John Nichols’ BearLaxTraxFax for 3/19 games

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Division I

BEARS vs BEARS

Dartmouth(Brendan Gallagher, Brett Gallagher, Cameron Brown, Zak Oehlerking) 10 OT

Harvard (Joey Graham) 9

Dartmouth picked up their first Ivy League win in eight years.  Both that win and this one were overtime games against Harvard.

Dartmouth had an early 2-0 lead, but two short runs of goals from Harvard put the Crimson out in front 7-3 early in the third period.  The teams twice swapped scores to close out the third period and Big Green trailed Harvard 9-5 coming into the fourth quarter.  Dartmouth found a way to rally for the tie, scoring four times while shutting out the Crimson for the final period of regulation.  In overtime, Harvard had a couple of shots but missed the cage and Dartmouth regained possession.  Big Green’s first shot was saved, but they got the game winner off a rebound.

Cameron took one shot for Dartmouth.

OTHER GAMES

Dartmouth(Brendan Gallagher, Brett Gallagher, Cameron Brown, Zak Oehlerking) 18

Hampton 9

Dartmouth took an early 3-0 lead before Hampton scored their first goal.  Big Green then netted nine straight to lead 12-1 early in the third period.  Dartmouth substituted freely and scoring was modestly in favor of Hampton for the rest of the game.

Brendan, Zak, and Cameron all played in this game.  Cameron scored three goals on five shots, Zak took two shots, gathered up two ground balls and caused a turnover.

Harvard (Joey Graham) 11

Boston U 15

The Terriers took the lacrosse equivalent of the Bean Pot tourney in a closely contested match.  BU scored first and maintained their lead with the Crimson nipping at their heels throughout.  BU proved better at scoring goals back to back, but never so much so that they could pull away.  Harvard trimmed BU’s lead to just two goals with a minute and a half left in the game, but the Terriers quashed any hopes of a come back with a pair of late scores.

Hobart (Jackson Galiani) 7

Syracuse 18

The Statesmen led early with a pair of scores, but Syracuse scored seven straight goals across the first and second periods before Hobart scored two again.  The rest of the game was comprised of runs of three or four for the Orange interrupted by single goals for Hobart.

Maryland (John Geppert) 13

Penn State 10

Maryland opened Big Ten play with their twentieth consecutive Big Ten win.  The Terrapins put together a six-goal run that closed out the first quarter and started the second.  The Nittany Lions rallied back by scoring five the game’s next six goals and trailed by just two after Maryland recorded the last goal of the first half.  The pace of scoring slowed considerably in the second half with Penn State scoring just twice, the first and last goals of the second half, while Maryland squeezed in a streak or three between.

John picked up an assist and gathered up three ground balls.

Michigan (Graham Hertzberg, Hunter Taylor) 11

Johns Hopkins 15

The lead passed back and forth in this Big Ten opener for both teams before the Jays seized the lead for good with string of four goals as the game moved from the third quarter into the fourth.  The Wolverines snapped that streak, but Hopkins came back with three more to pick up the win.

Navy (JT Thomas, Preston Luger) 6

Villanova 17

Navy scored first but did not find the back of the cage again in the first half.  Villanova ran off seven straight to wrap up the first half.  In similar fashion, Navy got the first goal of the second half, then Villanova ran off four in a row.  Navy broke that run with the first goal of the fourth quarter only to see the Wildcats pour in five more.  This game was Navy’s sixth straight loss.

Navy (JT Thomas, Preston Luger) 13

Holy Cross 8

That losing streak ended Saturday.  The Midshipmen had advantages in faceoff wins and ground balls which they successfully translated into a shooting advantage.  Navy’s attacks on the goal were frequent and well aimed, requiring an eighteen save effort from the Holy Cross goalie to keep the game close.

Ohio State (Cullen Brown) 11

Rutgers 7

After two rounds of swapping single scores, the Buckeyes closed out the first half with a string of five consecutive scores.  Ohio State rode a hot goalie to the win in their first Big Ten game of the year.  They defended their lead in the second half, matching Rutgers score for score.  Goalie play was critical in this game as the Buckeye’s goalie saved 70% of Rutgers shots on goal while the Rutgers goalie had a sub-50% day in net. 

Cullen gathered in four ground balls for the Buckeyes.

Penn (Stephen Bou) 12

Cornell 18

Penn took an early three-goal lead, but Big Red came right back at them and ran off five straight as the game moved from the first quarter into the second.  Each team scored three more in the second quarter then Penn opened scoring for the second half with two goals to get back into a tie at nine all.  Cornell then scored four times over a five-minute period to take the lead for good, never allowing successive goals to the Quakers over the balance of the game. 

