BEAR LAX TRAX FAX by John Nichols NCAA TOURNAMENT

NCAA Tournament—DI

As was inevitable given the bracket, one Bear team won, one Bear team saw their season end.  The weekend was upset-free as the seeded teams all won.

Bears vs. Bears

#5 DENVER (Ryan Giles) 16

MICHIGAN (Hunter Taylor, Graham Hertzberg) 11

After each team scored once to start the game, Denver went on a tear, scoring eight straight goals in the middle of the first half.  In the second half, Michigan rallied with five goals in less than four minutes, but the Pioneers blunted the effect of that run by scoring four straight goals across the third and fourth quarters.

Hunter had eight saves in the game and picked up two ground balls for Michigan.

Ryan took one shot and covered one ground ball for Denver.

Not Bears

#1 Notre Dame 14

 Albany 9

After trailing by one at halftime, Notre Dame kicked off the second half with a four-goal run and never looked back.

#2 Duke 19

Utah 7

Duke had a six-goal run in the first half and another in the second half.

#3 Johns Hopkins 13

Lehigh 10

Lehigh gave the Blue Jays fits but Hopkins scored the game’s final four goals to get the win.

#4 Syracuse

Towson

Down by one at halftime, Syracuse took over the game by scoring nine straight third quarter goals.

#6 Virginia 17

Saint Joseph’s 11

Despite being initially being befuddled by St. Joe’s ten-man ride, Virginia’s offense steadily ran away from the Mountain Hawks.

#7 Maryland 16

Princeton 8

The Terrapins made short scoring runs throughout the first half while not allowing successive goals to the Tigers.

#8 Georgetown 12

Penn State 9

Georgetown trailed Penn State until early in the fourth quarter when they earned the win with a five-goal run to finish out the game.

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NCAA D-I TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS

#5 DENVER (Ryan Giles) vs #4 Syracuse, May 19 at Towson, MD

Also:

#1 Notre Dame vs. #8 Georgetown, May 18 at Hempstead, NY

#2 Duke vs. #7 Maryland, May 18 at Hempstead, NY

#3 Johns Hopkins vs. #6 Virginia, May 19 at Towson, MD

NCAA Tournament—DIII

SECOND ROUND

DICKINSON (Will Single)10

Scranton 3

Dickinson won the key possession measures—faceoffs and ground balls.  Scranton shot poorly and infrequently and all of that added up to a tournament win for the Red Devils. 

Will scooped up one ground ball.

DENISON (Anthony Savoy) 10

Babson 12

Over the game’s first three quarters each team had leads and the game was tied five times.  Denison got their second two-goal lead in the middle of the third quarter then Babson’s offense exploded for five straight goals, taking a three-goal lead in the middle of the fourth quarter.  Denison stopped that run with a goal but could not get closer as each team scored once more before the final gun.

The loss ends Anthony’s season.  He appeared in six games and contributed two assists in this, his freshman season.

BOWDOIN (Nico Schermer) 23

Grove City 9

Bowdoin opened that game with ten straight scores and then, after Grove City got their first, the Polar Bears ran off another five in a row.  Grove City scored three quick goals to finish the first and then each team had three-goal runs in the third quarter.  Bowdoin padded their lead with one last good scoring streak in the fourth quarter—four straight—to propel them on in the tournament.

Nico saw his first game action of the season, picking up one ground ball for Bowdoin.

WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou, Will Abramson) 17

Lake Forest 4

The Generals raced to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter and never gave up successive goals to Lake Forest.  Up by nine after the first half, W&L started the second half with a four-goal run.  The teams traded single goals a couple of times over the balance of regulation. 

Will Bou won five of ten faceoffs, picked up one ground ball and caused a turnover.

THIRD ROUND

WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou, Will Abramson) 16

Lynchburg 13

The Generals pulled out a one-goal win in Lynchburg in early April.  Washington and Lee lost in the ODAC semifinals and Lynchburg went on to take the tournament title.

In the first half of the game neither team could sustain any offensive momentum.   The best they could do was to get pairs of goals and the Generals did it once more than the Hornets, so Washington and Lee led by one at the break for halftime.  Lynchburg netted the first two scores of the second half and flipped the scoreboard in their favor.  Lynchburg and Washington & Lee moved from tied to Lynchburg up by one as the teams swapped single scores.  Early in the fourth quarter, the Generals registered a pair of goals to take the lead back.  Lynchburg scored to tie the game again, then the Generals produced the game winning scoring streak by getting the last three goals of the game.

Will Bou took one face off in the game.

DICKINSON (Will Single)9

Middlebury 13

This game had a rhythm very similar to that of the Washington & Lee versus Lynchburg game described above.  Each team had, and lost, leads and are there were frequent ties across the first three quarters.   Dickinson tied the game at eight-all in the closing moments of the third quarter.  In the fourth, Middlebury reeled off three straight goals in the first five minutes to take their largest lead of the day.  The Red Devils stopped that run, but that proved to be their final score of the day.  Middlebury closed out the scoring with two more goals.

Will picked up three groundballs and caused a Middlebury turnover.

BOWDOIN (Nico Schermer) 12

Rensselaer (RPI) 5

RPI had risen as high as #2 in the USILA polls this season and Bowdoin had touched the top ten before falling back a bit.  This game was the first meeting between these two teams.

Bowdoin and Rensselaer matched each other score for score initially, then Bowdoin went on a five-goal run.  For the rest of the contest, Bowdoin prevented any scoring runs for RPI and the Polar Bears added another four straight in the second half.

Goalies were a big factor in this game as Bowdoin and RPI put a similar number of shots on goal.  While the RPI goalie saved more than half of the Polar Bears shots, the Bowdoin goalie denied 80% of RPI’s best shots.

NCAA D-III TOURNAMENT-Quarterfinals and Semifinals

May 18–Quarterfinals

WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou, Will Abramson) vs#1 Salisbury.  Washington and Lee lost to Salisbury in last year’s tournament and in regular season play.  The teams had gone ten years without playing each other until last year.  The Generals last beat Salisbury in 2013.

BOWDOIN (Nico Schermer) vs Middlebury—this will be the third time that Bowdoin and Middlebury have faced off this season.  Bowdoin won their regular season match and Middlebury won when the teams met in the NESCAC Tournament Championship Game.

Winners will play in the Semifinals on Sunday, May 19

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