BearLaxTraxFax by John Nichols May 6.2018

BLTF 050618

D-I

This week featured conference tournaments and closed out with the announcement of the field for the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournaments.  Johns Hopkins and Cornell were both conference tournament winners which got them slots in the NCAA tournament.  Maryland and Virginia received at-large bids.

Next week’s post will include information on those seniors whose collegiate lacrosse careers came to a close and a quick looks at where the next wave of Bears will be playing in 2019.  If anyone has pictures from their son’s senior day, please send those along to me at nichols1390@verizon.net.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS

Big Ten

#1 Maryland (Justin Shockey) 12

#4 Rutgers 9

The Terrapins closed out the first half with a three-goal run that put them up two at the half.  That turned out to be just enough.  Rutgers would close within one goal on at the start of the third period, but Maryland came back with a pair to make their lead three.  After that, the teams traded single goals.

Justin won three of six faceoffs for Maryland.

#2 Johns Hopkins (Sam Lynch) 6

#3 Ohio State 5

This tense, low-scoring semi-final suffered from five unsportsmanlike fouls, two ejections, and a bench-clearing brawl.  The Buckeyes scored first, going up 2-0 early in the second period.  After that, the teams traded goals with Hopkins working the game back to a 4-4 tie late in the third period.  The Buckeyes scored early in the fourth to get the lead back and, given the paucity of goals in this game, that lead looked good.  However, it was still just one goal and Hopkins has shown the ability to rally in the second half.  That they did, tying the game up with eight minutes left then getting the game winner with just eleven seconds to go.  Sam saw playing time in this semi-final contest.

#2 Johns Hopkins (Sam Lynch) 13

#1 Maryland (Justin Shockey) 10

A week after losing to the Terrapins in a triple overtime contest, the Blue Jays got their revenge in the Big Ten tournament championship game.  Maryland and Hopkins posted complementary 4-1 scores in the first two quarters to make things all tied up at five at the half.  As they have often done this year, the Blue Jays asserted themselves in the second half by scoring five straight goals to close out the third period after Maryland had opened second half scoring with a pair of goals.  Justin scored the first goal of the final period ( see it here https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/992928537983123457 ) to pull Maryland within two, but Hopkins answered back with three straight.  A couple of late Maryland goals cut into the Jays’ lead.  In addition to his goal, Justin was won ten of nineteen faceoffs and got to four ground balls.  Samplayed on the defensive midfield for Hopkins.

Ivy League

#2 Cornell (Jack Bolen, Colton Rupp, Andrew Fowler) 7

#3 Brown 4

After losing to Cornell by 14 earlier this season, Brown tried the tactic that helped Princeton beat Cornell—face guarding the Big Red’s leading scorer, Jeff Teat, and holding him scoreless.  That tactic didn’t work as well for Brown and he scored one goal and contributed two assists and Big Red’s defense, led by its goalie who saved 19 shots, throttled Brown’s offense.  Colton was held scoreless on four shots and Jackplayed on short-stick defense.

#2 Cornell (Jack Bolen, Colton Rupp, Andrew Fowler) 14

#1 Yale 8

Yale did not attempt any special defense to isolate Teat and things did not turnout well for them. Coltongot Cornell’s first goal of the game and his second goal capped off a six-goal run in the second half—a run that staked Cornell to a six-goal lead midway through the final period.  The teams traded pairs of goals over the balance of the game.  Colton’s two goals came on four shots and Jackhad a pair of groundballs.

Northeast Conference

#1 St. Joseph’s (Thomas Halm) 11

#4 Sacred Heart 9

St. Joseph’s scored first and never trailed in the game but they never led by more than three, so the game was always up for grabs.  Sacred Heart tied the game at eight to close out the third quarter, but the Hawks were able to re-establish their lead with a pair of goals to start the scoring in the final quarter.  Sacred Heart pulled back to within one with three minutes left, but the Hawks scored the game’s final goal with 1:42 remaining.  The win extended St. Joseph’s win streak to eleven games.

#1 St. Joseph’s (Thomas Halm) 8  OT

#3 Robert Morris 9

Last week, St. Joseph’s closed out their regular season with an 8-7 win over Robert Morris.  In this title game, St. Joseph’s built a 6-3 halftime lead but that disappeared in the third quarter as Robert Morris scored five goals and shut out St. Joe’s.  The Colonials clung to their two-goal lead until the Hawks got one past the RMU goalie with just under five minutes left.  With time ticking down on their season, the Hawks found a way to extend the contest, tying the game up with just twelve seconds left.