Yale (Jake Cohen) 10

Princeton 23

The Tigers buried the Bulldogs early with first half runs of eight, then four goals which gave them and 12-3 at halftime.  Yale opened and closed the third quarter with pairs of goals, but Princeton racked up six more in between.  Yale’s goalie saved just one-third of Princeton’s shots put on the cage while the Tigers’ net minder saved nearly two-thirds of Yale’s on-goal shots.

Jake saw playing time in this game.

POLLS

Inside Lacrosse/Media

1.      Virginia

2.      Maryland

3.      Notre Dame

4.      Duke

5.      Cornell

6.      Villanova

7.      Johns Hopkins

8.      Army

9.      Rutgers

10.  Jacksonville

11.  Penn State

12.  North Carolina

13.  Loyola

14.  Ohio State

15.  Georgetown

16.  Denver

17.  Princeton

18.  Boston U.

19.  Penn

20.  Yale

USILA COACHES

1.      Virginia

2.      Maryland

3.      Notre Dame

4.      Duke

5.      Cornell

6.      Villanova

7.      Johns Hopkins

8.      Army

9.      Rutgers

10.  Jacksonville

11.  Penn State

12.  North Carolina

13.  Denver

14.  Loyola

15.  Georgetown

16.  Ohio State

17.  Boston U.

18.  Princeton

19.  Penn

20.  Yale

Nike/USA Lacrosse

1.      Virginia

2.      Notre Dame

3.      Duke

4.      Maryland

5.      Cornell

6.      Villanova

7.      Army

8.      Johns Hopkins

9.      Jacksonville

10.  Rutgers

11.  Loyola

12.  Penn State

13.  Denver

14.  Ohio State

15.  North Carolina

16.  Boston U.

17.  Penn

18.  Princeton

19.  Yale

20.  Georgetown

THIS COMING WEEK

Maryland (John Geppert) plays Michigan (Graham Hertzberg, Hunter Taylor) in a Big Ten Bears vs. Bears game while Penn (Stephen Bou) and Yale (Jake Cohen) have an Ivy-covered Bears vs. Bears match.

Division III

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

Amherst (Nicholas Kopp) 17

Springfield 8

Amherst dominated early, by winning faceoffs, dominating possession time, and limiting Springfields shooting.  The Mammoths did not allow Springfield to score back-to-back goals until the game was well decided late in the fourth quarter.  Nicholas had an outstanding day at the dot, winning two-thirds of his faceoffs and ensuring possession with eight ground balls.  He also contributed an assist during a run in which Amherst scored four goals in just over a minute.

Amherst (Nicholas Kopp) 22

Saint John Fisher 15

Saint John Fisher scored the first and last goals of the opening quarter but the Mammoths squeezed in eight between.  Nicholas scored the fourth goals of that run.  The Cardinals put together a brief scoring run in the second period, scoring four straight, but were otherwise kept at bay by Amherst.

Nicholas had another long (but great) day at the dot, winning 21 of 37 faceoffs, scooping fourteen ground balls and causing two turnovers.  He also scored a goal on one of his two shots.

Colby (Miles Tonkel, Colin Flood) 14

Widener 16

After Colby led in the first half, Widener went on a six-goal run, three on either side of halftime, to take the lead.  The Mules nearly matched that in the middle of the second half with a run of five straight goals, taking the lead back .  That was, however, the end of Colby’s offensive output for the day as Widener scored the last three goals of the game to take the lead and win.

Miles played in this game.

Colby (Miles Tonkel, Colin Flood) 11

Hamilton 16

Scoring passes back and forth in this match, but Hamilton was more likely to score twice during their turn while the Mules tended to score just once.  Those small advantages added up to a mere two-goal lead for Hamilton late in the fourth quarter.  Hamilton got the last three scores of the game, two in the final twenty seconds, to take the win.

Dickinson (Will Single) 10

Muhlenberg11

Muhlenberg ran out to an early 3-0 lead, but the Red Devils came back quickly and tied the game up.  Over the balance of the game both teams held and surrendered leads as neither team could do better than two scores in a row.  Dickinson got its last lead late in the fourth quarter, but Muhlenberg had the last word, scoring the game’s final two goals.

Will had one ground ball for Dickinson.

