BearLaxTraxFax by John Nichols 02.17.2020

BLTF 021720

D-I

The Ivies played their first games this weekend, so now all of the D-I lacrosse teams have gotten under weigh with the 2020 season.

BEARS VS. BEARS

Navy (Thomas Evans, Shane Corcoran) 19

Furman (Michael Abizaid) 3

Navy won over 80% of the ground balls and faceoffs and the Paladins lived the old adage that if you don’t have the ball you can’t score.  Furman got their first score of the game midway through the fourth quarter, but by then Navy had put nineteen in the back of the net.

Thomas started on defense for Navy and Shane saw his first action of the season.  Michael took seven faceoffs for Furman.

Penn State (Nate Buller) 19

St. Joseph’s (Thomas Halm) 4

Penn State has opened their 2020 campaign by going 3-0 against in-state opponents, outscoring them by a combined score of 54-23. The Mountain Hawks got the first score of the game, but Penn State put ten shots in the back of the net before St. Joe’s would score again.

Nate had one of each: shots, ground balls, and caused turnovers.

Loyola (Cam James) 10

Johns Hopkins (Joey Epstein) 7

The Greyhounds are now 1-0 in the Charm City Round Robin and Johns Hopkins suffered its first loss of the year.  Joey was back in the starting lineup for the Blue Jays, but was severely hampered by his leg injury and did not play after the first quarter.

OTHER GAMES

Army (Drennan Green) 19

NJIT 1

Army started its campaign through the state of New Jersey with a drubbing of NJIT.  Although the Black Knights did not have a decisive edge in face offs, they forced 27 turnovers and disrupted a third of NJIT’s clears.  Those factors tilted the field so much in Army’s favor that NJIT had one less shot (18) than Army had goals (19).

Army (Drennan Green) 15

Rutgers 4

Another New Jersey opponent for the Black Knights and another shellacking.  Things were a bit more even in this contest, relative to Army’s game against NJIT earlier this week.  Army had advantages in faceoffs and ground balls, but shooting was pretty even, so the eighteen saves by Army’s goalie were key to the win.

Bucknell (Colin O’Brien) 14

Sacred Heart 11

The goalies shone in this early season contest as the Sacred Heart and Bucknell keepers had save percentages of 58% and 61%, respectively.

Cleveland State (Justin Conner) 7

Notre Dame 17

The Vikings scored first, just 23 seconds into the game, but the Irish scored more often.  Cleveland State didn’t score again until midway through the third period and by then Notre Dame and scored thirteen.

Dartmouth (Brendon Gallagher, Brett Gallagher) 13

Merrimack 11

Scoring flowed back and forth early in this contest but as the game wore on, Merrimack could only muster one goal for each two that Big Green scored.

Jacksonville (Hunter Sells, Andrew Mitchell) 11

Marquette 9

The Dolphins’ streak of five goals from late in the third quarter to early in the fourth proved to be decisive.  Marquette narrowed the lead by scoring the game’s final two goals, but the Golden Eagles’ rally ran out of time.

Andrew had a ground ball and a caused turnover.

Maryland (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matthew Kopp) 17

Penn 15

The Terrapins are two-for-two with late game heroics this season.  Last week they need two overtime periods to beat the Richmond Spiders.  This week, Maryland was down by six goals with nineteen minutes left in regulation.  They were able to keep Penn off the scoreboard down the home stretch and scored eight goals, including four goals in a stretch of just over two and a half minutes, to pick up a key non-conference win.

Justin’s workload spiked up from last week as he took all 35 of the game’s faceoffs, winning seventeen.  He also took one shot, had nine ground balls and a caused turnover.  John Geppert started again on defense and had one ground ball.

Michigan (Zach Johnson) 9

Hofstra 12

Michigan used a run of four straight scores to build a three goal lead midway through the second period.  Hofstra was able to put together their own series of four straight, then effectively closed things out with a run of five goals in the second half.

Zach saw field time for Michigan.

Richmond (Will Bou) 13

Marist 11

This game was closely contested throughout the first three quarters with the game being tied five times.  Each time that the Spiders were able to extend their lead to two goals, Marist rallied back to tie the score.  In a reversal from last week’s contest against Maryland, Richmond had the scoring edge in the final period.  The Spiders scored four goals in the first four and a half minutes of the fourth period and held on for the win.

Towson (Mo Sillah) 10

Mount St. Mary’s 11

The Tigers fell behind early, surrendering five straight goals in the first period.  Towson was able to rally back in the second period and took a one-goal lead in the locker room at the half.  Four consecutive third quarter scores by the Mount flipped the scoreboard in their favor.  Although Towson shut the Mount out in the in the final period, they could not generate enough offense to get the lead back.

Mo had one ground ball for Towson.

Virginia (Ryan Pride) 12

Lehigh 8

Last year it seemed like a lot of Virginia’s wins were nerve-wracking come-from-behind wins with furious rallies in the closing minutes.  This year the Wahoos are getting out to solid leads early (6-1 in the first quarter of this game), then hanging on ‘til the final whistle.  Against Lehigh, Virginia’s ride created enough disruption to give the ‘Hoos an advantage in possessions which led to a steep advantage in shots.  Many of those shots were more than a bit off the mark, so UVA had far less of an advantage (but an advantage, still) in shots on goal.

POLLS

Bucknell comes into the top twenty in the USILA Coaches’ Poll for the first time this season.  Army moves into the top ten.

THIS COMING WEEK

Many more games this coming week with a big jump in the weekday schedule, but only two Bears vs. Bears contests—both featuring Navy:

2/18: Navy (Thomas Evans, Shane Corcoran) at Richmond (Will Bou)

2/22: Navy (Thomas Evans, Shane Corcoran) at Maryland (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matthew Kopp)

D-III

GAMES

Colorado College (Max Becker) 14

Sewanee 4

The first half of the Tigers’ season opener was a tight, low scoring affair.  That all changed when the teams came out for the second half.  Colorado College exploded for eleven goals to start the second half, a run that lasted until there were just over four minutes left in regulation.

Colorado College (Max Becker) 18

Berry 4

The Tigers reprised their second half effort from the Sewanee game, again scoring eleven straight goals to kick of the second half.  The eleventh goal was scored by Jack Murdock (Westminster School) for his first collegiate score.  Max played in the game as well.

Gettysburg (Mitch Laughlin, Billy Banfield) 16

Messiah 10

The Bullets’ first game of the 2020 season was a back-and-forth contest for the first three quarters, but Gettysburg in the final quarter.  The Bullets scored six goals while shutting out Messiah in the final period, aided by a 6-0 advantage in fourth quarter faceoffs.

Ohio Wesleyan (Guy King) 4

Rochester Institute of Technology 17

The Battling Bishops play a tough out of conference schedule to start each season and this year’s trip to Rochester, another D-III powerhouse, was especially tough.  RIT locked up the game by outscoring Ohio Wesleyan 12-1 over the middle two quarters.

Washington College (Will Oliver) 6

Christopher Newport 15

The Shoremen got out to 3-0 lead after one quarter, but after being shut out in the first period, Christopher Newport scored five times in each of the remaining three quarters while limiting Washington just three more goals for the game.

POLLS

USILA Coaches’ Poll: Salisbury #1, Tufts #7, Gettysburg #10

Nike/US Lacrosse Poll: Salisbury #2, Tufts #5, Gettysburg #9