Duke and Virginia are winning games in February. A handful of teams have had to postpone games. One team was put on the shelf for a couple weeks. If this young college lacrosse season is telling us one thing, it will be just quite a bit uncertain. What else were we to expect in 2021?
It has been sixteen days since Bellarmine and Mercer opened the season back on January 30th, and we have seen plenty of teams start their season, but then again some of the blue bloods across the country including Maryland, Hopkins, Syracuse, Penn State and Notre Dame hold off and get a few more practices in before their first contests.
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
What is the best way to go about a season while dealing with COVID? Denver has taken the route of getting games in early. They have played four games already, two coming against top-5 teams while preparing for the Big East slate that begins for them against Marquette this coming weekend. Duke and North Carolina both have five more games before the ACC season even begins. Teams like Hopkins and Maryland in the Big 10 have only conference games slated for this season, starting as early as this weekend. It is going to be really interesting to see what the college lacrosse landscape looks like come selection Sunday and Memorial Day weekend, but uncertainty will definitely be a huge part of it. Since I last wrote, we have seen 16 Division 1 games be played. Some more important and telling than others, but I will try to recap the major storylines in the coming paragraphs. But for now, before everyone has played, here is my updated D1 Top-10.
- Duke
- North Carolina
- Syracuse
- Virginia
- Maryland
- Penn State
- Maryland
- Georgetown
- Denver
- Ohio State
Denver made the trip out east to take on Duke and North Carolina in the same weekend, and the trip didn’t go as planned for the Pioneers. Granted, Duke and UNC are the top two teams in the nation right now, but Denver hung with and tested Duke early on Friday, before Duke unleashed their offensive firepower in the second half to take the game 12-10. Sunday afternoon proved to be another story for the Pios as they fell victim to early and often goals from North Carolina’s veteran offense and persistent ride. UNC ended up taking that game 24-13.
LAST WEEKEND
Last weekend’s slate was the biggest this young season has seen so far, as there were 5 games in the 12pm window, and a few more scattered throughout the evening.
Duke dismantled Mercer 17-8. Duke’s All-American attackman Joe Robertson was back in the lineup after missing a couple games due to injury, which forced #1 overall recruit Brennan O’Neill to run out of the midfield. Both took advantage of this change as Robertson finished with four goals and O’Neill constantly was able to exploit his short stick matchup while dodging from up top. Tewaaraton favorite Michael Sowers enjoyed his best game as a Blue Devil, finishing with 4 goals and 2 assists. I give a lot of credit to Mercer, who withstood an 8-1 first quarter to keep the score respectable in this one. Despite Duke having a great day, Mercer’s Collin Stewart (Calvert Hall) took his talents to SportsCenter with this insane behind the back goal.
Towson and St. Joes were stuck in a defensive battle throughout the rainy afternoon in Towson as the Tigers salvaged a late collapse to win off the stick of Andrew Milani (St. Paul’s) in overtime. Both goalies played extremely well and collected 60% save percentages, while the offenses struggled to get shots on goal and possess the ball. With the two teams combining for 49 turnovers, St. Joes was able to claw back into the game late with two fourth quarter goals. Fortunately for the hometown Tigers, Andrew Milani was able to convert with a high wing dodge and roll back to send the Tigers to Barley’s Backyard Uptown with a W.
For those of you who don’t know much about Hofstra lacrosse, they will be hosting the Memorial Day festivities this May. They also have a kid on their team named Ryan Tierney, who scored eight goals on Saturday and added three assists on top of it. He had three goals in the fourth quarter, all of which tied the game, and the last came with 15 ticks left on the clock to send the game into OT. Unfortunately for Hofstra, it was St. Johns who came away with the win in OT 19-18 off the stick of Mike Madsen. Brothers Joe and Mike Madsen combined for 10 points in the win Saturday.
On Sunday, Loyola traveled to Richmond to take on the Spiders, and came out on top after a crazy finish from Kevin Lindley in overtime. Liam Bateman (Loyola) opened the scoring for Loyola and Ryan Dunn (Loyola) tallied a goal for Richmond. This was another defensive dominant game, and these two offenses couldn’t get things going while both goalies were playing well. Loyola and Lindley found themselves down late in the fourth quarter before he found the back of the net twice in a few minutes to give the Hounds a 1-0 start to their season.
Other quick hits from the weekend:
Graduate student Kevin Rogers transferred to High Point from Division 3 Lynchburg University in the offseason. He recently won Inside Lacrosse’s Division 3 Player of the Year and showed why on Saturday as he scored 4 goals and assisted on 2 in High Point’s 21-15 win over Robert Morris.