Gettysburg (Billy Banfield) 22

Catholic 7

Gettysburg dominated every statistical measure in this game and that was reflected in the final score.  The Bullets were flying taking sixty-three shots on the day (nearly twice as many as the Cardinals) and putting forty of those shot on goal (267% of what Catholic did).  Even though faceoffs were close to even for the game, Gettysburg took advantage of Cardinal turnovers and out-hustled Catholic to ground balls.

Billy saw field time in the game.

Gettysburg (Billy Banfield) 14

Ursinus 10

The Bullets won their Centennial Conference opener with a strong first quarter showing.  After giving up a pair of goals to Ursinus to start the game, Gettysburg scored six times before first quarter ended.  From there on out, the teams match each other in every quarter with neither team able to do better than occasional back-to-back scores.

Hampden-Sydney (Owen Hegadorn) 6

Christopher Newport 14

Hampden-Sydney jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the first quarter but found the back of the cage just twice over the remaining three quarters.  Each team scored once in the second quarter, so the Tigers led at the half.  Christopher Newport scored the first goal of the second half right off the faceoff and the run was on.  The Captains netted eight more goals without a score for Hampden-Sydney.  

Tufts (Garrett Kurtz) 24

Cabrini 7

The Jumbos scored twice in the final minute of the first quarter then added eleven more while holding Cabrini scoreless until midway through the third quarter.  After Cabrini scored once to break that run, Tufts bounce back with another four in a row to go up by eighteen.

Garrett played in this game.

Tufts (Garrett Kurtz) 23

Trinity 9

Jumbos versus Bantams.  Over the first three quarters of this NESCAC match, Tufts ran off several sets of four to six goals which were punctuated by single goals for the Bantams.  Trinity was able to string together successive goals in the final quarter with a run of three, including a man-dawn goal.

Garrett put one shot on goal for Tufts and covered one ground ball.

Washington & Lee(Will Bou) 11

Christopher Newport 16

Christopher Newport outshot the Generals by a wide margin, but W&L was more precise with their scoring attempts which partially mitigated the Captains’ advantage.  Other than a three-goal run late in the second quarter, which kept the game close, and another three-goal run in the final period when the game was already decided, the Generals were unable to do better than single goals while the Captains had several small scoring runs.

Will won ten of twenty-three faceoffs and recovered three ground balls.

Washington & Lee(Will Bou) 13 OT

Lynchburg 14

With the game tied at three late in the first quarter, Lynchburg launched a five-goal run until the Generals ran off six straight scores to take the lead m the midway through the fourth quarter.  Lynchburg tied the game up then W&L got the lead back with just forty-one seconds showing on the clock.  The Will won the faceoff but, the Generals turned the ball over and Lynchburg tied the game up with just eight seconds remaining.  The Generals switched faceoff men in overtime and never saw the ball again.

Will won ten of eighteen faceoffs and led the team with five ground balls.

POLLS

INSIDE LACROSSE/MEDIA

1.      Christopher Newport

2.      Tufts

3.      RIT

4.      Gettysburg

5.      Salisbury

6.      Amherst

7.      Middlebury

8.      Union

9.      Saint Lawrence

10.  Denison

11.  Washington & Lee

12.  Middlebury

13.  Bowdoin

14.  York

15.  Stevenson

16.  Muhlenberg

17.  Dickinson

18.  Cabrini

19.  Ursinus

20.  Wesleyan

USILA COACHES

1.      Christopher Newport

2.      Tufts

3.      RIT

4.      Salisbury

5.      Gettysburg

6.      Union

7.      Middlebury

8.      Amherst

9.      Saint Lawrence

10.  Washington & Lee

11.  Lynchburg

12.  Denison

13.  York

14.  Dickinson

15.  Bowdoin

16.  Wesleyan

17.  Cabrini

18.  Muhlenberg

19.  Ursinus

20.  Stevens

NIKE/USA LACROSSE

1.      Christopher Newport

2.      Tufts

3.      RIT

4.      Salisbury

5.      Union

6.      Gettysburg

7.      Saint Lawrence

8.      Middlebury

9.      Amherst

10.  Bowdoin

11.  Denison

12.  Wesleyan

13.  Ursinus

14.  Lynchburg

15.  Dickinson

16.  Washington & Lee

17.  Stevens

18.  York

19.  Cabrini

20.  Babson

THIS COMING WEEK

Hyphens and ampersands as Hampden-Sydney (Owen Hegadorn) plays Washington & Lee (Will Bou) in a Bears vs. Bears game.