman from Ohio had three goals and an assist.

After last weekend’s performance against Maryland, Hopkins wasn’t going to let their season end without a win since March 13th. And that is exactly what they did, taking it to Penn State for a 15-11 win to extend their season and set up a matchup with the Scarlet Knights. Hopkins’ offense was finally clicking, and Cole Williams (Loyola Blakefield) had four goals paired with Connor DeSimone’s 3 goals and 3 assists. After such an underwhelming regular season, it is good to see Hopkins get a solid win under their belt en route back to Penn State next weekend to face Rutgers. Penn State’s Mac O’Keefe had two goals in the loss, and he ended his extraordinary career Division 1’s all time leading goal scorer with 221 career goals.

MAAC Quarters

Friday afternoon saw two one goal games and two upsets in the first round of the MAAC tournament. #6 seed St. Bonaventure, a third-year program notched their first postseason win, beating Detroit 11-8. A Marist team that was a preseason frontrunner for this conference had COVID issues all year long, only allowing them to play three games. Their season ended earlier than expected when they lost 14-13 to Canisius Friday afternoon. Monmouth, the #2 seed in the tournament had a scare from #7 Siena, but they ended up squeaking out a 12-11 win. Manhattan, Canisius, Monmouth and St. Bonaventure will battle for the AQ.

Additional MAYhem

Vermont and Stony Brook had a wild ending, as Vermont had a game winning buzzer beater that appeared to have taken longer than the 8.5 seconds on the clock as the clock didn’t start immediately on the faceoff.

Towson blew a three-goal lead late to lose to Drexel and end their season, not making the CAA tournament.

Air Force had a big upset, beating Richmond 9-8 to secure their spot in the SoCon tournament.

UPDATED BRACKETOLOGY

We are one week away from the unveiling of the NCAA tournament and this week’s bracketology has some major changes with some of the upsets we saw last weekend.

1. Maryland (Big Ten)

Monmouth (MAAC)

8. Lehigh (Patriot)

Georgetown (Big East)

5. Virginia (ACC)

Villanova (Big East)

4. Duke (ACC)

Richmond (SoCon)

6. Denver (Big East)

Delaware (CAA)

3. Notre Dame (ACC)

UMBC (America East)

7. Rutgers (Big Ten)

Syracuse (ACC)

2. North Carolina (ACC)

St. Joes (NEC)

First four out: Army, Navy, Drexel, Loyola

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

With the Big Ten and MAAC beginning their conference tournament play this weekend, the rest of the conferences decided their field and will begin their tournaments this coming week with plenty of matchups to watch mid-week.

The entire D1 calendar of games can be found here.

ACC

The ACC doesn’t have their traditional tournament this coming week as they opted for a longer regular season with multiple matchups. Despite this decision, teams still can play regular season games, if their regular season does not exceed 14 games. Virginia and Duke are on the shelf, as they have already reached the 14 mark. UNC, Cuse and Notre Dame can schedule “tune up” games this week to get ready for the tournament and Cuse will play Robert Morris on Friday.

America East

Semifinals: Thursday, May 6 (at UMBC)

#1 UMBC vs #4 Albany, 1pm

#2 Vermont vs #3 Stony Brook, 4pm

Championship: Saturday, May 8 (at UMBC)

10am

Vermont and Stony Brook get to re-play that controversial game from Saturday. Both games should be closely contested matchups as they will both see each other for the second time. UMBC lost to Albany 14-9 back in April after a late run secured it for Albany.

Big East

Semifinals: Thursday, May 6 (at Providence)
#1 Denver vs. #4 Providence, 5:30 pm
#2 Georgetown vs. #3 Villanova, 8:30 pm

Championship: Saturday, May 8 (at Providence)
3 pm

This is the conference I am going to have my eye on this week and weekend. If Villanova can make a run, three Big East teams could make the NCAA tournament next week. I think Denver will be able to handle Providence, but Villanova and Georgetown should be a good game, as Villanova is red hot and Georgetown is coming off a mid-week loss to Loyola.

Big Ten

Quarterfinals: Saturday, May 1 (at higher seed)
#5 Michigan 15, #4 Ohio State 11
#6 Johns Hopkins 15, #3 Penn State 7

Semifinals: Thursday, May 6 (at Penn State)
#1 Maryland vs. #5 Michigan, 5 pm
#2 Rutgers vs. #6 Johns Hopkins, 7:30 pm

Championship: Saturday, May 8 (at Penn State)
8 pm

An interesting slate of Big Ten matchups this weekend as the top-2 regular season teams play the bottom-2 regular season teams. Last time Maryland and Michigan played, the Wolverines started the game on a 5-0 run that was answered by a 16-0 Terps run. I want to say that Michigan is playing better lacrosse and it could be closer, but Maryland has had two weeks off after squeaking by Hopkins and are the best team in the nation.

