Bear Lax Trax Fax by John Nichols

BLTF 032716

 NOTE: this edition includes the work of Marymount Assistant Wes Lincoln in the Div. III section

Penn (Peter Laco, Garret Fellows) 9

Cornell (Marshall Peters, Jack Bolen, Colton Rupp) 6

Penn scored six unanswered goals in the game’s first 25 minutes, not allowing Cornell to get on the scoreboard until 2:16 remained in the first half.  Cornell had the better second half but never got closer than three.  Penn’s victory over Cornell is the Quakers’ first regular season win over the Big Red since 2006.  Things won’t get any easier for Penn as they face three top 10 ranked teams in their next three games.  For Cornell, Colton Rupp scored one goal on four shots and Marshall Peters caused one turnover.

Virginia (Jason Murphy, Jack Falk, Michael Rhoads) 13 OT

Johns Hopkins (Sam Lynch) 12

The Blue Jays jumped out to a 4-0 lead making it look like a reprise of Hopkins’ rout of UVA in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year.  UVA rallied back by scoring six straight, including a stunning goal by Jason Murphy to cap off the rally.  Kudos to the ESPNU production crew that immediately cut to a crowd reaction shot that captured Kim, Harry, and Justin Murphy whooping it up in the stands.  Jason had another strong game at the X, winning 17 of 26 faceoffs.  The game went into overtime after UVA’s late goal tied things up at 12.  Jason’s dominance was again in play as the Hopkins FOGO jumped early, leading to UVA gaining possession which led to the winning goal just 19 seconds later.  Justin is ranked 9^th in the nation for face-off win percentage this year

Jason celebrates a great goal

Vote for Jason as the String King Player of the Week

OTHER GAMES

Bucknell (Sean O’Brien, Jarret Witzal) 3

Loyola 14

Sean was 100% of Bucknell’s offense, scoring two and assisting on one, but it’s a team game.  Jarret was 5-for-10 on faceoffs for the Bison.  Jarret is the #3 ranked freshman FOGO in NCAA D-I lacrosse for face-off win percentage.

Colgate (Robby Dunigan) 7

Army 11

Colgate dropped the first of three straight games against the top ranked teams in the Patriot League.

Dartmouth (Landon McKenzie) 7

NJIT 10

The game was NJIT’s first win and the only time they have scored in the teens.

Dartmouth (Landon McKenzie) 8

Harvard 18

Nothing is getting easier for Dartmouth as they took on one of the top teams in the Ivy League.

Delaware (Philip Pena) 11

Rutgers 15

It’s been a tough start to the 2016 season for the Blue Hens, but they still have their post-season opportunities in front of them as they play their five conference foes over the balance of the regular season.

Drexel (Hank Brown) 7

Binghamton 10

Hank had one ground ball and two caused turnovers in the Dragon’s loss.

Drexel (Hank Brown) 12

Mercer 5

Drexel bounced back this weekend with a victory over Mercer.  Hank got another assist as well as one ground ball and one caused turnover.  Like Delaware, the balance of Drexel’s season is made up of Colonial Athletic League games.

Fairfield (Charlie Schnider) 13

Quinnipiac 7

Charlie dished out two assists and took two shots in the Stags’ win.

Fairfield (Charlie Schnider) 9

Villanova 15

Charlie dished out two more assists for the Stags, raising his total for the year to 17, which leads the Colonial Athletic Association.

Hobart (Koko Avedisian, Riley McTague) 5

St. Joseph’s 13

Navy (Patrick Keena) 11

Lafayette 4

Patrick scored 1 goal and two assists as Navy picked up its third straight conference win.

Navy (Patrick Keena) 12

Lehigh 7

Patrick scored three goals and assisted on two for the Middies.  Patrick scored three straight in a 6:39 interval in the second period, kicking off a 9-2 run for Navy.  Patrick leads Navy in scoring with 31 points (12 goals and 19 assists) is tied for tops in assists in the Patriot League and is ranked #6 nationally in assists per game.

Princeton (Mark Strabo) 10

Yale 11

Yale jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first eight minutes of this Ivy League contest.  Princeton fought their way back, taking a 6-5 lead after scoring the first two goals of the second half.  Yale regained the lead scoring the winning goal with 10 minutes left in regulation.  The two teams amassed 21 goals in the game’s first 50 minutes, but none thereafter.  Yale is ranked first in both the coaches and media polls this week.

Vermont (Coach Ryan Curtis) 12 OT

Hofstra 13

The Catamounts took a one goal lead late in game on the fourth of four straight goals, but Hofstra scored with 20 seconds left in the game.  Hofstra won the OT face off and maintained possession until scoring at the 1:11 mark in overtime, dashing Vermont’s hope of gaining the upset win.

Vermont (Coach Ryan Curtis) 11

UMass-Lowell 9

Vermont gets a win in their first America East league game.

POLLS:

THIS COMING WEEK

Dartmouth (Landon McKenzie) will play in two Bears vs. Bears games this week.  First up is Vermont (Coach Ryan Curtis) then Cornell (Marshall Peters, Jack Bolen, Colton Rupp) on the weekend.

D-III

Hamilton (Sellers Garret) 12

Nazareth 14

Nazareth put up six goals in a third quarter scoring explosion and held off Hamilton’s attempted come back in the fourth quarter when the Continentals pulled within one goal.

Hamilton (Sellers Garret) 7

Amherst 17

Sellers had 4 ground balls and a caused turnover in a tough game against a strong opponent.

Trinity (Spud Dunn) 16

Babson 6

Spud had two shots and one caused turnover for the Bantams.

Trinity (Spud Dunn) 16

Tufts 17

Trinity outscored perennial NESCAC power Tufts 5-1 in the fourth quarter to get within one, but they couldn’t control the ball on the last face-off.

Ohio Wesleyan (Ass’t Coach Tommy Minkler) 19

Oberlin 9

Ohio Wesleyan (Ass’t Coach Tommy Minkler) 14

Kenyon 7

After a challenging non-league schedule comes to an end and conference play starts for the Battling Bishops, OWU is off to a strong 2-0 start.  Dennison looks to be their #1 challenger again and the teams will face each other in three weeks.

Marymount (Ass’t Coach Wes Lincoln) 5

York 15

The Capital Conference is one of the tougher D-III conferences.  Wes’s experience in the similarly tough Centennial Conference should serve Marymount well.

Marymount (Ass’t Coach Wes Lincoln) 12

Arcadia 4

The Saints got back to .500 picking up another road win.  With a 5-3 record on the road and 0-2 at home, Marymount may be happy they only scheduled 4 home games this year.