Duke and UNC was one for the ages and after a few ACC games we know they are not going to disappoint us this spring. No Thursday evening ACC matchup this week, but we do get Syracuse and Albany in the Dome instead. Duke and North Carolina had a back-and-forth game led mostly by the two goalies: Mike Adler (17 saves) and Collin Kreig (14 saves). No team had a larger lead than 3 (UNC led 8-5) and after three quarters that saw 21 goals, there was only one goal in the fourth quarter—the Justin Anderson tally to tie it at 11 with two minutes to play. The game was as even as you could script it, and it took a Duke attackman Joe Robertson to get isolated on a short stick to get the game winner. Lacrosse fans everywhere are heavily anticipating the rematch on May 2nd.

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

The ACC is heavily leaned upon in my top-10 and they will all beat up on each other for the rest of the spring in preparation for the NCAA tournament. They will all be weathered and tough going into the tournament and I only see one team being able to nip at the heels of Duke or UNC: the Terps. Maryland continues to put on an absolute show in the Big Ten, dominating every game they have played in so far this year. They took down Penn State on Saturday 17-10 and Jared Bernhardt eclipsed Matt Rambo for the most all-time goals in Maryland history.

The rest of my Top 5 in Denver and Virginia are both teams that could make a late season run and be very dangerous in the NCAA Tournament. With just about 4 weeks left until selection Sunday, it will be interesting to see who makes a run into the Top 5 and will host on Memorial Day.

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

Receiving Votes: Umass, Stony Brook, Albany, Vermont, Marist, Bryant, Boston U, Villanova, Drexel

Notre Dame made a statement win on Saturday in the Carrier Dome as they took down Syracuse 18-11 behind nine points from Pat Kavanagh and a third quarter run that simply overwhelmed Syracuse. The game reminded me a lot of the game Cuse played against Army in February, when they held an early lead, lost it and could not regain their footing. The ACC is deep and will make Duke’s dominance even bigger if they can leave the ACC unscathed this year.

UMBC scored a huge win when they took down Vermont 10-8. The Retrievers are a scrappy bunch and moved to 4-1 in the America East, with wins already over other 4-1 teams Stony Brook and Vermont. With Albany’s Tehoka Nanticoke not playing, Albany became a much easier target if UMBC is to make a run.

The Terps are a wagon in the Big Ten, as they dismantled Penn State 17-10. This game was never close. Jared Bernhardt made history and continued his outstanding season. The senior scored his 156th goal over the weekend, breaking the Terps all-time goals record previously held by Matt Rambo. The Terps should end the regular season undefeated as they have Michigan, Ohio State and Hopkins left.

In the Patriot League, Lehigh took down Army in a back-and-forth afternoon in Bethlehem. Mike Sisselberger was dominant at the X winning 23/27 faceoffs. Lehigh was able to win ugly behind 4 goals from Cole Kirst and 2g, 4a from John Sidorski. Brendan Nichtern had 5g, 2a for Army. Both of these teams should make the tournament and can compete with the big guns.

Loyola left Navy in the dust, beating them 14-10 and getting back on track, while the Midshipmen suffer a tough loss with an even tougher stretch of games ahead of them (Lehigh, Loyola, Army).

Villanova doubled up Providence in a Big East game, they sit third behind Georgetown and Denver in the Big East. The Wildcats are into the top-20 this week. Denver and Georgetown took care of business this weekend as well. The Hoyas crushed St. John’s 20-7 behind huge days from Watson, Carraway, Bundy and Haley. Denver won 16-6 against Marquette behind a very balanced offensive effort.

Towson lost a close one to CAA foe Hofstra, a big setback after their huge win over Loyola last weekend.

Virginia picked up where they left off, taking down Richmond 18-10. Although Dox Aitken didn’t continue his hot streak after netting the game winner over Notre Dame, Connor Shellenberger and Matt Moore had 7 and 6 points respectively which allowed Virginia to climb out to an early lead. Virginia has North Carolina and Duke in a five-day span starting Saturday.

Rutgers and Ohio State had a surprisingly close game to cap off the afternoon. In their last meeting, Rutgers ran away with it 22-12 but this time Ohio State was able to control the middle of the field and convert enough stops into goals to keep this close. Ryan Terefenko, the Buckeyes do it all midfielder was back in the lineup which gave them more juice in the middle of the field. Ohio State will test for the tournament this May. Rutgers is on their way to the tournament as well, but they need to find their offense, as they haven’t been playing as fast as of late.

UPCOMING SLATE

Another big weekend starting Thursday at 5pm, here is what I am looking forward to watching in each of the following games this weekend.

