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I Love Men’s Lacrosse! – NCAA D1 Rundown

How can you not love men’s lacrosse right now? This 2016 season is awesome!

Well… as a FAN, it’s awesome.

OK… as a fan on lacrosse in GENERAL, and not just ONE specific team, it’s awesome.

As a Top 20 pollster, it’s fun, but also a nightmare.

Main Photo Credit: Jeff Melnik

There are so many upsets, and fans around the country are left scratching their heads in many cases. New upstart programs are going on the road and beating “championship caliber” programs.

Denver captured everyone’s imagination last year when they finally broke through as a relatively new program and won the gold trophy on Memorial Day. Are we finally seeing the democratization of Division I lacrosse? It’s still too early to tell.

miller_denver_d1_rundown
Photo Credit” Dusty Gunn, Southern Lacrosse Network

We could still see a Final Four of Syracuse, Hopkins, Virginia, and Maryland, which would seem crazy right now! We could just as easily see Brown, Villanova, Stony Brook, and Yale. The next month and a half of lacrosse will figure that out for us, so until then, keep watching and keep expecting the unexpected.

NCAA D1 Scoreboard

Monday
10 Duke vs. Richmond 12

Tuesday
7 Furman vs. Penn State 16
10 Mercer vs. Robert Morris 11 OT
11 Canisius vs. Vermont 6
9 Georgetown vs. Fairfield 13
7 Holy Cross vs. Brown 20
5 Manhattan vs. Delaware 6
12 Monmouth vs. NJIT 5
4 Massachusetts vs. Albany 16
6 Hobart vs. Colgate 7
12 Penn vs. Lafayette 6
6 VMI vs. Wagner 7
12 Bryant vs. Harvard 9
8 Drexel vs. Maryland 12
9 Virginia vs. Saint Joseph’s 7
13 Yale vs. St. John’s 8

Thursday
4 Hampton vs. Wagner 18

Friday
15 Stony Brook vs. Rutgers 6

Saturday
13 Penn State vs. Harvard 12 OT
13 High Point vs. Providence 12
6 Loyola vs. Duke 15
14 Air Force vs. Furman 4
13 Army vs. Lehigh 10
14 Cornell vs. Virginia 10
9 Georgetown vs. Hobart 10
8 Hofstra vs. Ohio State 5
14 Mount St. Mary’s vs. VMI 2
5 Princeton vs. Maryland 17
9 UMBC vs. Marist 8 OT
11 Bellarmine vs. Mercer 7
11 Binghamton vs. Delaware 12 OT
22 Brown vs. Michigan 8
5 Bryant vs. Drexel 14
11 Boston U. vs. Colgate 6
5 Fairfield vs. Yale 10
10 Hartford vs. Quinnipiac 11 OT
12 Holy Cross vs. Bucknell 18
8 Monmouth vs. Saint Joseph’s 18
13 Marquette vs. Robert Morris 5
12 Richmond vs. Jacksonville 6
14 Massachusetts vs. North Carolina 9
5 UMass Lowell vs. Manhattan 8
9 Vermont vs. Sacred Heart 8
14 Johns Hopkins vs. Towson 8
15 Syracuse vs. St. John’s 4
16 Villanova vs. Penn 8

Sunday
16 Army vs. NJIT 6
8 Notre Dame vs. Denver 9 OT

The Stat Freaks

There were some stellar performances this past week, but I have to give my hat tip to Fairfield’s Joe DeLasho. He faced off against close neighbor and highly ranked Yale and came away with 5 ground balls. Does that not seem impressive? How about his perfect 11/11 at the faceoff X? Oddly enough, he wasn’t even the only person to be perfect at the X this week!

Offense:
Stony Brook’s Matt Schultz 4G, 3A vs. Rutgers
Johns Hopkins’ Shack Stanwick 4G, 3A vs. Towson
Duke’s Myles Jones 5G, 3A on 10 shots vs. Loyola
Brown’s Dylan Molloy 1G, 8A vs. Holy Cross
Brown’s Kylor Bellistri 7G, 3A on 10 shots vs. Holy Cross
Army’s Cole Johnson 2G, 5A vs. NJIT
Mount St. Mary’s Mark Hojnoski 2G, 6A vs. VMI
Penn’s Nick Doktor 2G, 5A vs. Lafayette
Villanova’s Jake Froccaro 7G vs. Penn
Bucknell’s Will Sands 7G, 1A on 11 shots vs. Holy Cross

Defense:
UMBC’s Zach Esser 4GB, 5CT vs. Marist
Duke’s Greg Pelton 6GB, 1 CT vs. Richmond
Loyola’s Jack Carrigan 3GB, 4CT vs. Duke
Marquette’s Liam Byrnes 9GB, 4CT vs. Robert Morris
Yale’s Christopher Keating 5GB, 3CT vs. Fairfield
Brown’s Alec Tulett 4GB, 3CT, 1G, 1A, 1 shot vs. Michigan
Brown’s Alec Tulett 11GB, 1A vs. Holy Cross
Brown’s Larken Kemp 4GB, 3CT, 1A vs. Holy Cross
Colgate’s John Baker 6GB, 1CT vs. BU
Colgate’s Jack Stebbins 2G, 3 Shots, 4GB, 4CT vs. BU
Hobart’s Grant Soucy 6GB, 1CT vs. Colgate
Hobart’s Arik Andreen 2GB, 5CT vs. Colgate
VMI’s Kyle Walsh 7GB, 2CT vs. Wagner
VMI’s Pat Hine 4GB, 3CT vs. Wagner
Harvard’s Matt Ryan 5GB, 3CT vs. Bryant
Drexel’s Pat Root 6GB, 4CT vs. Bryant
Villanova’s John Moderski 6GB, 1CT vs. Penn
Bucknell’s Alex Spring 10GB vs. Holy Cross
UNC’s Jack Rowlett 5GB, 4CT vs. UMASS
Albany’s John Maloney 1G, 1A, 6GB, 1CT vs. UMASS