In overtime, both teams had scoring chances, but St. Joe’s two shots missed the cage. Robert Morris put two shots on goal, one saved and the last in the net with just ten seconds left in overtime. Thomas scored once for St. Joseph’s with his goal breaking a 3-3 tie early in the second quarter.

Thomas played in ten of St. Joe’s fifteen games this year, starting once.  He scored three goals on thirteen shots and dished out one assist.

Southern Conference

#3 Jacksonville (Hunter Sells, Andrew Mitchell) 12  OT

#2 High Point 11

Jacksonville tie the game up at four all early in the second quarter, the third tie of the game.  Then High Point went on a tear, scoring the next six goals.  The Dolphins answered back with four of their but High Point’s goals with just under ten minutes left in the contest pushed that lead back out to two goals.  Jacksonville was able to rally down the stretch, scoring three unanswered goals to force overtime.  Still, two minutes were left on the clock after that third goal.  After losing the last faceoff of regulation, the Dolphins managed to get off two shots in the closing seconds, but could not find the back of the net.

Overtime was a simpler affair for the Dolphins-faceoff win>time out>shot>score>win.  Hunter saved nine of the 20 shots that High Point put on goal and had three ground balls.  Andrew also played in this game.

#3 Jacksonville (Hunter Sells, Andrew Mitchell) 10  OT

#1 Richmond 11

Jacksonville’s four-goal run to close out the first quarter built a three-goal lead for the Dolphins.  The Spiders chipped away at that lead, but Jacksonville was able to stop runs and hold the lead.  With Jacksonville up two with less than four minutes left in the contest, this SoCon championship game became the mirror image of Jacksonville’s semi-final contest.  The Spiders scored twice to knot things up at 10 with just over 90 seconds left in regulation.  Jacksonville possessed the ball over the balance of regulation, taking three shots, one wide and two saved.

Jacksonville won the overtime faceoff but turned the ball over before they could test the Richmond goalie.  The Spiders successfully cleared the ball, eschewed the timeout and scored on their first shot.  Hunter saved ten of the Spiders’ 21 shots on goal and Andrewplayed on defense for the Dolphins.

The loss closed out the 2018 season for Jacksonville.  In Hunter’s first season for Jacksonville he started thirteen of the team’s fifteen games, was credited with eight wins against six losses and saved 45% of the shots he faced.  Andrew’s playing time did not come until late in the year, but four games.

OTHER GAMES

Army (Drennan Greene) 5

Notre Dame 17

With the ACC and Patriot League tournaments having been played last week, teams from those two conferences picked up one last regular season match before the NCAAs.  Notre Dame’s re-emerging offense and well-established defense were on display again as the Irish netted seven straight goals across the second and third periods to put this game out of reach.

Colgate (Griffin Brown) 5

Syracuse 17

Syracuse scored the first six and the last six goals of the game to hand the Raiders a loss in their final 2018 game.  Griffin had two goals on six shots in this game.  He started all 15 games this season for Colgate, led the team in shots (97) and goals (34), and was third in points with 37.

Virginia (Ryan Pride) 17

VMI 8

Virginia wrapped up its regular season schedule with a home contest against VMI.  The ‘Hoos jumped out to a commanding lead by scoring five goals in the first six minutes of the game.  Up by ten at the half, Virginia played deep into the bench in the second half.  Ryangot a substantial run as a short stick defensive middie in the second half.

Polls

The final USLIA Coaches’ Poll was published on April 30.  The chart below traces the rankings of all of the D-I teams that we track here.

NCAA D-I MEN’S LACROSSE TOURNAMENT

Four teams with Landon alums made the NCAA D-I tournament with the opportunity for three of those teams to make it to the final weekend.  #1 Maryland (Justin Shockey) is the top seed and defending champion.  Games to be played near Washington include Maryland hosting Robert Morris, #5 Johns Hopkins (Sam Lynch) and Georgetown at Homewood Field, and Virginia (Ryan Pride) playing at Loyola.  First round and quarter-final games will be broadcast on ESPNU and the semi-finals and championship game will be on ESPN2.

D-III

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS

New England Small Colleges Athletic Conference (NESCAC)

#3 Tufts (Luke Kurtz) 16

#6 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.