If there is anyone who I think can knock Michael Sowers from the ranks of Tewaaraton frontrunner, it will be North Carolina’s Chris Gray. Gray can do it all. He rides his butt off, is a great feeder from behind the cage, and can dodge and finish better than any attackmen in the country. His 7 points this weekend led UNC to a 18-7 win over Jacksonville. Gray has 14 points in two games, and he isn’t going to stop there.
Denver got themselves back in the win column as their stars came to play against Air Force. Ethan Walker (5g, 2a) and Jackson Morrill (McDonough) (2g, 4a) paced the Pioneer offense while the defense did their job and shut Air Force down behind Jack Thompson’s 10 saves. They dropped in my rankings but should have a couple of great matchups in the Big East with Georgetown this spring.
Dox Aitken and Matt Moore were both back in the lineup Sunday in their 14-9 win over Army, but goalie Alex Rode (St Paul’s) did not play. Virginia proved they can score and score quick as they didn’t let off the gas and got their second win of the year.
THINGS TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK/WEEKEND
The biggest college lacrosse Saturday thus far is here, with most teams either continuing or starting their season this weekend. Baltimore lacrosse fans can finally rejoice, as Loyola, Towson and Hopkins both have home games this weekend. I am still unsure the status of fans in the stands, but I can’t wait to hear the Hopkins band back in action.
Ohio State @ Hopkins – 12pm
Both teams are ranked in the top-20 as this should be a pretty good game. I am unsure what to expect out of both as it is their first games of the year. Cole Williams (Loyola) and company are back for the Jays while Tre Leclaire and company are back for the Buckeyes. Expect a close one here.
Penn State @ Rutgers – 12pm
Rutgers is going to have a tough time containing debatably the best shooter college lacrosse has seen in the past decade, Mac O’Keefe. Rutgers brings back plenty of experience on the offensive end with 7th year senior Adam Charlambides back. But even without distributor Grant Ament, I think O’Keefe will have a big day and Penn State handily win this one.
Virginia @ Loyola – 5pm
Virginia’s high-powered offense is going to be a tough task for Loyola to stop. To stay in this game, they will need to score and score quick, something that was tough for them this weekend. Virginia is just too big offensively and could run out seven guys who can score at will.
Michigan @ Maryland – 1pm
The opener for both teams. The Terps welcome back Jared Bernhardt to pair with Logan Wisnauskas (Boys’ Latin) on offense. Their defense is composed of system players who have experience with the Terps. Michigan is not going to be ready for this early conference matchup.
Duke @ Towson – 2pm
This game has a similar feel to Virginia/Loyola. Towson proved Saturday that it was hard at times to get the ball in the net. Duke, like Virginia is too high powered on offense (their third line midfield is three graduate students) and Towson will have to come out and put shots in early if they want to run with the Blue Devils. We will see a game similar to Duke/Mercer if Towson comes out flat and allows Duke to build an early lead.
Army @ Syracuse – Sunday, 12pm
Army always gives the Orange fits. It feels like once every few years we see an Army upset of the Cuse in the dome. Syracuse returns plenty of starters from last year, including their three headed monster at midfield (Brendan Curry (Calvert Hall), Jamie Trimboli and Tucker Dordevic. Many have Syracuse ranked as their #1 team in the country, but this Sunday will be a test for them. I expect a close game in the Carrier Dome, as Army has a game under their belt against a tough UVA team.
Richmond @ UNC – Sunday, 2pm
In order for Richmond to beat UNC, they need to get star Ryan Lanchbury to land in the goals column a few times early and they need to find a way to slow down Chris Gray. North Carolina rides very efficiently, and they are able to convert their hustle plays into goals. Richmond needs to create turnovers on the defensive end, avoid mistakes in the middle of the field, and turn possessions into goals in order to compete with UNC’s offense averaging 21 goals a game.
BONUS LACROSSE
Saved this for last. Just a little something to keep the weekend going, we have a couple of mid-week games this week, both on Tuesday.
UNC-High Point and Mount St Mary’s-Delaware play Tuesday at 2pm and 3pm respectively.
Check back next week as I will recap this weekend’s action and provide some outlook for the following weekend in college lacrosse. Keep up to date with the 2021 NCAA Lax message board at the link below: https://forum.baltimoresportsandlife.com/forum/index.php?/topic/23112-2021-ncaa-lax/
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.