Let’s see those betting slips from the weekend. Each of the top three teams in the country entered the weekend as heavy favorites. Virginia (-7.5), Maryland (-8.5), and Georgetown (-6.5) faced challenges from the big underdogs. Teams like Loyola and Johns Hopkins showed the college lacrosse world that they mean business. By the time Saturday was over, all three failed to cover and only one of them would win their game outright.
Wall Ball is here to help you get up to speed on the major storylines and highlights in D1 Lacrosse from the weekend. Before we jump into the action, the Palmetto State had plenty of action this weekend.
Grab your stick, it’s time to hit the wall!
D2 Scoreboard Watching
While we largely focus on D1, let’s give a shout-out to D2 life! Chowan and Anderson (SC) played on February 4th. Anderson lit up the scoreboard in the 32-12 win over the Hawks. The highlight of the night came from Anderson freshman Mathew Rogers who scored 11 goals in the win. What did Rogers do for an encore? He scored eight more on Friday night in their win over Florida Southern. The freshman has 19 goals on only 26 shots in two games for the Trojans.
Eye of the Tiger
Speaking of South Carolina, the Clemson Women’s Lacrosse team opened up its inaugural season this weekend. We spoke with Tiger Head Coach Alison Kwolek earlier this fall about building out her first team and the excitement surrounding their brand new women’s lacrosse-only facility. One of the coolest videos from Week 1 came from Clemson’s social media team. The team put out a fantastic overview getting Clemson fans up to speed on the rules of women’s lacrosse.
Clemon opened their season Saturday afternoon against Wofford. You could say that the Tigers got off to a fast start. Kwolek and the Tigers get their first victory of the season with a 23-1 victory. Kowlek used the transfer portal to help build her initial team and the results paid dividends on Saturday. Hanna Hilcoff (Oregon) and Gianna New (Davidson) each had five goals to lead the Tigers. Clemon hosts Furman on Wednesday.
22 Orange Crush
Last week, Twitter lost its mind over Joey Spallina’s 1-15 shooting performance in their opening game against Vermont. Those fears were greatly exaggerated. Spallina had five goals in seven shots in Syracuse’s 20-7 win over Albany. Spallina was the No.1 high school player of 2022 and it was only a matter of time before his shots started to fall for the Orange.
The Orange had a balanced and depth of scoring on Friday night. Ten different scorers made the stat sheet. Jackson Birtwistle was impressive, especially early. Goalie Will Mark had another solid night saving 14 shots (67%). The Orange face their biggest test of the season on Saturday when they travel to College Park to take on the Terps.
Mic’d Up in Charlottesville
Virginia hosted Michigan at noon on Saturday in a high-scoring, fast-paced game. The game was broadcast on the ACC Network, but commentators Anish Shroff and Paul Carcaterra had technical difficulties and were not able to call the first half. Viewers were treated to the onfield microphone where we got an opportunity to listen to the players, coaches, and referees. It was a really cool opportunity to just watch and listen to the game.
On the field, there was plenty of action. Virginia was able to outlast the upstart Wolverines 17-13. Connor Shellenberger (3G,3A), Thomas McConvey (3G,3A) and Payton Cormier (5G,1A) led the Cavaliers with six points apiece. Ryan Cohen (3G,2A) led the Wolverines with five points. The Wolverines were impressive and showed that their offense will be a force to be reckoned with in 2023.
Duke Flounders in Jacksonville
Things were looking up in Jacksonville for the Blue Devils. Duke turned an early 4-2 deficit into a 9-5 halftime lead and started to look comfortable. Unfortunately, the Dolphins didn’t get the memo. Jacksonville would explode in the third quarter and outscore Duke 7-2. The Dolphins held on in the fourth quarter to knock off the Blue Devils for the second year in a row. Duke had a chance to tie it at the end of the game with 20 seconds left, but an errant pass sealed the game for Jacksonville. Brennan O’Neill led Duke with five goals.
Hounds Run Over the Terps
20-8. That was the final score last year when the Loyola Greyhounds and Maryland Terrapins met to open up the 2022 lacrosse season. What a difference a year makes. Evan James led a balanced Loyola scoring attack that saw seven Hounds register at least one goal in the major lacrosse upset over Maryland. Luke Staudt was a brick wall between the pipes and finished up with 19 saves. Maryland looked out of sorts most of the day despite winning the faceoff battle 18-4. This was the first time the Terps were held under double-digit goals since May of 2019 against Johns Hopkins. Watch out for the Loyola Men’s Lacrosse program this season.
The Band Plays at Homewood
Something was missing in 2022. Johns Hopkins looked outmatched physically and mentally when they faced superior teams last year. They would see the other team go on runs and have no answer. The 2023 Jays are different. They went down to a rowdy atmosphere in Jacksonville last week and handled their business. On Saturday, they welcomed the No.3 team in the country to Homewood Field.
The Hoyas jumped out to a 4-1 first-quarter lead, only to see the Jays fight back with a four-goal run of their own to go back up 5-4. The Hoyas would go back up by three goals and held an 11-8 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Jays once again responded with a five-goal run in the fourth quarter and forced a late Tucker Dordevic turnover to secure the victory over the Hoyas. Johns Hopkins secured arguably the biggest win in the Peter Milliman era and is playing with new confidence. The Jays travel two miles down Charles Street next Saturday to face Loyola.
