BearLaxTraxFax 04.30.2018 by John Nichols

BLTF 043018

D-I

The first season of men’s lacrosse—regular season play—gives way to the second season this week—conference tournaments.  Loyola, champion of the Patriot League, is the first team to qualify for the D-I NCAA tournament.  Eight more automatic qualifier spots are in play this week and on Sunday evening we will find out which teams earned the eight at-large slots.

Bears vs. Bears

#2 Maryland (Justin Shockey) 8  3OT

#7 Johns Hopkins (Sam Lynch) 7

The Terrapins and Blue Jays closed out their regular season schedules with the Big Ten regular season title and #1 seed in the conference tournament on the line.  Still, that pales in comparison to the history of this rivalry—a rivalry going back to 1895.  This game was the 116^th time the teams have faced off.  The Blue Jays hold a decisive edge in wins over the history of these matches, but Maryland was on a three-game win streak versus Hopkins coming into this game.  As storied as these programs are, there have been but seven overtime games of the 115 played to date, plus one tie.  However, five of those overtime games have occurred in the last twenty years.  This was the first triple overtime game in the series.

Over the first three quarters of the game, the score was tied five times and neither team lead by more than one goal.  The Blue Jays opened up a two-goal lead early in the fourth and that appeared to be holding up late into the game.  A pair of Maryland goals a minute apart, the last a Will Snider goal coming with two-and-a-half minutes left in regulation, created the sixth and final tie of the game.

In the first two overtimes, Maryland got off five shots, but did not put any of them on goal.  Hopkins got off two shots in each of the first two overtime periods, missing the mark both times in the first OT period and putting them on goal in the second, only to be saved by the Terrapins goalie.  Hopkins had won the faceoffs in each of the first two periods but was called for a violation on the third.  Will Snider added to his heroics by scoring the game winner 49 seconds into the third overtime period.

Justin won just three ten faceoffs but scored Maryland’s first goal of the game.  Samsaw playing time for Hopkins.

Patriot League Tournament:

#14Bucknell (Sean O’Brien-Team Captain, Jarett Witzal, Colin O’Brien) 11

Boston U. 12

From the first faceoff through the middle of the third period, Bucknell had an answer for everything Boston U. threw at them.  If the Terriers scored a goal, the Bison would answer with two or three of their own.  Then things changed.  BU’s goalie became a wall and BU’s offense built some rhythm.  BU’s six straight goals wiped out the Bison’s five-goal lead.  Still, there were nearly seven minutes left in the contest when BU got the lead.  Despite two penalties on the Terriers and several turnovers, Bucknell only managed to get off three shots in the final seven minutes, one was wide and the other two saved.

Seanhad two goals on ten shots (keep shooting!) and two ground balls.  Jarett won 14 of his 26 faceoffs and gathered in seven ground balls.

Colgate (Griffin Brown) 6

Lehigh 11

Lehigh dominated the first half of this game, building a 6-1 lead at the break.  A pair of Colgate goals in the middle of the third period cut Lehigh’s lead to four, but Lehigh bounced back with four straight goals to double that.  Colgate closed out the game with a three-goal run.  Griffin was held scoreless on seven shots.

Colgate wraps up their season against Syracuse this week.

#18 Navy (Thomas Evans) 9   OT

Lehigh 10

With the win over Colgate, Lehigh advanced to the semi-finals in Annapolis to face #2 seed Navy.  Navy incrementally built a first half lead of two goals, but a four-goal run by Lehigh which spanned the end of the first quarter into the early minutes of the third flipped the scored board in the Mountain Hawks’ favor.  After the teams traded goals, Navy launched a three-goal run that put them up one with at the end of the third period.  Lehigh opened the final period with a pair of goals to retake the lead.  Their one goal advantage seemed to be holding up as time wound down, but Navy knotted things up with just over four minutes left.  Over the balance of regulation, Navy had one short possession, but was able to get off a shot.  In overtime, Lehigh won the faceoff and converted on their first shot.

