BEARS LAX TRAX 030121 by John Nichols

BEARS LAX TRAX 030121

D-I

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

BEARS VS BEARS

MARYLAND (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matt Kopp, Griffin Brown) 13

PENN STATE (Nate Buller) 7

Early in second period, Penn State put together a run of three goals to go up by one (the first of those goals is detailed below). But that was the last lead that the Nittany Lions would enjoy.  Over a fifteen-minute stretch comprised of the end of the second and start of the third quarters, Maryland posted six unanswered goals to go up by five.  A pair of Penn State scores pared that lead, but Maryland came back with another four straight to secure the win.

Three of four Bears at Maryland played in this game with Justin taking six faceoffs and John causing two turnovers and getting one ground ball.  Griffin Brown also saw playing time.

Nate Buller may have had one of the most acrobatic goals of the day.  Situated on the crease, Zach pounced on a ground ball and flipped the ball behind his back and into the net while falling.

JOHNS HOPKINS (Joey Epstein) 14

MICHIGAN (Zach Johnson) 7

Joey is back.  After a slow start in last week’s loss to Ohio State, Joey kicked into high gear, scoring a game-high six goals on just 8 shots. Early in the second quarter, Joey racked up a neat hat trick, scoring three successive goals in a span of four minutes.  Those three goals were the first scores of an 11-1 Blue Jay run that put the game away.

Nate Buller scores from the horizontal position.

ARMY (Drennan Greene) 13

ST. JOSEPH’S (Thomas Halm) 5

Army suffered no let down after their big win at Syracuse last week as the Black Knights ran out to a 9-1 advantage in the first half. Army’s defense kept the clamps on the St. Joe’s shooters and when one did get through, Army’s starting goalie was there to stop it, saving 10 of St. Joe’s 14 shots on goal.

Drennan took one shot for the Black Knights and scooped up two ground balls.

OTHER GAMES

CLEVELAND STATE (Justin Conner) 9

Mercer 10

Over the first three quarters, the teams traded small leads.  The Vikings lead was short lived and they seemed to more in pursuit than being pursued.  Cleveland State’s quick pair of goals at the end of the third sent the teams in to the final frame tied at nine all.  Scoring took a break in the fourth and Mercer’s last score coming with almost twelve minutes left but was all that Mercer needed to get the win.

DENVER (Ryan Giles) 23

Providence 10

Congratulations to Ryan who saw the first game action of his collegiate career.  Ryan got one ground ball for the Pioneers to get the freshman into the stat book. 

Denver’s eight goal run over an eleven minute span in the first half set the tone for this game and subsequent smaller runs stretched their lead out farther.  The Friars managed put up five straight scores late in the final period–a fast and furious run lasting the final five minutes of the game.  Denver closed out scoring with a score at the buzzer.

LOYOLA (Cam James) 20

Utah 8

In the first meeting between these two schools, Loyola opened the game with a five-goal run and then added two more five-goal runs in the second half to get the win.

Cam saw field time for the Greyhounds.

ST. JOSEPH’S (Thomas Halm) 13

Delaware 16

The Blue Hens took off like a rocket ship, racing out to an 8-1 lead early in the second quarter.  St. Joe’s responded with a series short runs of two to three goals, those runs interrupted by just one or two from Delaware.  That kind of incremental progress cut the Delaware lead to just three goals early in the final period.  A pair of Delaware scores stretched the Hen’s lead back out to five.  St. Joe’s managed to get their deficit back down to one goal, but that score came with just one second left in the contest.

TOWSON (Mo Sillah) 11

Mount St. Mary’s 5

Towson led throughout the game, but it could not put much distance between themselves and the Mount.  The Tigers put together a slow motion run, four consecutive goals over the game’s final 26 minutes put the game out of reach.

Mo had one ground ball for Towson.

TOWSON (Mo Sillah) 10

Richmond 11

Towson seemed stuck in neutral in the first half.  Fortunately, Richmond’s offense was only marginally better, and the Spiders lead 5-2 at the half.  Towson came out on fire in the second half scoring the first seven goals of the half to take a 9-5 lead.  The Spiders answered with their own run, scoring the game’s next six goals to establish a two-goal lead. Towson pulled back within one with two minutes left and then got possession off the faceoff.  A pipe shot was as close as Towson would get down the stretch.

Mo had three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers for the Tigers.

VIRGINIA (Ryan Pride) 10

Syracuse 20

The all-time series between these two programs was tied for wins and goals coming into this contest.  The game played out in a manner inconsistent with that history.  UVA got off to a good start scoring four straight goals to get a 4-2 lead at the midpoint of the first quarter.  Over the next three and a half quarters this game was all about Syracuse at both ends of the field. 

D-I POLLS

THIS COMING WEEK

The historic series between MARYLAND (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matt Kopp, Griffin Brown) and JOHNS HOPKINS (Joey Epstein) will be played quite a bit earlier in the season this year and a second match is in the works for the latter half of the Big Ten schedule.

D-III

GAMES

Colorado College (Max Becker) 20

Southwestern 5

Early on the teams traded single goals, then the Tigers launched a ten-goal run that gave them a double-digit lead at the half.  When Southwestern opened the second half with a small offensive outburst, Colorado College clamped down and extended their lead out to fourteen with a six-goal run that put the game out of reach. Max got some playing time late in the game showing a good stick against the Pirates.

D-III Schedule Update

The NCAC (Oberlin and Ohio Wesleyan) has announced that they are splitting the conference in to two divisions, East and West.  Teams will have home and away contests with each of the other teams in their division.  Ohio Wesleyan (Tyler McTague, Guy King, Cooper Johnson) will be in the West and Oberlin (Farley Price II) has decided not to play this season.  The NESCAC (Tufts: Kyle Amitay, Garret Kurtz and Colby: Miles Tonkel) and Centennial Conference (Gettysburg: Mitch Laughlin, Billy Banfield and Dickinson: Gavin Seasholes) schedules have not yet been released.  Washington College’s (Will Oliver) schedule is also pending.

THIS COMING WEEK

Salisbury (Jace Menendez) starts their 2021 season this week.