As the conference regular season is winding down, two leagues are jumping into their tournament, while others are still trying to determine the seeding. Some teams will be playing their last games next week.
While it is very sad for those teams, it also means you have that great combination of “Can’t Lose” vs. “Nothing to Lose”. This is when college lacrosse is at its best!
Scoreboard
Tuesday 4/18
14 Hartford vs. Sacred Heart 12
9 Mount St. Mary’s vs. Georgetown 11
12 Providence vs. Brown 13 2OT
12 Robert Morris vs. Canisius 7
Wednesday 4/19
4 Binghamton vs. Albany 10
Friday 4/21
10 Siena vs. Quinnipiac 8
6 Army vs. Loyola 14
12 Boston U. vs. Holy Cross 11 OT
11 Colgate vs. Lafayette 6
9 Lehigh vs. Bucknell 6
11 Monmouth vs. Canisius 6
11 UMass Lowell vs. Stony Brook 12 ot
Saturday 4/22
9 Air Force vs. Richmond 7
18 Furman vs. VMI 3
13 Hartford vs. UMBC 8
15 Hobart vs. Mount St. Mary’s 8
9 Jacksonville vs. High Point 13
7 Marquette vs. Duke 11
14 Notre Dame vs. North Carolina 13
18 Sacred Heart vs. Cleveland State 9
13 Bryant vs. Robert Morris 5
15 Hofstra vs. UMass 8
7 Marist vs. Detroit Mercy 6
11 Mercer vs. Bellarmine 12
12 Princeton vs. Harvard 9
14 Saint Joseph’s vs. Wagner 5
9 Penn vs. Dartmouth 4
12 Denver vs. Providence 2
19 Johns Hopkins vs. Michigan 9
11 Ohio State vs. Maryland 10 OT
https://www.facebook.com/OhioStateMensLacrosse/videos/1152505581526765/
9 Syracuse vs. Binghamton 8
14 Drexel vs. Delaware 9
9 Fairfield vs. Towson 8
18 Villanova vs. St. John’s 3
13 Brown vs. Cornell 10
13 Albany vs. Yale 12
9 Manhattan vs. NJIT 4
Sunday 4/23
13 Penn State vs. Rutgers 7
The Stat Freaks
This section will once again be back to highlight some of the best performances from the week. Each category has a specific range we’re looking for. It’s just fun to highlight some of the gaudy performances out there.
Freak of the week: What amazes me about this section each week is really the face-off guys. Last season, I had to keep moving the percentage threshold higher because it just kept getting beat over and over. There are some truly dominant specialists out there who give their team possession after possession. It also illustrates how important matchups are because it is not the same names every single week. Each new week, it’s a new set of names.
Enough about them, though. The really stat line that popped out at me was Tanner Cosens from Binghamton. When he went up against Syracuse, he had a good game in the net, but his saves were not what got him on this list. His seven ground balls and two caused turnovers were better than any defender on his team. He was making plays in the crease and outside of the crease and was a major reason why they almost pulled off the upset.