All-Patriot League First and Second Honors:

Sean O’Brien, Bucknell, First Team

Griffin Brown, Colgate, Second Team

ACC Tournament:

#9 Virginia (Ryan Pride) 11

#13 Syracuse 10

Virginia dominated faceoffs against the Orange but offset that advantage with seven more turnovers than Syracuse.  With three goals scored in the first three minutes, it looked like this game would be another UVA versus ‘Cuse track meet.  However, things settled down after that.  The Orange were up 4-3 after one, but UVA scored three straight to build a two-goal lead early in the third.  Syracuse would pull back within one on six occasions, but Virginia always found a way to push their lead back out to two goals.  Syracuse pulled within one with just under a minute-and-a-half remaining.  Virginia won the ensuing faceoff but turned the ball over giving the Orange one last shot at tying the game.  Syracuse’s final shot went wide and UVA was there first on the run out to regain possession and run out the clock.

#9 Virginia (Ryan Pride) 7

#8 Notre Dame 17

Notre Dame used a four-goal run to down Duke in the other semi-final game.  That set up a championship game between the #3 and #4 seeds, both of which had one just once in the ACC’s regular season.

Notre Dame’s defense shut down UVA’s offense in settled six-on-six play and their offense found the holes in the ‘Hoos defense.  While shots were close to even, Notre Dame was far more efficient, putting 68% of their shots on goal, while Virginia was on target only 43% of the time.  Although it seemed like a one-sided turnover fest in favor of Notre Dame, the Irish’s advantage on both turnovers and ground balls was slight.

With only five teams, the ACC does not have an automatic qualifier slot for the NCAA tournament.  Notre Dame jumped over several hopefuls for at-large slots while UVA’s  chances of getting a bid may be dependent upsets (or more appropriately, a lack of upsets) in this week’s other conference tournaments.  UVA will finish of its regular season play on Tuesday against VMI.

OTHER GAMES

Cleveland State (Justin Conner) 6

Detroit Mercy 12

Last year, Cleveland State closed out their inaugural season of men’s lacrosse with their first D-I win when the beat Detroit Mercy 13-6.  Although the Vikings have improved greatly in season two, Detroit Mercy has also taken some big steps forward this year.  The Titans threw a 7-0 shutout in the second period to open up five-goal lead at the half.  Cleveland State answered back with two in the third to cut that lead to three, but Detroit Mercy closed out the game scoring three unanswered goals in the final period.

Last year, Cleveland State kicked off their first year of D-I lacrosse with team comprised exclusively of freshmen.  That team won four games that first year, three of which were against D-III competition.  This year’s team also put up four wins, all against D-I opponents.

#10 Cornell (Jack Bolen, Colton Rupp, Andrew Fowler) 8

Princeton 14

Cornell’s high scoring offense was largely held in check by the Tigers.  In Cornell’s four Ivy League wins this year, Big Red has averaged over forty shots a game with almost 70% of those shot on goal.  Princeton was able to limit both the number of shots and the quality of shots to get the win. Colton had the assist on Cornell’s first goal andJack had a caused turnover.

Cornell moves on to the Ivy League tournament as the #2 seed and will play Brown, a team the beat 19-5 last week.

Dartmouth (Landon McKenzie) 6

Brown 20

Dartmouth closed out their 2018 season with a loss to Brown.  Big Green tied the game up at one-all five minutes into the game, then Brown scored twelve consecutive goals until Dartmouth got their second of the game with six minutes left in the third period.

Hobart (Riley McTague, Koko Avedisian) 6

Sacred Heart 10

Hobart closed out their 2018 campaign with a loss to Sacred Heart in what was essentially a play-in game for the last seed in the NEC tournament.  Hobart put twenty of their forty-one shots on goal, but the Sacred Heart goalie saved fourteen.  Koko took two shots and scooped up two ground balls for the Statesmen.

