With three big NJCAA men’s lacrosse previews in the books (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), we finally got to see some real games get played last week. Some top teams tangled, brand new programs played their first games, and we are also seeing an uptick in awesome NJCAA stuff on the internet.
Let’s dive in to what happened, and what’s coming up next!
NJCAA Top 10 Poll – 2/25/2019
# – Team (Record) – Poll points – 1st place votes – last poll rank
1 – Onondaga (1-0) – 60 – 6 – 1st
2 – Nassau (1-0) – 53 – 0 – 2nd
3 – Genesee (0-0) – 49 – 0 – 3rd
4 – Howard (1-0) – 42 – 0 – 4th
5 – Harford (0-1) – 35 – 0 – 5th
6 – Anne Arundel (0-1) – 26 – 0 – 6th
7 – Suffolk (0-0) – 23 – 0 – 7th
8 – Essex (0-0) – 16 – 0 – 8th
9 – Monroe (0-0) – 14 – 0 – 9th
10 – Mercer (1-0) – 12 – 0 – 10th
Some teams got slightly different point totals from this week’s voting, but at the end of the day not a single team moved up or down a spot from their preseason ranking after week 1 of the season. Given that there were no truly shocking results (just plenty of quality games!) and most teams have only played a single contest (or none at all), this is not shocking in the least. Four of the next eight NJCAA games feature Top 10 teams, so maybe we’ll see some movement soon.
NJCAA Lacrosse On The Internet!
I like throwback stuff, what can I say? Also, I like the hashtag #NassauGuy. Cook was a baller:
Mercer shows off brand new uniforms for their brand new program on their media day:
Recent NJCAA Results/Recaps
Nassau 11 vs Harford 6 – Harford went up 2-0, and again 3-1, before Nassau put on a 5 goal run to take a 6-3 lead. Harford pulled within 1 at the half, trailing 6-5 after 30 minutes, but Nassau put together another solid run of goals to go up 9-5, eventually winning 11-6. The game was played at US Lacrosse HQ in Maryland, and Nassau’s Justin Roderka led all scorers with 4 goals and 1 assist. Tanner Germain and Robbie Connors each scored hat tricks for Nassau. Tyler Klein won 8 of the 9 face offs he took for the Fighting Owls.
Onondaga 16 vs Anne Arundel 5 – OCC was up 8-2 at the half, but Anne Arundel scored an early 3rd quarter goal to cut the lead down to 5. Off the ensuing face off their LSM picks up the ball, races down the field and makes a great cross crease feed, and now the game is 8-4 in favor of OCC. AACC got a couple really good chances to further cut the lead down, but a couple good stops led to a transition goal from OCC’s midfield and it was 9-4. OCC would push the lead to 12-4 before AACC scored again, and OCC would go on to take the 16-6 win, allowing only one Anne Arundel goal in the final quarter.
Mercer 24 vs Finger Lakes 7 – Mercer burst onto the NJCAA scene in their first game and dominated Finger Lakes even though the Lakers scored the first goal of the game. Mercer answered with 7 goals to round out the first quarter and pushed the lead to 9-1 before FLCC would score again. Mercer’s Brady Moore led all scorers with 7 goals and 4 assists, Nick Parente went 4-4 for 8 points to add to the Mercer total, while Sutherland Thayer score 4 goals on 6 shots for Finger Lakes.
Finger Lakes 11 vs Delaware Tech 6 – FLCC rebounded from a Saturday loss with a solid Sunday win. Sutherland Thayer continued his torrid scoring pace, notching 5 goals on the day. Dan VanNostrand added two goals and four assists to lead all scorers and Mike Dhondt made 12 saves on 18 shots on goal.
Big Upcoming NJCAA Games
Wednesday, February 27th
ASA Brooklyn vs Mercer – ASA will play their first game as a returning program, and they take on Mercer, who justified their Top 10 ranking with a big 24-7 opening season win over FLCC. Big early season contest for two programs looking to make an immediate impact in the NJCAA ranks.
Saturday, March 2nd
Ocean vs Finger Lakes – This game has the potential to be a good one! Ocean may be favored in this one, but that doesn’t mean much, especially early in the season.
Harford vs Onondaga – Onondaga is pretty heavily favored here, but Harford is no joke, and this is another big early season game worth paying attention to, amongst a couple others.
Mercer vs CCBC Essex – This is a big test for Mercer, and given how good they look already, it’s also a big test for CCBC Essex! Top 10 game in FEB? I’ll take it!
Sussex vs Tompkins Cortland – New program in Sussex takes on program on the rise in TC. I have no idea what will happen here, but my gut says TC wins a potentially tight game.
Monroe vs Suffolk – Huge contest right here. Both of these teams have dreams of living in the Top 5 this year, who is going to earn their first big win of 2019? Definitely a game to watch!
Union vs Hudson Valley – Wow, another good one! I like Hudson Valley here, but AGAIN, both of these programs seem to be on the upswing, and now we get to see it all play out where it matters most, on the field.
Southern Maryland vs Potomac State – I like this one to be competitive, and a great opening test for both of these teams. No better way to start the year than with a hard-earned win.
Sunday, March 3rd
Anne Arundel vs Nassau – This game will be played at Hofstra and Nassau enters as the favorite but AACC has some pep in their step and if they can put together a full 4 quarters this could be a really fun early March game.
Tuesday, March 5th
Genesee vs Finger Lakes – We finally get to see Genesee play a real game, and they are going to do so against a pretty experienced team in FLCC. The Lakers will be 3 games deep and rolling – can that keep the expected score a little closer? Excited to see GCC out on the field and in action soon.
NJCAA Players In The NLL
There are a number of former NJCAA players in the NLL, but here are a few who are tearing it up in 2019:
Randy Staats (Onondaga) has 62 points through 11 games for the Georgia Swarm, which puts him in the top 5 for scoring so far. Cody Jamieson (Onondaga) is also having a great year on offense for Rochester, as is Shayne Jackson (Onondaga) for Georgia. Josh Byrne (Nassau) was on fire with 31 points through 5 games before getting injured. He’s been a ton of fun to watch indoors. Austin Staats (Onondaga) is having an instant impact for San Diego on offense, and his 5 goals and 4 assists in his first game was beyond impressive. Staats has been sharing the lefty side with Casey Jackson (ASA) who has 18 points in 8 game for the Seals. Brandon Goodwin (ASA) has been playing a big role as a transition player for Vancouver, as has Jeremy Thompson (Onondaga) for Saskatchewan, with Thompson taking (and winning!) and ton of draws for the Rush.
This is far from an exhaustive list, but as more former NJCAA players show out in the NLL we will keep you posted!