Offense: The minimum cutoff is 7 points (goals + assists)
Dylan Molloy – Brown: 4G, 3A, 12 Shots vs. Cornell |
Brian Masi – Sacred Heart: 1G, 6A, 4 Shots vs. Cleveland St. |
Cole Shafer – Drexel: 6G, 1A, 11 Shots vs. Delaware |
Frank Brown – Hobart: 6G, 2A, 15 Shots vs. Mt. St. Mary’s |
Ethan Walker – Denver: 3G, 5A, 5 Shots vs. Providence |
Gavin McBride – Princeton: 7G, 1A, 16 Shots vs. Harvard |
Kyle Marr – Johns Hopkins: 3G, 6A, 10 Shots vs. Michigan |
Josh Byrne – Hofstra: 5G, 3A, 11 Shots vs. Massachusetts |
Jack Curran – Villanova: 8G, 1A, 10 Shots vs. St. John’s (NY) |
Defense: For here, you need 8 GBs, CTs, and/or points
Zac Christianson – Robert Morris: 5GB, 4CT vs. Canisius |
Ryan O’Donoghue – Sacred Heart: 6GB, 2CT vs. Hartford |
Troy Reh – Albany (NY): 5GB, 3CT, 1G, 1A vs. Binghamton |
Colton Rupp – Cornell: 7GB, 1CT, 1G vs. Brown <-Attackman with Defensive stats alert! |
Matt Gilray – Bucknell: 7GB, 3CT vs. Lehigh |
Jack Carrigan – Loyola Maryland: 7GB, 3CT vs. Army West Point |
Ryland Rees – Stony Brook: 7GB, 2CT vs. UMass Lowell |
Larken Kemp – Brown: 4GB, 4CT vs. Cornell |
Ryan O’Donoghue – Sacred Heart: 5GB, 8CT vs. Cleveland St. |
Nick Albanese – Sacred Heart: 7GB, 2CT, 1G vs. Cleveland St. |
Nicholas Eufrasio – Marquette: 4GB, 4CT vs. Duke |
Terrell Sands – High Point: 6GB, 3CT vs. Jacksonville |
Garrett Epple – Notre Dame: 7GB, 3CT vs. North Carolina |
Michael Diener – Hofstra: 5GB, 3CT vs. Massachusetts |
Isaac Paparo – Massachusetts: 5GB, 4CT vs. Hofstra |
Freddy Freibott – Ohio St.: 8GB vs. Maryland |
Connor Kubikowski – Saint Joseph’s: 5GB, 3CT vs. Wagner |
Billy O’Hara – UMBC: 7GB, 1CT vs. Hartford |
Tyler Mayes – Towson: 4GB, 4CT vs. Fairfield |
Tanner Cosens – Binghamton: 7GB, 2CT vs. Syracuse <–As a goalie! |
Faceoffs: Greater than 70%, at least 10 attempts
Ted Ottens – Brown: 21/29, 8 GB, 1G vs. Providence |
TD Ierlan – Albany (NY): 13/18, 5 GB vs. Binghamton |
Will Beecham – Mercer: 8/10, 4 GB vs. Bellarmine |
Ted Ottens – Brown: 21/26, 9 GB, 1G vs. Cornell |
John Spallanzani – Hobart: 20/24, 12 GB vs. Mt. St. Mary’s |
James Sullivan – Harvard: 12/17, 3 GB vs. Princeton |
Chris Santangelo – Penn: 13/15, 9 GB vs. Dartmouth |
Jr., John Travisano – Notre Dame: 10/14, 3 GB vs. North Carolina |
Noah Rak – Massachusetts: 19/26, 9 GB vs. Hofstra |
Jake Withers – Ohio St.: 18/25, 10 GB vs. Maryland |
William McMenamin – Wagner: 12/17, 7 GB vs. Saint Joseph’s |
Gerard Arceri – Penn St.: 16/20, 7 GB, 1G vs. Rutgers |
Goalies: Greater than 70%
JD Colarusso – Albany (NY): 13/17 Saves vs. Binghamton |
Jimmy Jo Granito – Drexel: 19/27 Saves vs. Delaware |
Alex Ready – Denver: 9/11 Saves, 3GB vs. Providence |
Reed Junkin – Penn: 14/18 Saves, 1CT vs. Dartmouth |
T.J. Jones – Saint Joseph’s: 12/17 Saves vs. Wagner |
Alec Van De Bovenkamp – Furman: 9/11 Saves, 2GB vs. VMI |
Nick Testa – Villanova: 12/15 Saves, 1GB vs. St. John’s (NY) |
The Big Games, Upsets, & Surprises
- 12 Providence vs. Brown 13 2 OT: Two schools that are probably in the top five in the country in terms of campus proximity faced off. Providence has never beaten Brown. Ever. Yet this year, they came in as the favorite. Unfortunately for them, they still could not pull it off.