Hobart recognized its seniors at this final home game, including Riley. #21

Jacksonville (Hunter Sells, Andrew Mitchell) 14

VMI 5

The Dolphins closed out their regular season with an easy win over the last place Keydets of VMI.  Jacksonville boosted their 8-3 halftime advantage with three unanswered goals in the third period to definitively put the game out of reach.  Hunterplayed the first three quarters of the game, saving three of the six shots that VMI put on goal and recovering four ground balls. Andrewtook one shot for Jacksonville.

Jacksonville had the #3 seed in the Sothern Conference tournament locked up before this game and will face High Point in the semi-finals on Thursday.  The Dolphins lost to High Point a month ago.

#20 St. Joseph’s (Thomas Halm) 8

Robert Morris 7

The Hawks kept their NEC conference record unblemished, beat a top-twenty team, and locked up the #1 seed for the conference tournament.  And, they won in the most unusual and efficient way—taking just 16 shots in the game, putting 14 of those on goal, and getting eight into the net.  The game was tied at six after three periods, with the Hawks having worked back into the tie after having been down two.  In the final period, St Joe’s took just two shots and scored on both while RMU took 11 shots, six of which were saved and only one of which got past the Hawks’ goalie.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS

Big Ten

Defending NCAA champions Maryland have the top seed in the Big Ten tournament and are a lock for the NCAA tournament this year, as is #2 seed Johns Hopkins.  The Big Ten has emerged as arguably the strongest conference, top to bottom, in D-I men’s lacrosse.

Ivy League

Yale held serve throughout the season and got the #1 seed for doing so.  While Yale was the consensus #1 team in the league from the pre-season on, Cornell had been picked fifth in the league’s pre-season rankings.  Big Red rode an explosive offense to the tournament’s #2 seeding.

Northeast Conference

While #3 seed Robert Morris was getting national attention, St. Joseph’s flew in under the radar.  The Hawks lost their first three games of the season but haven’t lost since.  Their current ten game win streak is the longest active streak in D-I men’s lacrosse.

Southern Conference

Richmond was already selected as the host site and the Spiders added to that advantage by earning the top seed in the tournament.  In the semis, Jacksonville faces High Point, a team they lost to at the end of March.

Polls

Yale is the new consensus #1 team this week, UVA moves into the top ten, and St. Joseph’s gets more recognition.

This Coming Week

The focus is on conference tournaments and then the NCAA D-I Men’s Lacrosse Tournament seedings and selections will be announced on May 6.  Also, Army finishes their regular season against Notre Dame.

D-III

TOURNAMENTS

North Coast Athletic Conference

#11 Ohio Wesleyan (Tyler McTague) 21

DePauw 6

Ohio Wesleyan faced DePauw for the second time in a week.  The Battling Bishops beat DePauw 20-2 a week ago and this game had a similar outcome.  Ohio Wesleyan scored the game’s first six goals in just over nine minutes of game time.  They followed that up with a six-goal run to close out the first half, making their halftime lead an insurmountable 14-2.

#11 Ohio Wesleyan (Tyler McTague) 7

#10 Denison 14

Two weeks ago, OWU got a huge road win over Denison to put them in control of the regular season standings in the NCAC.  Denison returned the favor in the tournament finals.  The game-over-game change in results was due in large part to improved shooting efficiency by Denson and decreased shooting efficiency by OWU.

The win makes Denison one of the first teams to qualify for the NCAA D-III men’s lacrosse tournament.  Ohio Wesleyan’s fate is in the hands of the committee now.  There are nine “Pool C” slots for at-large bids.  Ohio Wesleyan’s strong out-of-conference scheduling and play plus their earlier win over Denison will make them competitive for one of those slots.

New England Small Colleges Athletic Conference (NESCAC)

Wesleyan won the random draw to get the top seed and hosting honors over Tufts and Amherst, the two teams with which they were tied for first in regular season play.  Tuft’s lone loss of the season was to their semi-final opponent, Amherst, so the task at hand for the Jumbos is to get revenge.

#6 Tufts (Luke Kurtz) 16

Middlebury 12

Tufts hosted its NESCAC quarterfinal game against Middlebury, a team they beat 13-10 a week ago.  Tufts jumped out to a 3-0 lead and Middlebury answered with a single goal before the Jumbos strung together three more.  From there on out, Middlebury would never get closer than three goals and the Jumbos would build their lead to as many as seven. Luke saw playing time in this quarter-final contest.

