BLTF

BEARS LAX TRAX 052421

The second weekend of NCAA tournament play saw three teams get their tickets punched for Memorial Day weekend—Virginia, Maryland, and Salisbury. Unfortunately, the means that the 2021 seasons for Loyola, Tufts, and Colorado College came to an end. There is a chance that the last game of the season could be a Bears vs. Bears contest if both Virginia and Maryland win their semifinal games on Saturday. Also, Maryland has a chance to be the first team to have a perfect season since Virginia did it in 2006.

D-I

DI NCAA TOURNAMENT, QUARTER FINALS

One blowout and three nail biters.

#1 North Carolina 12 OT

Rutgers 11

These two high-scoring teams got off to a very slow start, each scoring just once in the opening period. Action picked up only a bit after that, each team scoring twice in the second period. Rutgers closed out the first half with a pair of scores and then opened up the second half the same way, giving them a two goal lead. The Scarlet Knights’ lead held up until the later moments of the third period when North Carolina put together a run of three straight scores to retake the lead. A late Rutgers score created the fourth tie of the day as the game headed into the fourth period.

In the fourth period, Rutgers reestablished leads only to see the Tar Heels come back to tie things up. Rutgers got their last lead of the game with a tick under four minutes left in the contest but the Heels tied the game up again a mere five seconds later. The balance of regulation saw each team with chances to take the lead, but neither could

In overtime, both teams had opportunities to end the game. North Carolina had the first possession having won the faceoff. The Heels got a good shot off, but Rutgers’ goalie made his sixteenth save of the day. The Knights cleared the ball, but turned it back to Carolina without a shot. UNC got the game winner on the second shot of that possession.

#2 Duke 10 OT

LOYOLA (Cam James) 9

“The consummate David against the ultimate Goliath”–Anish Shroff, ESPN

Loyola jumped out to an early lead but Duke pitched a 3-0 shutout in the second period to go up 5-3 at the halftime break. The move to the second half did not change the pace of scoring as Loyola scored twice to tie the game up, but twenty seconds later, Duke scored to take the lead back. Duke extended their lead with the first score of the fourth period then Loyola wrap a pair of back-to-back goals around a single score by Duke to take a one goal lead with two minutes remaining. Loyola won the ensuing faceoff, but turned the ball over. Duke moved the ball quickly and had a shot on the crease when a hard high hit from by Loyola prevented a goal, but set up a one-minute, non-releasable man-up opportunity for Duke. Duke tied the game up and then won the faceoff, still up a man. The Blue Devils got one more good shot on goal but could not get the game winner in regulation. Time for overtime.

Duke got the ball first in overtime but the Loyola defense forced a turnover in front of the goal. Loyola was able to set up their offense but Duke knocked down a pass and forced a turnover. Duke did not let their second chance get away, scoring on a dodge and a dive.

#3 MARYLAND (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matt Kopp, Griffin Brown) 14 OT

#6 Notre Dame 13

Maryland had the unfortunate task of having to play a road game rather than at a neutral site as they traveled to South Bend for this quarter final game.

Despite playing in hostile territory, Maryland got off to a hot start. Notre Dame opened the scoring on their first possession, but Maryland owned the balance of the first period and took a 5-1 lead into the quarter break. The second quarter was the mirror image of the first. (maybe there was just something about that end of the field) The Irish opened the second quarter with their own five goal run to take the lead back. A pair of Maryland goals gave the lead back to the Terps, but Notre Dame tied it up before halftime.

Maryland got the lead back at the start of the third period, but a run of three straight scores by Notre Dame flipped the lead in their favor once again. The Irish stretched their lead to three goals early in the final period and then the game turned to Terrapins’ favor. Maryland retook the lead by scoring four goals in three minutes, the first three coming in a span of just 46 seconds. Notre Dame was able to tie the game up for the seventh time with four minutes left in regulation. The goalies were the heroes of those closing moments as each shot was converted into a save. On to overtime.

Maryland won the overtime faceoff cleanly and won the game on a give-and-go play.

Griffin had two goals and an assist, his goals coming in that first quarter run of five in a row for Maryland and the assist on a man-up goal that gave the Terps an 8-7 lead early in the second half. Justin won five faceoffs on the day and scooped up three ground balls. John was credited with one ground ball and his play continued to be far more impactful than the stat sheets can show.