Faceoffs:
High Point’s Alex Woodall 9/10 with 8 GB vs. Providence
Towson’s Hunter Moreland 11/13 vs. Hopkins
Duke’s Kyle Rowe 18/24, 12 GB vs. Richmond
Duke’s Kyle Rowe 19/23, 15GB, 1TO vs. Loyola
Fairfield’s Joe DeLasho 11/11 5GB vs. Yale
Brown’s Will Gural 17/17 vs. Holy Cross
Brown’s Ted Ottens 7/10 vs. Holy Cross
Army’s Dan Grabher 10/12, 9GB vs. NJIT
Army’s Alex Daly 7/10 vs. NJIT
BU’s Sam Talkow 18/21, 14GB vs. Colgate
Wagner’s Anthony Labetti 8/11, 6GB vs. Hampton
St. Josephs’ Mike Lanham 17/24, 9GB vs. Monmouth
Syracuse’s Ben Williams 15/19, 8GB vs. St. John’s
Hobart’s J Andrew Spallanzani 17/23, 6GB, 1A vs. Georgetown
Mount St. Mary’s Mike Celmer 14/17, 5GB vs. VMI
Army’s Dan Grabher 11/15, 9GB vs. Lehigh
Army’s Alex Daly 11/12 vs. Lehigh

Goalies:
Hofstra’s Jack Concannon 74% vs. Ohio State
Yale’s Phil Huffard 74% vs. Fairfield
Brown’s Jack Kelly 73% vs. Michigan
Air Force’s Doug Gouchoe 70% vs. Furman
Penn’s Reed Junkin 80% vs. Lafayette
Albany’s Blaze Riorden 88% vs. UMASS

The Big Upsets and Surprises

In what is absolutely an instant classic, Notre Dame’s comeback against Denver made this game live up to the hype directed in its direction all week. Ultimately, Denver would seal the road win in overtime, but Notre Dame showed how explosive they (still) are. Not many would be shocked to see these two meet in May at a neutral site.

Richmond topping Duke at Duke has to be the biggest upset of the week. Duke showed some weaknesses against Harvard and looked no better against Richmond. Richmond took full advantage of every opportunity given to them and created a few of their own. I think it only helps Richmond’s case that Duke went out over the weekend and dismantled Loyola.

love men's lacrosse
Photo Credit: Craig Chase

Syracuse held serve over the weekend by beating up on a visiting St. John’s. The way this year has gone, very few games are really considered a lock, but an 11 point win by Cuse is a good thing. I’m mostly just mentioning this games so I can show you this clip of Gale Thorpe’s Behind the Back goal:

Not to be overlooked in all the other news this weekend was Hampton’s first game against a Division I opponent. It was a lopsided loss to Wagner, but it was another step forward for the program making large strides in 2016.

In a game that brought Rutgers crashing back to earth, Stony Brook handed them their first loss of the season. It was a great win for Stony Brook whose only blemish so far is a two goal loss to Brown. Rutgers is still sitting in a good spot for the Big Ten right around the corner.

After starting the season with three straight overtime wins, Harvard had played two entire games that were decided in regulation. They finally got back to their overtime ways this weekend and lost to Penn State. I can’t draw too many conclusions from this game as Penn State’s season so far has been pretty inconsistent, so it’s tough to say if either team is particularly hurt or helped by this.

Maryland’s huge win over Princeton may tell us more about Princeton than it does about Maryland. That was the highest goal output for the Terps since their 2013 season. Princeton has dropped three straight and their road gets no easier.

Another big shocker this weekend was UMass topping UNC. It was not just a lucky bounce here or there, but a five goal win was huge for a team that has really struggled so far this year. UNC has been alarmingly inconsistent. I’m not sure we’ll know where they sit until after ACC play is done, which is to say, their regular season finale.

The final big win that I’ll mention is Hopkins’ upset over Towson. There are not many years where that would be considered an upset, but Towson was on an absolute roll to start the season. Hopkins winning by six was not at all expected. Towson gets a quick turnaround game at Ohio State while Hopkins gets to host a Syracuse team who many still want to see earn a marquee win. As Syracuse’s Tim Barber said in their press conference regarding their upcoming game: “We also remember last year”.

Conference Comparison

The gap between conferences is really starting to shrink. It’s no longer just the conference bottom feeders losing their non-conference games, but even the top schools and conferences are dropping contests. Like I said last week, PARITY!

i love mens lacrosse

We have a new conference on top! After losses by Notre Dame and North Carolina combined with Duke and UVA splitting their games, the ACC dropped a few pegs.  The B1G used a pair of wins by Maryland, and a Hopkins win to stay afloat just enough to seize the top spot.  The Ivies also jumped over the Patriot as their top teams are making handiwork of everyone they’ve seen so far, boasting two of the remaining four undefeated teams.

I Love Men’s Lacrosse!

Brown and Yale are only 90 minutes away from each other, but it will be nearly a month until they meet, so the Ivy drama will only increase. Will the ACC pull up back into the #1 conference spot any time soon? Or will the Big Ten continue their new found reign at the top? Will Denver lose? How good is Villanova? When will Syracuse really see another test? How does Notre Dame bounce back? Can Albany be a Top 5 team? There is plenty of lacrosse to be played between now and then, and we will know all the answers soon enough. I just love men’s lacrosse, and that’s enough.