OTHER GAMES

Catholic (Asst. Coach Tom Minkler, Sean Feldman) 14

Elizabethtown 13

An avian battle between the Cardinals and the Blue Jays.  With conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament wrapping up the season, few teams get the chance to close out their season with a win.  Although Catholic did not qualify for the Landmark Conference tournament, their season ending win over Elizabethtown lets them wrap up 2018 play on a positive note.

Catholic scored first, only to have Elizabethtown come back with four straight goals.  The Blue Jays added on to that initial lead, stretching their advantage out to six goals at one point.  Early in the fourth period, Elizabethtown was up by four when Catholic rallied down the home stretch to get the win.  The Cardinals scored five straight goals, getting what proved to be the game winner with two-and-one-half minutes remaining.  Catholic won the final faceoff and, after unsportsmanlike penalties were assessed against both teams and both teams suffered turnovers and failed clears, the clock ran out.

Marymount (Asst. Coach Wes Lincoln) 6

#2 York 20

Marymount had the daunting task of closing out its regular season against the #1 team in the conference, York.  York’s runs for four or five goals punctuated by one or two goals for Marymount compounded the Saints disadvantage.

#7 Salisbury (Brian Menendez) 17

St. Mary’s 4

Salisbury scored the game’s first three goals and their three-goal lead held up through the first half.  The Seagulls came out of the break firing away, scoring eleven straight over the first twenty-two minutes of the second half to erase any doubt about who would win this one. Brian saw field time in this contest.

Trinity (Spud Dunn) 11

#4 Amherst 19

The Bantams versus the Mammoths.  This game was a true test for the goalies.  The teams combined for 95 shots, 64 of which were on goal with both shots and shots on goal close to equal for the two teams.  The Amherst goalies were able to make 20 saves on the day, six more than Trinity’s net minder, which proved decisive. Spud had two goals on five shots for Trinity.

#6 Tufts (Luke Kurtz) 19

Bowdoin 11

Tuft’s 8-2 advantage in the second quarter staked the Jumbos to a seven-goal halftime lead.  Bowdoin would never get closer than that.  Tufts took 55 shots in the game, that high volume of shooting limited only by a quiet fourth quarter went they got off just eight shots.  Luke took one of those shots and put in on goal but did not score.

Washington College (Will Oliver) 8

Swarthmore 15

Given the standings in the Centennial Conference, the Shoremen needed to beat Swarthmore, another team in the running for the last slot in the conference tournament, if they had any hopes of extending their season.  Washington was down three heading into the final period, the game still within reach.  Swarthmore dominated faceoffs and got strong play in goal to close out the game by outscoring the Shoremen 5-1 in the final period.

Washington College (Will Oliver) 13

#3 Gettysburg 15

After a disappointing loss to Swarthmore, Washington had the challenge of closing out their regular season with the #1 team in the league, the Gettysburg Bullets.  The game was tied five times during the first two quarters of the game, then Gettysburg put together a three-goal run which staked them to an 8-5 lead.  Washington rallied back, pulling within one goal of the Bullets on four occasions.  Another three-goal run by the Bullets that bridged the third and fourth quarters proved to be too much for the Shoremen to overcome.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

Capital Athletic Conference

As the #2 seed, Salisbury earned a bye in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament.  The Seagulls will host Christopher Newport on Tuesday.  Salisbury downed Christopher Newport 6-5 in early April but CNU was fractions of an inch from forcing that game into overtime as they hit a post with just seven seconds left in the game.

Polls

USILA Coaches’ Poll:

#6 Tufts

#7 Salisbury

#11 Ohio Wesleyan

Nike/USL Poll:

#4 Tufts

#7 Salisbury

#11 Ohio Wesleyan

This Coming Week

Conference tournaments wrap up and the NCAA D-III Men’s Lacrosse Tournament selections and seedings will be announced on May 6.