Friday night lacrosse was totally dwarfed by Saturday’s absolute chaos as we saw numerous updates, plenty of unexpected outcomes mixed with some butt kicking’s. What started as a slate of games that didn’t expect to be all that exciting ended up being the opposite with upsets galore.
#3 Georgetown – 12
Johns Hopkins – 13
The “Hopkins is back” crowd got a bit of vindication after being chirped mercilessly on Twitter by those that didn’t believe the hype.
Hopkins was down 3 goals to start the 4th quarter and managed to rattle off 5 consecutive goals capped by Garrett Degnon putting the Jay’s up 13-11 with 5:09 left in the game. Five different players scored goals for Hopkins over the run.
Jacob Kelly was able to get one back and give Georgetown a chance but time ran out without the Hoyas getting a legit shot off and Hopkins picked up a huge win over #3 Georgetown.
Tim Marcille was excellent once again for Hopkins in net stopping 16 of the 28 shots he faced.
Tyler Dunn did a commendable job against James Reilly winning 11 of 22 against Georgetown’s very capable faceoff guy. Reilly got the better of Hopkins overall, but the Jay’s keeping pace at the dot helped keep them in this game.
For Hopkins: Jacob Angelus (4a), Russell Melendez (4g), Garrett Degnon & Jonathan Peshko (3g), Tim Marcille (16 saves, 12 goals against)
For Georgetown: Tucker Dordevic (5g), Graham Bundy Jr. (3g, 1a), Danny Hincks (13 saves, 13 goals against)
Next Up: Hopkins hosts UNC on Tuesday, Georgetown hosts Penn next weekend
#8 Duke – 12
#18 Jacksonville – 13
Many were saying this was a “must win” game for Jacksonville and we’re not even half way through February yet. Duke took a 10-6 lead early in the 3rd quarter, but Jacksonville would go on to score the game’s next six goals to take a 12-10 lead. Dyson Williams would get one back making the score 12-11, but it was Ethan Lamond that would score the dagger and eventual game winner just a couple of minutes into the 4th quarter putting Jax up 13-11.
Dyson Williams would score just 32 seconds later to once again get the Blue Devils to within a goal, but Duke wouldn’t get another shot on cage for the final 12 minutes of the game and didn’t even get a shot off inside of the last 4 minutes for a chance to tie.
The Jacksonville defense was incredible. They played great down the stretch both in their one on one matchups as well as between the boxes.
Jacksonville picks up the win despite getting absolutely wrecked at the faceoff dot. Jake Naso won 19 of 27 and had an assist, but 16 turnovers killed Duke at the end of the day, only 4 of them were forced.
You’d think some stat would stick out that could show some sort of edge for Jacksonville, but there just weren’t any other than the fact they held Duke to just 1 shot “on cage” over the entire 4th quarter. Jacksonville was even 0-5 on man up. So even where Duke was trying to hand them opportunities, Jax wasn’t always taking advantage, but they kept grinding.
What it came down to in the end was Jacksonville’s defense came to play, Luke Millican just slightly edged out William Helm in the goalie battle with Millican making 13 saves vs 11 goals against and Helm making 11 saves vs 13 goals against. Their stats were flip flopped, Millican wins the goalie battle and Jacksonville wins the game.
For Jacksonville: Jacob Greiner (1g, 2a), Brandon Galloway & Jack Taylor (3g), Zack Deaken (3 caused turnovers), Luke Millican (13 saves, 11 goals against)
For Duke: Brennan O’Neill (5g), Dyson Williams (3g), William Helm (11 saves, 13 goals against)
Next Up: Jacksonville hosts Marist, Duke hosts Denver, both next weekend
#2 Maryland – 7
Loyola – 12
Loyola controlled this game to a degree from the outset. They’d take a lead, Maryland would chip back, but the Greyhounds would use the 4th quarter to pull away and drop the Terps, their first loss since losing to Virginia in the 2021 national title game.
Matthew Minicus and Adam Poitras both scored goals assisted by Davis Lindsey that gave Loyola a 2 goal lead with 7:25 to play in the 3rd quarter. Maryland would get back to within 7-6, but Loyola would score 5 unanswered after that and that was the ballgame.
The odd part about the larger margin of victory was that Luke Wierman won 18 of 22 draws for Maryland. Despite dominating the dot and winning the possession battle there, the Maryland offense couldn’t get anything going against a more than stout Loyola group that won their man to man matchups and made it very difficult for Maryland to get anything going offensively.
Loyola goaltender Luke Staudt stood on his head for Loyola making 19 saves and giving up just 7 goals to the Terps. He had 7 saves over the 4th quarter that saw Loyola pull away and put the game out of reach. On the Terps side, normally solid Logan McNaney had a rough day letting up 12 of the 19 shots he faced.
For Loyola: Evan James (3g), Davis Lindsey (1g, 2a), Seth Higgins (1g, 2a), Roman Diego (3 caused turnovers, 1gb), Luke Staudt (19 saves, 7 goals against)
For Maryland: Daniel Kelly (4g), Brett Makar (2 caused turnovers), Logan McNaney (5 saves, 12 goals against)
Next Up: Loyola hosts Johns Hopkins, Maryland hosts Syracuse
Michigan – 13
#1 Virginia – 17
The 4 goal spread by the end of this game doesn’t tell enough of a story. Michigan was in this game throughout. Credit to Virginia though for not allowing Michigan to sniff what it feels like to be tied with the #1 team in the land for more than 23 seconds into the game. Thomas McConvey scored the first goal of the game, and Virginia would hold a lead of at least 1 goal for the remainder.
