BLTF

BEARS LAX TRAX 051821

D-I

Three out of four Bears team won and will move on—the best outcome we could hope for considering one of those first round games was a Bears vs. Bears contest. The next possible Bears vs. Bears contest requires wins from Loyola and Virginia in the quarterfinals. Should that happen and should Maryland win their quarterfinal match, three of the four teams playing in Hartford on Memorial Day weekend would be sporting Landon alums.

D-I NCAA TOURNAMENT, FIRST ROUND

#1 North Carolina 16

Monmouth 4

Top-seed North Carolina jumped out to an early lead, scoring three goals in the first five minutes. The combination of the Heels’ great faceoff game and tough defense allowed them to go up 6-0 before Monmouth got their first goal of the game midway through the second period. North Carolina went right back to it after that, scoring another six straight before Monmouth got goal number two. The game became a bit less one-sided in the closing period with Monmouth getting their lone back-to-back scores in the closing minutes of the game.

#8 Lehigh 5

Rutgers 12

Rutgers seemed to answer each Lehigh score with a pair of goals. Add on to that a “bonus” of three extra Scarlet Knight scores in one of those iterations and you end up with the first upset of the DI tournament (OK, a win by the implied ninth seed over the eighth seed isn’t all that much of an upset). The stars of this game, as anticipated, were the two goalies who recorded seventeen saves each. A year ago, these two goalies were teammates at Lehigh.

#4 VIRGINIA (Ryan Pride) 13

Bryant 11

In the first half, the Bears seemed to be able to answer Virginia score for score, whether single scores or short runs. Virginia got the last goal of the half to take a one-goal lead into the locker room then added to that slim lead with the first goal of the second half. Bryant then flipped the score board with a four goal run, taking a two goal lead midway through the third period. Bryant’s lead held up until the closing minutes of the third period when UVA responded by launching a string of five unanswered goals to retake the lead for good.

#5 Georgetown 18

Syracuse 8

The Hoyas raced out to an early lead, propelled by a five goal run in the second period. A pair of Syracuse goals closed out the first half, but Georgetown again strung together five straight scores. Trailing by nine to start the final period, the Syracuse offense came alive with a burst of three goals in three minutes. The Hoyas stopped that run with a pair of goals and that seemed to drain some of the resolve of the Orange. Syracuse would score once more before Georgetown closed out the game with a string of three goals.

#2 Duke vs. 16

High Point 10

These two teams met early in the regular season this year with the Tar Heels handing High Point a 27-8 drubbing.

The NCAA tournament version of this intrastate clash got off to a bit of a slow start with Duke getting the first goal of the game midway through the first period. Three more Duke scores would follow before High Point got their first score of the game. The pace picked up in the second quarter as the teams combined for ten goals—six to Duke, four to High Point. Duke twice used quickly scored back-to-back goals to further extend their lead in the second half. High Point had one good run in them late in the game, scoring three straight goals in the middle of the game’s final period.

BEARS vs. BEARS

#7 DENVER (Ryan Giles) 13

LOYOLA (Cam James) 14

This Bears vs. Bears match was the last game of the weekend and a thriller which had to be watched to the final whistle.

Given their uneven performance this season and their COVID related forfeiture of the Patriot League Championship game last week, Loyola was not a team that many expected to see in the tournament this year. But, the Greyhounds showed up to play.

As a relatively slowly paced first quarter drew to a close, Loyola tied the game up at two all. Picking up the pace, the Hounds added two more goals in the first minute of the second period. All in, Loyola’s early run was for five goals and put them up 6-2 in the middle of the second period. By the half, that lead was extended to 9-4.

Denver fought their way back in the second half, scoring three times in the opening minutes of the third period. Loyola was able to stop the bleeding temporarily, but a late third quarter goal pulled Denver with one, 11-10. A pair of Greyhound goals extended Loyola’s lead back out to three goals, but the Pioneers again cut that back to one with a pair of their own. Swapped single scores then set up the closing minutes of the game.

Loyola dodged several bullets as the game drew to a close, including two man-down situations. Denver got shots, but they were off target, blocked, or saved as Loyola persevered. Twice Loyola retook possession and cleared the ball successfully only to turn it back over to the Pioneers. Denver had a rush to the goal in the closing seconds and a point-blank shot from the edge of the crease. For a moment, overtime seemed certain, but the ball bounced off the Loyola goalie and into the stick of a defenseman as the final horn sounded.