Rutgers and Hopkins could be closer than their two regular season matchups, two 6 goal wins for the Scarlet Knights. The Jays have been playing inspired lacrosse as of late, playing with house money after a 2-7 regular season in a defeating loss to Maryland and a win over Penn State. Williams and DeSimone have been playing well as of late, and Hopkins has played better defensively than most of the regular season.

CAA

Semifinals: Thursday, May 6 (at Hofstra)
#1 Delaware vs. #4 Hofstra, 4 pm
#2 Drexel vs. #3 UMass, 7 pm

Championship: Saturday, May 8 (at Hofstra)
1 pm

Drexel and Delaware are the two easy favorites going into the tournament despite the professional talent on Hofstra and UMass rosters. The CAA has been the most lopsided conference all year long, especially with multiple games against most in-conference teams. This is the hardest conference to predict, and I could see one of these games ending in an upset on Thursday afternoon/evening.

MAAC

Quarterfinals: April 30 (at higher seed)
#2 Monmouth 12, #7 Siena 11
#6 St. Bonaventure 11, #3 Detroit Mercy 8
#4 Canisius 14, #5 Marist 13

Semifinals: Wednesday, May 5 (at higher seed)
#2 Monmouth vs. #6 St. Bonaventure, 3 pm
#1 Manhattan vs. #4 Canisius, 7 pm

Championship: Saturday, May 8 (at higher seed)
TBD

A couple of upsets this past weekend, as St. Bonaventure secured their first conference tournament victory and Canisius took down Marist, whose season ended after just 4 games. Manhattan and Monmouth were the powerhouses in the MAAC through the regular season and Manhattan is lucky to have the extra week off to prepare for two games and a potential NCAA tournament berth.

NEC

Semifinals: Wednesday, May 5 (at higher seed)
#1 Saint Joseph vs. #4 LIU, 1 pm
#2 Hobart vs. #3 Bryant, 2 pm

Championship: Saturday, May 8 (at higher seed)
TBD

St. Joes is 8-0 in conference (8-3 overall) and sits at #19 in the nation after 8 straight wins to end their regular season. The two games we will see on Wednesday are two rematches of one goal games in the regular season, setting the fans up for an exciting semifinal slate. Who is going to deal St. Joes their first loss since February 27th? Or will the Hawks fly into the NCAA tournament unbeaten in the NEC?

Patriot League

Quarterfinals: Tuesday, May 4 (hosted by No. 2 seeds)
North: #2 Boston U vs. #3 Colgate, 6 pm
South: #2 Loyola vs. #3 Navy, 5 pm

Semifinals: Friday, May 7 (at Lehigh)
South #1 Lehigh vs. North QF winner, 4 pm
North #1 Army vs. South QF winner, 7 pm

Championship: Sunday, May 9 (at Lehigh)
Noon

The Patriot League changed their tournament format a couple weeks ago, as they were previously in a 4-team bracket by region. They still are separated by region, but it is 3 teams per region with the #1 seed in each region getting the bye. This gives us the chance to see Navy and Colgate get a chance, which is good to see in the COVID-shortened season. Navy and Loyola is going to be an interesting matchup as Navy recently beat Army and Loyola recently beat Georgetown.

SoCon

Semifinals: Wednesday, May 5 (at Richmond)
#1 Richmond vs. #4 Air Force, 5:30 pm
#2 High Point vs. #3 Jacksonville, 8 pm

Championship: Friday, May 7 (at Richmond)
Noon

Richmond has been the team to beat all year, and Air Force took them down last weekend. To continue their season, they will have to do it again on Wednesday. High Point and Jacksonville have been solid in conference as well, with High Point’s only loss coming to Richmond and Jacksonville to High Point and Richmond. Up until this week, Richmond has been ranked in the Top 15 and they are the team to beat this weekend but let’s see if they can escape Air Force again on Wednesday.

It all gets better here on out. Everyone is looking at win or go home situations. Expect energy similar to that of NBA and NHL game 7’s as nobody wants their season (or career) to end. Conference quarterfinals this week, conference championships this weekend, selection Sunday on Sunday, and the NCAA tournament opening next Saturday and Sunday. It is a great time to be a lacrosse fan.

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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