Syracuse/Albany – Thursday, 5pm

Fresh off losing Tehoka Nanticoke for the rest of the year, how will Albany fare in their first real test since then. Syracuse needs a win badly going into the remainder of their ACC slate, and their defense has not played great in the past couple weeks. Look for Syracuse to run and gun, but my biggest question is whether they will let their foot off the gas and allow Albany back into it.

Notre Dame/Duke – Saturday, 12pm

This game will show us if Notre Dame is going to be a real risk to the top-2 in the ACC. Their four-game stretch to end the year is Duke, Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse. Talk about a gauntlet. I think Duke is too tough defensively and has too much offensive firepower to overwhelm the Irish on Saturday afternoon. This is one of two games to watch this weekend.

Penn State/Rutgers – Saturday, 12pm

An 11-9 contest on February 20th, Rutgers got off to their hot start of a season. I expect this game to be similar to the February contest, and I think the Nittany Lions have a shot to pull off an upset. They have played much better offensively in the past few games with Mac O’Keefe getting back on track. Rutgers has slowed up but considering they have had Maryland twice in the past four games fans in Piscataway shouldn’t be worried. I think this will be a close higher scoring game with the chance for an upset.

Loyola/Army – Saturday, 1pm

This is a big game in the Patriot League, and a similar one to Navy/Lehigh. One team coming off a tough loss and the other with a big conference win. Loyola pulled off 35% shooting against Navy, and they will need to shoot well again to take home a win against Army. Neither team wants their second conference loss already, but one will have to get it. This game could go either way, it simply depends how Loyola wants to shoot the ball.

North Carolina/Virginia – Saturday, 2pm

The other game I have to have my eye on this weekend is UNC/Virginia. Fresh off a loss, the Heels want to secure their spot in the top-3 again this weekend and I think the Heels have the ability to do that against a Virginia team who has struggled a bit this season. Virginia has the pieces to pull this upset and keep pace with North Carolina, but will they put the pieces to the puzzle together again against a very good team. I think this is a close one, but UNC pulls away in the second half.

Denver/Villanova – Saturday, 2pm

After their first meeting was postponed these two will go after it this weekend. Denver has won 7 straight games and Villanova’s only losses this season are to Georgetown. I think Denver is too consistent and deep, but it will be interesting to see if Villanova can make this a game like they did a couple weeks ago when they lost to Georgetown by 1.

Lehigh/Navy – Saturday, 4pm

Another big one in the Patriot League, Navy needs a win bad to get back in the mix. Lehigh would be a good team to get that win against, especially now that they took down Army last weekend. Lehigh is a tough team, especially when they win a solid majority of their faceoffs. Their offense can score while slowing the game down and their defense will make stops and turn the ball over. This will be a tough one for Navy.

TEWAARATON WATCH

Inside Lacrosse released its Tewaaraton Watch rankings Wednesday morning, a few quick takeaways from the list:

Full article here.

  1. Jared Bernhardt – Maryland (28g, 15a in 7 games)
  2. Chris Gray – UNC (32g, 24a in 9 games)
  3. Michael Sowers – Duke (22g, 29a in 10 games)
  4. Pat Kavanagh – Notre Dame (11g, 26a in 6 games)
  5. Brendan Nichtern – Army (19g, 19a in 6 games)
  6. Jake Carraway – Georgetown (29g, 11a in 7 games)
  7. Mike Sisselberger – Lehigh (3g, 77%, 61gbs in 5 games)
  8. Stephen Rehfuss – Syracuse (18g, 16a in 7 games)
  9. Connor Shellenberger – Virginia (18g, 26a in 10 games)
  10. Logan Wisnauskas – Maryland (20g, 17a in 7 games)

Sissellberger isn’t getting a lot of press about the start he has had but the writers are doing their research. He is a major reason Lehigh has started so hot.

Just as Maryland, UNC, Duke are 1, 2 and 3 in the rankings, the same goes here on this watch list. I believe these three are interchangeable as well, as not many would argue with Gray or Sowers at 1. Going to be interesting to see how these three finish the year and how the voting goes.

Pat Kavanagh averaging over 4 assists a game is absurd. He played awesome against Cuse with 9 points this past weekend and will go against JT Giles Harris this weekend.

Denver and Rutgers are the only teams in the top-10 without a nominee. Denver is fairly balanced offensively with 4 players already over 30 points. Rutgers too, in only 7 games have 5 players over 16 points. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jackson Morrill and Adam Charlambides to move up the list.

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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