#4 VIRGINIA (Ryan Pride) 14

#5 Georgetown 3

Virginia had the first game of the weekend and definitely did not set the table for the down-to-the wire games that were to follow. Georgetown, due to their definitive win over Syracuse last week and Virginia’s two regular season losses to the Orange, was a heavy favorite despite their slightly lower seeding.

The teams traded goals early on then Virginia closed out the first half with a 9-0 run. Virginia’s defense smothered the Georgetown attack as the Hoyas had more turnovers than shots in the first half. The second half started with a goal for the Hoyas, but then Virginia scored four straight. Neither team had scoring success in the final period until Georgetown got the final goal of the day with five minutes left in the game.

Ryan saw field time in this game.

DI NCAA TOURNAMENT–SEMIFINALS

#1 North Carolina vs. #4 VIRGINIA (Ryan Pride)

#2 Duke vs. #3 MARYLAND (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matt Kopp, Griffin Brown)

D-III

Back-to-back games for the D-III quarterfinals and semifinals set up this coming Sunday’s D-III championship. Although Colorado College and Tufts were eliminated this weekend, Salisbury earned a shot at another D-III men’s lacrosse title.

DIII NCAA TOURNAMENT, QUARTERFINALS

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) 30

Illinois Wesleyan 5

The rout was on from the first whistle. The Gulls choked off any meaningful offensive effort from Illinois Wesleyan, allowing the Spartans an average possession time of just 24 seconds across their nine first quarter possessions. Meanwhile, Salisbury was finding the back of the net often, forging an 11-0 lead after one quarter and a 20-1 lead at the half. The pace of scoring slowed in the second half but the Gulls were able to extend their lead a bit further.

TUFTS (Kyle Amitay, Garrett Kurtz) 17

York 7l

The Jumbos raced out to a 5-0 lead before York got their first score in the closing seconds of the first period. Tufts leveraged their lead in the third quarter by scoring seven times while blanking Spartans, extending their advantage to 15-3. Things went a bit better for York in the final period, but not so well as to change the outcome.

Bothe Kyle and Garrett played in this game, each getting to one ground ball.

COLORADO COLLEGE (Max Becker) 13

RIT 19

Colorado College had their best showing in the NCAA D-III tournament in the school’s history. That strong performance landed them a date with top seeded RIT.

In this Tigers vs. Tigers match, the Tigers from Colorado kept pace with the Tigers from Rochester through the first half, with the Rochester contingent needing a goal just before the horn for the end of the first half in order to take a one-goal lead into the locker room. Colorado College tied the game in the third period at ten all, then Rochester went on a run. Five straight goals for RIT were interrupted by a single score for Colorado College, then RIT piled on another four, stretching their lead to 19-11.

Max saw playing time for Colorado College.

DIII NCAA TOURNAMENT, SEMIFINALS

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) 18

Christopher Newport 8

These two teams met for the fourth time this season. Salisbury won all three of the games prior to this NCAA tournament bout. This game’s outcome was in line with those prior meetings in that 1) Salisbury won and 2) the score of this game tracked almost exactly with the average score of the three prior contests.

The Captains jumped out to an early lead, going up 5-1 ten minutes into the game. The Gulls put any hopes of an upset to rest at that point. Salisbury held CNU scoreless for the next thirty-six minutes, scoring fourteen unanswered goals. Christopher Newport snapped that string early in the fourth period and then traded goals with the Gulls over the balance of the game.

Jace saw playing time in this game.

TUFTS (Kyle Amitay, Garrett Kurtz) 16

RIT18

The Jumbos had an early lead against the tournament’s #1 seed but four RIT goals in the last five minutes of the first half left things tied at nine all at the break. Tufts got the lead back to start the second half then RIT went on a game changing run, scoring six consecutive goals to go up by five. Tufts put together their own run to start the fourth quarter with three straight scores, but that was as close as the Jumbos would get. From that point on, each Tufts score was answered with an RIT score.

DIII NCAA TOURNAMENT, SEMIFINALS—Sunday May 30

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) vs. RIT