#3 Tufts (Luke Kurtz) 20

#2 Amherst 12

The Jumbos got revenge for their lone regular season loss.  Tufts’ seven-goal run that closed out the first quarter and carried into the early stages of the second provided enough of a cushion for the Jumbos.  Amherst was able to pull within two twice during the third period, but the Jumbos’ four-goal run to kick off the final period did them in.  Luke played in this conference semi-final.

#3 Tufts (Luke Kurtz) 12

#1 Wesleyan 9

Well into the third quarter of the NESCAC championship game neither team was able to shake the other.  Up to that point, the game had been tied six times and neither team could establish a lead greater than two goals.  Then Tufts scored four times in less than five minutes to flip a one-goal deficit into a three-goal lead.  Wesleyan would close back to within two twice but got no closer.  The Jumbos goalie faced down the sharp shooting of Wesleyan.  While Wesleyan put over 70% of their shots on goal (25 of 34), 16 of those shots were saved.  Luke had a caused turnover in the game which contributed to the goal which gave Tufts a 6-5 lead in the third quarter.

Capital Athletic Conference

#2 Salisbury (Brian Menendez) 14

#3 Christopher Newport 3

Last month, Salisbury ground out a 6-5 win at Christopher Newport.  This game was not a repeat of that tight contest.  Salisbury would have scored thirteen consecutive goals over the first three periods of the game, but for a single CNU goal early in the second period.

#2 Salisbury (Brian Menendez) 11

#1 York 8

Salisbury lost three games in the regular season—two overtime losses and a nine-goal beating by York in late March.  Since that game, both teams have been undefeated.  With York up 5-1 early in the second period, it looked more like repeat than revenge.  Over the next eighteen minutes, the Seagulls scored seven straight times to take a three-goal lead.  The York goal that broke that string cut the lead to two, the closest it would be from there on out.  Salisbury’s ride was effective, forcing York into seven failed clears, two of which led to goals for the Seagulls.

NCAA D-III MEN’S LACROSSE TOURNAMENT

Salisbury and Tufts won their respective conference tournaments to earn their conference’s automatic qualifier slots in the NCAA D-III men’s lacrosse tournament.  Those two teams were also among the top four seeds for the tournament.  Ohio Wesleyan was awarded a “Pool C” at-large bid.  The D-III tournament includes 36 teams, eight of which played first round games on May 8 to trim the field to 32.  The tournament’s second round Saturday further narrowed the field to 16.  Results from this coming weekend’s games will set up the quarterfinals which are schedule for May 16.  The D-III semi-finals will be played on May 20 and then the championship game is scheduled for Boston on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

Salisbury is the two-time defending champ and has made the finals twelve of the past fifteen years, winning nine times.  Over the past eight years, Tufts has made five appearances in the championship game, winning three times.  Tufts and Salisbury have met split the four championship games they have played against each other.

Ohio Wesleyan (Tyler McTague):

Second Round Game:

Ohio Wesleyan (Tyler McTague) 13

Aurora 5

Aurora and Ohio Wesleyan last met in 2014 when OWU won 7-5.  This game was not that close.  OWU won the first quarter 3-2 and Aurora won the fourth quarter 3-2.  The Bishops’ 8-0 edge across the second and third quarters determined the outcome.

Third Round Game:  

Ohio Wesleyan (Tyler McTague) at Denison

This marks the third time these teams have met this year.  The Battling Bishops won the regular season meeting at Denison then Denison won the NCAC tournament championship game at OWU.

Salisbury:

Second Round Game:

Salisbury (Brian Menendez) 19

Morrisville State 5

Salisbury opened their NCAA D-III title defense with an 8-0 first quarter.  Over the rest of regulation, whenever Morrisville managed to tally a score Salisbury answered back, often with multiple goals.  Salisbury had a 4:1 advantage on shots and 3:1 advantage on ground balls.

Third Round Game:

Salisbury (Brian Menendez) hosts Christopher Newport

This marks the third time these teams have met this year.  Salisbury won both contests, a 6-5 squeaker at CNU and a 14-3 blowout in the CAC tournament semi-finals.

Tufts

Second Round Game:

Tufts (Luke Kurtz) 25

Merchant Marine 8

Merchant Marine scored their first goal midway through the second period, but by then the Jumbos had already put thirteen on the board.  Tufts had 2:1 advantages on shots and ground balls and kept Mariners under 50% on clears.  Luke had one shot and one ground ball for the Jumbos.

Third Round Game:

Tufts (Luke Kurtz) hosts Ithaca

Tufts last played Ithaca in the quarter-final round of the 2016 NCAA D-III tournament, trouncing them 19-7.