- 4 Binghamton vs. Albany 10: This win firmly put Albany in the America east throne. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter. Binghamton needed an AQ with a win, and Albany will be in the NCAA no matter what. The real contest is in the AE tournament.
- 6 Army vs. Loyola 14: Army’s late season faltering continued with a big loss to Loyola. I was not completely surprised to see Loyola win this game. They are a good team. I was just surprised at the margin. Army is better than that.
- 12 Boston U. vs. Holy Cross 11 ot: The budding turnpike rivalry went in favor of the Terriers, who spun this into a home game for the Patriot tournament. Both these programs are on the upswing, which sets up another fantastic regional rivalry to check in on each season.
- 9 Air Force vs. Richmond 7: Richmond needs their conference AQ to safely keep playing in May, so this game is not a huge setback. It does give Air Force some major momentum heading into the SoCon tournament, though. Them winning that would make teams very nervous on selection Sunday if Richmond’s name still gets called.
- 14 Notre Dame vs. North Carolina 13: Notre Dame winning this game put UNC in the most desperate position. They are sitting below .500 and need to beat Syracuse next week just to have a chance at the NCAA tournament. They will need to play to near perfection to do so. They played well last time as Syracuse didn’t and still lost.
- 12 Denver vs. Providence 2: Denver kept Providence’s bad week rolling by holding them to the fewest goals in Chris Gabrielli’s tenure. Now what is to be seen is whether or not this means the Denver’s defense is going to play like this from now on, or was this just a blip?
- 11 Ohio State vs. Maryland 10 OT: Ohio State scored a huge win over Maryland to make the Big Ten just a little more interesting. It seemed like once again Maryland would just run away with things. Both of these teams are capable of a championship run.
- 9 Syracuse vs. Binghamton 8: Number one Syracuse won by one over the team from right down route eighty one. They are now 11-1. It was one more one goal game that they won. When will they have one too many? I can’t stop saying one. One.
- 9 Fairfield vs. Towson 8: One reason (ok, I’ll stop) that they CAA is interesting is that as much as Towson and Hofstra are favorites, both are extremely vulnerable. Fairfield has not be consistent enough this year to be a real threat, but they are dangerous in every game they play.
- 13 Albany vs. Yale 12: Albany’s final big non-conference test was Yale and they passed with…well, not exactly flying colors, but they passed. The win at least proves that Albany can beat more than weak teams. They will be in the NCAA tournament, but if they lose in the AE tournament like last year, it will really screw up someone’s season (*cough*Rutgers*cough*)
Out-of-Conference Conference Comparison
Record | % | # of Teams | |
Big Ten | 45-8 | 0.849 | 6 |
ACC | 33-10 | 0.767 | 5 |
Colonial | 28-22 | 0.560 | 6 |
America East | 28-26 | 0.519 | 7 |
Northeast | 28-30 | 0.483 | 7 |
Ivy | 23-25 | 0.479 | 7 |
Big East | 25-28 | 0.472 | 6 |
Patriot | 22-25 | 0.468 | 9 |
MAAC | 19-35 | 0.352 | 7 |
Southern | 18-36 | 0.333 | 8 |
Weekend Games to Watch
This week, there are a couple matchups that really have my eye:
- ACC Tournament. All of it. Seriously. Just watch all of those games.
- Patriot tournament. All of it. Same deal. This tournament makes no sense.
- Furman vs. Richmond: The Spiders fell to Air Force, but Furman is looking great within the conference with a very weak schedule. This would be a huge statement win for the Paladins.
- Hopkins vs. Maryland: Does this really need a description?
- Villanova vs. Providence: The two big east teams that are currently playing for second place behind Denver. Both have potential, both can easily not show up as well.
- Hofstra vs. Towson: The entire CAA regular season has been coming down to this game. Conference bragging rights on the line. This is conference play at its best.
- Yale vs. Harvard: The one a true Ivy League rivalry. Yale should run away with this one and Harvard is already eliminated from the Ivy tournament. That doesn’t mean this won’t be fun, though.