College Lacrosse Returns: The 2022 Season is Underway

I guess the lacrosse world calls this past weekend Week 0. The wee hours of lacrosse season are upon us, not many teams have started their regular season, and in most parts of the country, temperatures are below freezing. But this is what Division 1 lacrosse has adopted as the spring and the start of the lacrosse season. It feels like every year the season starts earlier and earlier. This year even began two weekends ago on January 29^th as Bellarmine took on Mercer down in Georgia. This weekend, although still abnormally early to be playing a spring sport, felt more normal as seven top-20 teams were in action and the total weekend slate included 15 games. Though still a small sample size of the season, there is still a lot to unpack from this past weekend’s action and we will start with the local squads.

In-State Recap

The first weekend brought us what many thought of as a big upset, as Mt. St. Mary’s took down Navy 11-9. On the offensive end, Cormac Giblin scored five goals on ten shots and the Mount defense was anchored by a solid performance between the pipes by goalie Griffin McGinley, who had 21 saves. The Mount was helped out by two own-goals by Navy as the result of two very unfortunate bounces. In 2021, Mount didn’t get their first win until mid-April, and Coach Gravante and staff get the chance to take down a much improved Delaware squad for their second win in February next weekend.

Hopkins opened up at Homewood on Saturday afternoon and played host to Jacksonville, who they took down 11-8. After a fast start that included opening up a 4-1 lead in the first few minutes of the game, the pace slowed down as is common with the Jays under second year coach Peter Milliman. The chilly day caused a bit of sloppyness for both squads, as we often see in these early season games. Many of the top offensive options are back in 2022 for the Blue Jays, as Brendan Grimes (BL) is one of the starting attackmen this year, replacing Cole Williams (Loyola). The Jays offense saw eight different goal scorers, compared to only three for Jacksonville. The big righty attackman Max Waldbaum, a transfer from Tufts, was impressive for Jacksonville, scoring four goals and assisting on another including this beauty.

Waldbaum goal

I’m interested to see if Hopkins works to move faster offensively in the coming weeks, as they have a few big non-conference tests in front of them (Georgetown, Loyola, UNC, Virginia, Syracuse). These big tests will be crucial for Hopkins to find their style this year and take on the nations best before getting into the Big Ten slate. Hopkins could find themselves in 2^nd or 3^rd in the Big Ten, and will need to take down Maryland to win the conference.

Speaking of Maryland, they were dominant once again in their February opener, taking down High Point 21-13 behind their new #1 Logan Wisnauskas (BL) leading the way offensively. Wisnauskas had five goals and added three assists, but the depth on the Terps roster was in full force, seeing nine different goal scorers and three including Wisnauskas scoring four goals. Keegan Khan, the Villanova transfer, rolled out some highlights of his own with a nifty behind the back and a couple of crazy feeds through tight windows. Just when you think the Terps are in for a down year after former Tewaaraton winner Jared Bernhardt departs, the Terps do it again and reload through the transfer portal and the depth of their roster. They havent had an off year in about a decade, and expect the Terps to challenge for the National Championship again. The Big Ten is chasing Maryland.

Khan BTB

Around the Nation

After a disappointing end to 2021 that ended with a Final Four dud against Maryland, Duke picked up like they had hoped to play back in the spring with two quite dominant wins. On Friday afternoon they started out with a flurry of goals in the first quarter, and left Robert Morris in the dust. Brennan O’Neill had three goals in the first nine minutes and finished the game with six and the weekend with nine goals.

Duke had 13 different goal scorers on Friday night and eight on Sunday afternoon in their victory against Vermont. After a slow start on Sunday, Duke found themselves in a 4-2 deficit at halftime, and came back to win 15-7. The Blue Devils are powerful offensively and bring back goalie Mike Adler who had 31 saves on the weekend. Duke seems to always lose an early game, btu they survived the first weekend and sit at 2-0.

Delaware, Ohio State and Virginia exploded offensively against inferior opponents in NJIT, Detroit and Air Force.

The Blue Hens are one of those teams who brought back a majority of their 2021 roster that performed quite well. Mike Robinson is a lefty shooter who can pick his spot and hit it on command. They should be near the top of the CAA race come April and May.

Ohio State’s starting attack is back in 2022, and I wont rule them out in the Big Ten race which should be a tight one between four teams.

Virginia went scoreless through one quarter but coupled that with 21 goals through the remaining three in their 21-11 victory. After graduating Dox Aitken, they bring back Connor Shellenberger, Payton Cormier and Matt Moore who will lead their offense this year. They are extremely dangerous offensively, but I think they will need to lock down their defense to contend with the high powered ACC offenses and Maryland this year. After graduating Alex Rode (St. Pauls) Matthew Nunes was in between the pipes, and struggled early, but made up for it in the final three quarters to post a 50% save percentage. Virginia got their sea legs under them in the first quarter Saturday and have a couple more games (High Point and Towson) to iron out some little details before the bulk of their schedule.

Utah hosted Denver to a one goal game on Saturday under new a new coaching staff led by Andrew McMinn. The Utes are one team to watch in the new ASUN conference which will get an automatic bid to this year’s NCAA tournament.

Michigan opened up against Bellarmine up in Detroit and put on an offensive clinic. The Woverines put up some fights late last season and have Josh Zawada and Michael Boehm back offensively. The two put up a combined 19 points on Saturday and will look to play the role of dark horse contender in the Big Ten.

Looking Ahead

I’ll have my first Top-20 rankings next week, as I want to wait until more teams are underway before getting the rankings out. With all the offseason turnover, its easier to rank teams after seeing them live a couple of times.

Next weekend’s slate is much bigger and includes most of the top teams kicking off their 2022 season. 32 games scheduled from Friday through Sunday.

North Carolina and Georgetown are a couple of top-10 teams that will get started this coming weekend. UNC will host Richmond and Colgate, while Georgetown welcomes Hopkins to town on Sunday. Expect a flurry of goals from UNC, who brings back Chris Gray and has made a ton of young additions to their offense. Georgetown has to replace Jake Carraway this season, but has plenty of young talent who impressed last year to do so. They are deep down in DC and should be a contender for the Final Four this season.

We will also get to see hometown teams Loyola and Towson start their 2022 slate. Loyola hits the road to College Park to take on the high flying Terps, who should look once again to attack often. Towson hosts Hopkins in what I expect to be a close, slow game, especially given the way Hopkins played on Saturday. Hopkins has a doubleheader this coming weekend and head to Georgetown on Sunday, which should be a tough matchup for the Jays. Like I said earlier, they will need to improve their pace offensively to keep up with the Hoyas. Other matchups to keep an eye on are Penn State vs Villanova and Vermont vs Utah.

The 2022 lacrosse season is underway. Look for upates weekly and on the message boards regarding all things to love about the sport.