#3 MARYLAND (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matt Kopp, Griffin Brown) 17

Vermont 11

After the teams twice traded goals to start the game, Maryland strung together a run of five straight scores to put the Terrapins into the lead for good. Despite that solid run, Vermont was able to keep things close, scoring the last goal of the first half and the first goal of the second half to narrow Maryland’s lead to 8-5. Maryland responded with a run of three goals in three minutes to further extend their lead. The final period saw a more frenzied pace of scoring with the teams combining for twelve goals. The rapid cycle of scores and faceoffs did not change the status of the game as each team scored six times in the fourth.

Justin was once again a dominant force that the faceoff dot, winning nineteen of twenty-eight faceoffs and gathering in ten ground balls. Griffin scored twice for Maryland, his tenth and eleventh goals of the season and John was a productive force on defense, causing four turnovers and collecting two ground balls.

#6 Notre Dame 10

Drexel 8

The Dragons took and early 2-1 lead before Notre Dame used a run of five straight scores to go up by four. The teams traded scores to close out the half then Drexel came out of the halftime break with renewed vigor, scoring five of the next six goals to tie the game up at eight early in the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter turned into a stalemate with neither team finding the back of the net for ten minutes. Notre Dame got a good shot on goal with two minutes left in the game only to see it die in the goalie’s cross. Rather than renewed life for Drexel, the Irish got the ball back on an interference call and were able to take the lead back with just over a minute remaining. An insurance goal for Notre Dame closed out the scoring.

DI NCAA TOURNAMENT, QUARTER FINALS, MAY 22 & 23

#1 North Carolina vs. Rutgers 5/22 at Hempstead, NY

#2 Duke vs. Loyola 5/23 at South Bend, Indiana

#3 Maryland vs. #6 Notre Dame 5/23 at South Bend, Indiana

#4 Virginia vs. #5 Georgetown 5/22 at Hempstead, NY

D-III

All the Bears advanced through the first two rounds of the D-III tournament. Tufts and Salisbury are headed for a potential semifinals meeting while Colorado College has to get through the number on seed in the tournament in order to make the semis.

D-III NCAA TOURNAMENT, FIRST ROUND-Saturday May 15

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) 30

SUNY Poly 3

There’s just not a lot you can say about a game like this. Salisbury out shot SUNY Poly 59-7, got to three times as many ground balls, and won six times as many faceoffs. The only good news for SUNY Poly was that their goalies made eleven saves.

TUFTS (Kyle Amitay, Garrett Kurtz)16

Babson 7

Tufts played their brand of lacrosse—shoot often, shoot accurately–taking 66 shots on the day and putting 45 of those on goal. Amazingly, 29 of those shots on goal ended up as saves for the Babson goalie. Tufts’ goalies were on their game as well, turning away 17 of Babson’s 24 shots on goal.

Garrett had two shots on the day, one on-goal and Kyle saw playing time as well.

COLORADO COLLEGE (Max Becker) 20

Transylvania 12

The Tigers benefited from several runs of three or four goals while Transylvania managed to produce back-to-back scores just once in the contest when the game was still in the balance.

Max saw playing time in this game.

D-III NCAA TOURNAMENT, SECOND ROUND-SUNDAY May 16

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) 16

Cabrini 5

This game was largely a statistical draw, but it ended in another runaway win for the Seagulls. While turnovers, clearing rates, faceoffs and other key statistics were roughly equal and the two teams took a roughly equivalent number of shots on the day, the fact that Salisbury put two-thirds of their shots on goal and Cabrini kept it in the 6×6 space less than a third of the time proved to be the difference maker.

TUFTS (Kyle Amitay, Garrett Kurtz) 19

Saint John Fisher 15

Truly an odd looking stat sheet. St. John Fisher was better or about equal to Tufts in just about every measure, but ultimately, a couple of those “about equal” stats had slim advantages for Tufts and the benefit of those slim advantages compounded into a four-goal win for Tufts. The game was tied five times in the first half with Tufts’ three-goal advantage at the halftime break being the largest lead for either time up to that point. The Jumbos’ four goal run that carried over from the third period in to the fourth put the game out of reach.

COLORADO COLLEGE (Max Becker) 19

Centre 6

The Tigers took control of the game early, outshooting Centre 38-5 in the first half on their way to building a 15-3 halftime lead. Those first two periods looked like a game of “make/take it” for Colorado College as goal after goal was followed up by faceoff win after faceoff win.

Max played in this game.

DIII NCAA TOURNAMENT, QUARTERFINALS

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) vs. Illinois Wesleyan at Salisbury

TUFTS (Kyle Amitay, Garrett Kurtz) vs. York at RIT

COLORADO COLLEGE (Max Becker) vs. RIT at RIT

Semifinal games will be played on Sunday, May 23.