BLTF 050321

HIGHLIGHTS

Regular season play draws to a close with this week’s games. Conference tournaments and the NCAA tournaments are next on the horizon. Colorado College (Max Becker) won the SCAC tournament this week and is awaiting its fate in the D-III tournament.

D-I

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

BEARS VS BEARS—BIG TEN TOURNAMENT EDITION

JOHNS HOPKINS (Joey Epstein) 15

PENN STATE (Nate Buller) 7

The Jays outscored Penn State 11-2 over a thirty-one minute stretch in the middle of the game. The Nittany Lions had no answer for that.

Joey had a goal and two assists.

The win puts Hopkins into a Big Ten semifinal game against #2 seeded Rutgers on Thursday.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS

MICHIGAN (Zach Johnson) 15

Ohio State 11

Michigan never trailed in this game, but they were never in a comfortable position until late in the fourth quarter. The win puts Michigan into the Big Ten semifinals against Maryland on Thursday.

OTHER GAMES

Army (Drennan Greene) 13

Colgate 11

Colgate would just not go away. Every scoring streak by Army was met by the same from Colgate until midway through the fourth quarter when Colgate only put in two goals on the heels of a three-goal run by Army. That one goal cushion held up over the balance of the final period until the Black Knights got an insurance goal with 21 seconds left in the game.

Army is the top seed in the Patriot League-South section and will face the winner of Tuesday’s quarterfinal game between Navy and Loyola

CLEVELAND STATE (Justin Connor) 14

VMI 11

Four-goal runs by the Vikings in the first and third quarters gave Cleveland State enough of an advantage to withstand VMI’s fourth quarter run of four. The win closes out Cleveland Sate’s season on a high note.

Justin Conner saw playing time in his final college game.

DARTMOUTH (Brendon Gallagher, Brett Gallagher) 20

St. Anslem’s 6

Big Green took on the #9 ranked team in D-II, handing St. Anslem’s their first loss of the season.

DENVER (Ryan Giles) 11

Villanova 10

The Pioneers and Wildcats kept each other close throughout this contest. Mini-runs of two or three goals were answered in kind—until the final period. Villanova stopped a three goal run by Denver with a single score, but broke form and scored twice in response to go up by two. The Wildcats got their rhythm back and forced overtime by scoring twice in the final minute of regulation.

Denver won the overtime faceoff and got the game winner home on their first shot.

LOYOLA (Cam James) 11

Georgetown 9

The Greyhounds picked up their most impressive win so far this year, downing the #8 ranked Georgetown Hoyas. Georgetown used a four goal run in the first half to go up by three. Loyola turned the tables on them with their own four goal run in the second half which put the Hounds up by two early in the fourth quarter. While Georgetown was able to tie the game up with a pair of goals, it was Loyola that got the last word with two of their own to wrap up the win.

St. Joseph’s (Thomas Halm) 14

Wagner 7

St. Joe’s continued their impressive run through Northeast Conference. The Hawks started the season with three straight losses then turned their season around by going undefeated in conference play. It was not an easy path to the #1 seed for the conference tournament—three one-goal wins, two of which were overtime games.

This week’s game was not one of those nail biters. St. Joe’s put up seven straight scores to close out the second period and start the third. That run put the Hawks up by six early in the third period, a comfortable margin.

St, Joe’s hosts Long Island University in the NEC tournament on Wednesday. The Hawk’s regular season game with LIU was one of those one-goal wins.

TOWSON (Mo Sillah) 11

Drexel 12

The Tigers closed out the 2021 season with a disappointing loss. Towson led the #13 ranked Drexel Dragons throughout the first three quarters of the game. Unfortunately, Drexel found their game in the fourth quarter and rallied to take the lead with four minutes left in the game, but Towson managed to tie the game up at eleven all a minute later. Towson won the next faceoff and had a shot ring off the cage. Drexel got the ground ball off that shot and later put the game winner home with eleven seconds left in the game.

Mo had three ground balls and one caused turnover.

D-I USILA POLL

St. Joe’s and Hopkins check in this week—both in the 20th position.

1. Maryland

2. North Carolina

3. Duke

4. Notre Dame

5. Virginia

6. Rutgers

7. Denver

8. Georgetown

9. Drexel

10. Syracuse

11. Villanova

12. Delaware

13. Lehigh

14. Army

15. Navy

16. Loyola

17. UMBC

18. Richmond

19. Vermont

20. St. Joseph’s

20 Johns Hopkins

THIS COMING WEEK

Tournament Time!

In the Big Ten MARYLAND (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matt Kopp, Griffin Brown) and MICHIGAN (Zach Johnson) meet in a Bears vs. Bears match.

D-III

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS

COLORADO COLLEGE (Max Becker) 31

Southwestern 11

The Tigers continued their domination of the SCAC, by wrapping up an undefeated conference schedule and winning the conference tournament. Colorado College’s seventeen goal run in the middle of the game blew this game open.

Max saw playing time in the game.

OTHER GAMES

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) 29

Southern Virginia 14

Salisbury salted this game away in the first half with a sixteen goal run gave them a 20-2 lead at the halftime break.

Jace had an assist as well as a ground ball and a caused turnover. Jace’s assist came on the Gulls’ last score of the game.

Salisbury is the #1 seed in the Coast-to-Coast Conference tournament this week and will face St. Mary’s in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou) 17

Guilford 10

The Generals had trouble gaining traction early on as Guilford lead 5-2 late in the first quarter. W&L put together the first of two six goal runs to pull in front and turn the scoreboard in their favor. The second six goal run for Washington and Lee extended their lead to nine goals and proved to be too much for Guilford to overcome.

Will won five of eight faceoffs and had one ground ball.

WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou) 21

Randolph Macon 9

Washington and Lee wrapped up the ODAC regular season title and the #1 seed in this week’s conference tournament. The Generals scored early and often while Randolph-Macon did not tally consecutive scores until the closing minutes of the third period.

Will won nine of eleven faceoffs and collected seven ground balls.

W&L will play the winner of Tuesday’s Roanoke/Bridgewater game on Thursday and the ODAC tournament championship game is scheduled for Saturday.

D-III USILA POLL

1. RIT

2. Tufts

3. Salisbury

4. Lynchburg

5. Cabrini

6. York

7. Stevenson

8. Franklin & Marshall

9. Christopher Newport

10. Gettysburg

11. St. John Fisher

12. St. Lawrence

13. Williams

14. Union

15. Denison

16. Hampden-Sydney

17. Ursinus

18.Colorado College

19. Ohio Wesleyan

20 Wesleyan