———–BearLaxTraxFax 03.18.2024———-

By John Nichols P’09

BLTF 031824

D-I

BEARS VS BEARS

#10 YALE (Jake Cohen) 17

#14 HARVARD (Joey Graham) 15

With the historical depth of these two schools’ rivalry, it would seem more fitting for this game to be the last, not the first of the Ivy League’s season. 

Yale led by seven at halftime, having engineered progressive longer scoring runs while limiting the Crimson to just one instance of back-to-back scores.  Yale extend their lead with the first goal of the second half, then Harvard flipped momentum their way with five straight scores, narrowing Yale’s lead to just two.  Yale doubled that lead with a pair of scores, but two from Harvard got it back down to two.  The Eli wrapped up their scoring with a man-down score before Harvard got their final tally of the game.

#7 DENVER (Ryan Giles) 9 

OHIO STATE (Cullen Brown) 6

Denver never trailed, but in a low-scoring game, they could never get comfortable.   The Pioneers three-goal run in the middle of the second quarter withstood the Buckeyes two-goal run that concluded the scoring in the first half.  In the second half, all the scoring was single goals, back and forth.

Ryan took one shot for the Pioneers and Cullen was busy for the Buckeyes, scooping up seven ground balls and causing one turnover.

MR. BROWN for the Denver and the Detroit Mercy games was named B1G D-POW

OTHER GAMES

DARTMOUTH (Will Cohen, Cameron Brown, Zak Oehlerking) 11

Vermont 10

Big Green wrapped a four-goal run and a three-goal run around Vermont’s first goal to jump out to an early lead.  Vermont held on and turned tables on Dartmouth in the fourth quarter got their own string of four straight to tie the game at ten with eleven minutes left in the contest.  Only Dartmouth would score after that, getting the game winner while a man up with over eight minutes left in the match.  Vermont had several scoring opportunities over the balance of the game, but Dartmouth withstood the pressure.

Will picked up an assist, his first point of the season, plus a ground ball and a caused turnover.  Cameron took one shot.

HOBART (Jackson Galiani) 20

Le Moyne 9

Hobart got the lead early with three quick scores early in the first quarter.  After a goal by Le Moyne, the Statesmen followed up with six more.  Hobart put the game completely out of reach with a nine-goal run in the middle of the second half.

MICHIGAN (Hunter Taylor, Graham Hertzberg) 9

#2 Notre Dame 19

After an even first quarter, Notre Dame took off in the second, scoring seven straight goals before the Wolverines closed out the half with a goal.  The Irish ran off four straight scores to open the second half and then added another three after Michigan got their first goal of the second half.  Michigan got their first back-to-back scores since the first quarter with three fourth quarter goals.  The teams traded single goals after that.

Hunter had a tough day in goal, saving seven while giving up seventeen over three quarters of play.

NAVY (JT Thomas III, Preston Lugar) 10 OT

#8 Johns Hopkins 9

The Midshipmen pulled off the upset of the week.  The Jays had the early advantage, scoring twice to start the game and then, after giving Navy’s first score of the day, adding another four straight to lead 6-1 late in the first quarter.  Navy rallied back, closing out the first quarter with a score then adding three more in the second quarter.  Down by one at the half, Navy tied the game up right off the third quarter faceoff.  Hopkins stopped the run with a single goal then Navy pulled ahead with three in a row to close out the third quarter.  The Blue Jays quieted Navy’s offense in the fourth quarter and notched a pair of goals to force overtime.  Navy won the faceoff to start overtime and got the game winner on their second shot.

OHIO STATE (Cullen Brown) 16

Detroit Mercy 10

The Buckeyes seemed to be coasting in the first half, up 8-1 early in the second quarter.  Detroit Mercy did not roll over, they rallied back, scoring five goals to pull within two at halftime.  The Buckeyes ran their lead out to four in the third quarter, but Detroit Mercy cut it back to two early in the final quarter.  Ohio State quashed Detroit Mercy’s upset hopes by finishing the game with four straight goals.

Cullen caused a turnover and picked up one ground ball.

#12 PENN (Stephen Bou) 11

Brown 6

Penn was less ineffective than Brown with their shooting in the first half and led by one, 3-2, at the end of the first half.  Both teams improved their shooting in the second half, but the Quaker goalie was more up to the task, saving 70% of Brown’s shots on goal, while Brown’s net minder stopped just a third of Penn’s second half shots on goal.

D-I USILA POLL (3/18)

1. Army

2. Notre Dame

3. Duke

4. Virginia

5. Denver

6. Syracuse

7. Penn State

8. Maryland

9. Yale

10. Georgetown

11. Cornell

12. Penn

13. Johns Hopkins

14. Harvard

15. Princeton

16. North Carolina

17. Rutgers

18. Richmond

19. Colgate

20. Michigan

THIS COMING WEEK

PENN (Stephen Bou) plays DARTMOUTH (Will Cohen, Cameron Brown, Zak Oehlerking)

D-III

BEARS VS BEARS

#14 AMHERST (Nicholas Kopp, Oscar Smink) 12

COLBY (Colin Flood) 7

Amherst’s four-goal run in the first half was sufficient to ensure a win for the Mammoths.  Colby’s attack was limited to one goal at a time.  For the game, Amherst averaged over two shots per cleared possession while Colby averaged less than one shot per cleared possession.

Nicholas won eleven of twenty-one faceoffs and picked up two ground balls.  Oscar also played in the game.