The story was pretty simple. Virginia would take a lead, Michigan would get it back to within a goal. UVA took a 10-7 lead early in the 3rd, Michigan got back to within a goal, but Virginia would always have an answer.
The “then dagger” but also the eventual game winning goal was scored by Thomas McConvey with 11:52 left in the 4th quarter. That gave Virginia a 14-12 lead and the Cavs would expand upon that en-route to the 17-13 win.
Michigan was very aggressive offensively and Virginia had a hard time with one on one matchups giving up 36 shots to the Wolverines, 29 of them on cage.
Matthew Nunes stopped 15 shots and gave up 13 for UVA. Shane Carr had a rough day in net for Michigan making only 9 saves, but the Michigan defense did a solid job of limiting Virginia’s looks which is why the score remained close for most of the game despite the lack of saves.
For Virginia: Connor Shellenberger & Thomas McConvey (3g, 3a), Payton Cormier (5g, 1a), Petey LaSalla (2g, 13 of 24 faceoff, 6 gb despite wearing a boot all week), Grayson Sallade & Cade Saustad (2 cts), Matthew Nunes (15 saves, 13 goals against)
For Michigan: Ryan Cohen (3g, 2a), Josh Zawada (2g, 2a), Shane Carr (9 saves, 17 goals against)
Next Up: Virginia hosts Harvard, Michigan hosts Hofstra
UAlbany – 7
Syracuse – 20
This game wasn’t much fun for Albany after Elijah Gash tied things up at 1’s just a minute and a half into the game. Syracuse would go on to score the game’s next 5 goals, taking a 6-1 lead. Albany managed to get back to within 6-3 before Syracuse rolled to the 20-7 win.
The Orange offense looked much improved. After struggling against Vermont last weekend I was curious to see how they looked against Albany, a team that beat them just a year ago. They looked really good.
Not incredible. The second midfield line was a bit shaky this week, they still had quite a few unforced turnovers, and sometimes ran themselves into trouble allowing Albany to force a turnover.
But at the end of the day, they jumped out to a 5-1 lead with Jackson Birtwistle putting up 2 goals in that stretch, one of them a low to high rip that perfectly stuck the corner. Joey Spallina also put up 2 goals over that stretch and had himself a much better game with 5 goals off just 7 shots (after going 1 of 15 against Vermont). Birtwistle finished the game with 3 goals.
Other Orange got involved, Hiltz (3g, 1a), Cole Kirst (2g, 1a) and even Carter Rice (2g) all got in on some scoring.
The matchup I was watching closely was the Syracuse defense against Graydon Hogg and Landon Clary beat Hogg up all day, holding him to just 1 goal on 7 shots. Other poles had their shots at Hogg as well and everyone held up. This Syracuse defense is much improved.
Will Mark has been a killer in cage, he stopped 14 of the 21 shots he faced, giving up just 7 goals. He’s only giving up 6 goals per game over the first two.
For Syracuse: Joey Spallina (5g), Alex Simmons (4a), Owen Hiltz (3g, 1a), Johnny Richiusa (17 of 29 faceoffs), Saam Alexo (1 caused turnover, 2gbs, 1 assist), Will Mark (14 saves, 7 goals against)
For Albany: Silas Richmond & Jack Pucci (2g)
Next Up: Cuse has Holy Cross today (at the Dome) and Maryland in College Park next weekend, Albany hosts Cornell
#14 Boston University – 12
Vermont – 14
Boston U. ended up going on a 6 goal run to close this game out and still lost 14-12 making me look stupid and losing me money as one of my largest bets over the weekend.
Vermont jumped out to a 3-1 lead by the end of the first quarter and led 8-5 by the half. But the 3rd quarter was when the Catamounts put the big hurt on the stray dogs scoring the quarters final 5 goals and then the first goal of the 4th quarter to take a 14-6 lead with 12:08 to play in the contest.
David Closterman had 2 goals and an assist over that 6 goal run.
The Vermont offense put on an absolute clinic seeing Brock Haley score 3 goals with 5 helpers, Jonas Hunter put up 5 goals with 2 assists and Closterman filled things out with 4 points in all including those 2 goals in the 3rd quarter.
The story in “how this game flowed” all came down to Vermont’s Tommy Burke. Burke won 15 of 27 faceoffs on the day. He won 12 of the games first 15 draws, but down the stretch over the 3rd and 4th quarters he lost 11 of 14 which is how Boston U. was able to start clawing back into the game. But Burke will take it, he won enough draws early in this game to allow his offense to get in a groove and the game was never really in doubt.
Matt Shaffer was excellent in cage for Vermont for the second straight game stopping 15 shots vs just 12 goals against and picking up the win.
For Vermont: Brock Haley (3g, 5a), Jonas Hunter (5g, 2a), Tommy Burke (15 of 27 faceoffs, 5gbs), Matt Shaffer (15 saves, 12 goals against)
For Boston U: Louis Perfetto (4g, 1a), Vince D’Alto (3g, 2a), Matt Garber (12 saves, 14 goals against)
Next Up: Vermont travels to Utah, Boston U. plays Bryant on the road
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