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College Lacrosse Weekend Recap

I missed a serious weekend of college lacrosse while I was box lacrosseing in the Czech Republic.  Tough to miss it all, but well worth it.  Some SERIOUSLY excellent times were had over there.  But now I’m back to the grind of the college season and I’ll recap a huge weekend where so much was decided and determined!

We kick off with D1 and move down the line of college lacrosse divisions!

Lehigh beat Colgate 16-14 in the Patriot League final and got the AQ to the NCAAs.  Colgate still looks strong though and is extremely dangerous should they make the field.  I was surprised to see Lehigh give up 14 goals, but impressed that their offense answered the call and two-upped ‘Gate.  Is Lehigh ready to make a real at a Final Four or a National Championship?  The signs point to “I think so!”

Brown beat Dartmouth to stay alive in the Ivy race, and after their win over Cornell, you just can’t sleep on the Bears.  Is Brown peaking at the right time?  It sure seems that way.  Hartford beat Vermont 10-9 in OT for the America East AQ, and you can read more of my thoughts on this game in the Monday Lacrosse Video Explosion.  Hopkins beat Loyola by one on the road to kill the Hounds’ hopes for an undefeated regular season and continued #1 ranking.  Great game and 24SevenLax has you MORE than covered with info!

Notre Dame beat Syracuse 8-6, but all anyone could talk about was Tim Desko’s Twitter Trending goal.  Notre Dame is like the Rodney Dangerfield of lacrosse… these guys get no respect!  If their defense plays their best lacrosse of the year, the Irish can easily capture this year’s title at the D1 level.  The question is can they put together 4 great games against what should be 4 great teams?  I personally think they can.  ND is a strong Final Four candidate in my mind right now.

Ohio State beat Fairfield 8-3, for an impressive win and Penn State topped Hofstra 9-8 in OT.  Princeton beat Cornell 14-9 and my prediction of Cornell as National Champs is looking awfully suspect.  Providence beat Villanova for their first Big East win ever.  Pretty special victory for the Friars!  Yale beat Harvard10-8 for those that care about that classic rivalry.  Both of those teams were “right there” all year, but I’m not sure either got to where they had hoped this season.  Still alive, but struggling a bit.

Princeton vs. Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse 9
Princeton is looking awfully strong right now!

Denver beat Duke 15-9 and I’m thinking the Pioneers are legit… again.  Duke is talented and you have to play good team lacrosse to beat them.  If you can win by 6, you have a shot at the title.  UMass kept winning and downed Delaware 17-6 and Virginia beat a tough Penn team 10-8.

In NCAA D2 action, Adelphi cruised over Bentley 17-4 for a big win.  CW Post beat Molloy 9-3 for another dominating win. Dowling crushed Mercy 14-2 and LeMoyne beat Saint Anslem 9-2.  Mercyhurst downed Dominican College 10-3 and Merrimack beat Assumption 20-5.  The only game that could even be called an upset was Lake Erie over Chestnut Hill 19-13 or St. Mike’s over SNHU 14-7… but I don’t know that either is really an upset win.  Just good hard lacrosse.

Moving along to NCAA D3 lacrosse, we saw a bunch of tight games, and more surprising results than in D2.  Bowdoin beat Wesleyan 6-4 in the NESCAC quarterfinals and they will be joined in the semifinals by Connecticut College, Trinity and Tufts.  Dickinson beat Gettysburg 12-7 and is going to be a tough out for anyone in the NCAAs.

RIT beat St. Lawrence 15-5 and is looking like a strong Upstate team poised for postseason success.  Salisbury beat Stevenson 12-9 and I definitely get the feeling that these two teams could meet yet again this year.  Can Salisbury win three in a row?  That’s tough to do in any league.  Washington & Lee got a HUGE upset win over Roanoke 13-8 and I don’t think anyone saw that coming.  Total shocker to me!

Over on the MCLA side of things, Virginia Tech had a GREAT weekend.  The Hokies beat South Carolina, Tennesee, and then Florida State to win the SELC in a pretty dominant fashion.  VTech is looking tough as the SELC was filled with parity this year.  Buffalo got big wins over BC and then Northeastern and is a team to really look out for right now. BYU, Cal Poly, Michigan State, UCSB and most of the other top dogs won their games, and the stage is being set for an excellent playoff season!

Elon got a big D2 win in the SELC over Kennesaw State 9-6 and St. Thomas beat St. John’s 10-8.  D2 is looking tight and competitive as the regular season finishes up.

Until someone keeps it truly close with Onondaga, I’m not sure I can say much about the NJCAA!  The Lazers won over Finger Lakes 35-3.  It’s gross how good these guys are.

In the NCLL, there were a ton of games played over the weekend.  Binghampton Club won two tight games and Lynchburg Club hung 13 goals for wins over both VMI and VCU.  Salisbury Club knocked off Rutgers Club for a big victory and Slippery Rock won both their games.  Cincinatti kept rolling (and scoring) for two wins and St. Joe’s went 2-0 on Saturday.  Navy Club kept rolling over West Chester and Penn State Club beat Ohio State Club 11-8.

Also, did you know the MLL has kicked off?  Well it has! So check out our Weekly MLL Recap post where we talk about the professionals!