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY (Owen Hegadorn) 12

OHIO WESLEYAN (Quinn Coughlin) 11

The Tigers’ five-goal run in the middle of the game (two at the end of the first half, three to start the second half) turned a tie into a big lead for Hampden-Sydney.  The Bishops scored twice to close out the third quarter, but Hampden-Sydney scored twice to start the fourth.  The balance of the game belonged to Ohio Wesleyan.  The Bishops netted four goals in the final seven minutes, but the last one came with just eight seconds left in the game. 

MUSTANG CLASSIC

Stevenson University in Owings Mill, Maryland hosts a two-day lacrosse fest each year with the field comprised of some of the tops teams in D-III men’s lacrosse.  This year’s field of ten teams included eight ranked in the top twenty, including Tufts, RIT, and Dickinson—all of which are in the top five.  There were two Bears teams in the field: DICKINSON (Will Single, Andrew Atkins) and WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou, Will Abramson)

#4 DICKINSON (Will Single, Andrew Atkins) 9

#5 Christopher Newport 17

The Red Devils countered an early five-goal run by the Captains, scoring twice in the final twenty seconds of the first half to trail by two at the break.  The teams swapped single scores to open the second half, CNU then went on a scoring run, wrapping nine goals around a single Dickinson goal over the balance of the third quarter.   Scoring was even in the final quarter.

Will scored a goal for Dickinson and covered two ground balls.

#4 DICKINSON (Will Single, Andrew Atkins) 11

#11 York 8

Dickinson evened their record in the Classic as these two traded scoring runs throughout the game.  After York earned the first goal of the game, the Red Devils closed out the first quarter with a five-goal run. York came back with three unanswered goals in the second period and then tied the game with a score off the third quarter faceoff.  Dickinson replied with four straight scores in the first five minutes of the third quarter, then saw York net three in a row to trail by one at the end of the period.  Scoring was far less hectic in the final quarter, just two goals by Dickinson.

Will had one ground ball in the game.

#8 WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou, Will Abramson) 9

#3 RIT 15

Washington and Lee hung with RIT through most of the first half, but the Tigers pulled away with the last three goals of the first half and the first two of the second half.  The Generals stopped that run with their first score of the second half but were unable to develop any momentum over the rest of the game.

#8 WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou, Will Abramson) 9

Stevenson 10

Host Stevenson took an early lead with four straight goals in the first quarter.  The Generals came back to tie the game up at four late in the second quarter, then got the lead back in the middle of the third.  Stevenson rallied with five straight scores and led by four with eleven minutes left in the game.  W&L got their comeback attempt rolling as the clock showed less than five minutes remaining in the game.  The Generals pulled within in one with three straight scores and had a shot at tying the game up but missed wide of the goal on their final attempt.

Will Bou played in the game.

OTHER GAMES

#14 AMHERST (Nicholas Kopp, Oscar Smink)14

#15 Swarthmore 11

After Amherst scored three straight goals to wrap up the first quarter and take a two-goal lead, Swarthmore netted the first five of the second quarter and by the end of the first half led by two. The Mammoths came oh so close to shutting out Swarthmore in the third, netting six goals before Swarthmore got a buzzer beater at the end of the quarter.   Swarthmore followed that goal up with the first of the final quarter to pull within one, but only Amherst scored after that.

Nicholas got his first goal of the season, a goal that gave the Mammoths a lead that they would not give up.  Nicholas took four other shots in the game, won eighteen faceoffs, forced two turnovers, and collected twelve ground balls.

#6 BOWDOIN (Nico Schermer) 14

Endicott 17

Each team had short scoring runs—just two or three goals each, but Endicott had a few more of them and that made all the difference.  The teams were evenly matched in both shooting volume, shot quality, and goalie play, but Endicott enjoyed a big advantage in both faceoff wins and ground balls.

#6 BOWDOIN (Nico Schermer) 19

Connecticut College 11

The Polar Bears opened the first and fourth quarters with five-goal runs and limited Connecticut to no more than three at a time.  Bowdoin is one of three NESCAC teams with perfect records in conference play so far.

DENISON (Will Savoy) 7

#13 Gettysburg 13

Gettysburg took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter, but Denison slow rolled a comeback with three straight, tying the game midway through the third quarter.  The Bullets got their lead back in short order with three goals in just two minutes.  Denison stopped that run with a goal, but Gettysburg put in four unanswered goals to go up by six.  Denison halved that lead with three straight, but Gettysburg closed out the game with one last three-goal run to set the final margin at six.

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY (Owen Hegadorn) 18

Berry 9

Hampden-Sydney came out firing and netted nine goals in the first quarter while giving up none.  Berry got things rolling in the second quarter with a pair of goals, but the Tigers took the game back reeling off seven straight scores with that run lasting until the middle of the third quarter.  Berry provided most of the highlights after that but was never a threat.

Owen saw some time in goal, giving up four goals and securing one ground ball.

D-III USILA POLL (3/18)

1. Salisbury

2. RIT

3. Tufts

4. Saint Lawrence

5. RPI

6. Christopher Newport

7. Dickinson

8. Union

9. Bowdoin

10. Gettysburg

11. Washington & Lee

12. Amherst

13. Lynchburg

14. Wesleyan

15. Stevens

16. Swarthmore

17. York

18. Babson

19. Middlebury

20. Williams

THIS COMING WEEK

AMHERST (Nicholas Kopp, Oscar Smink) plays BOWDOIN (Nico Schermer).