John Nichols’ report Bears @ NCAA Div. I and III lacrosse t

BEARS LAX TRAX FAX 05162023

NCAA Men’s Division I Tournament

Three Bears teams made it into the NCAA DI tournament, but only two survived the first weekend.  Michigan (Graham Hertzberg, Hunter Taylor), which has been playing win or go home games for almost a month, advanced to the quarterfinals and will face top-seed Duke.  For Maryland (John Geppert) and Yale (Jake Cohen), the 2023 season came to an end as both lost in games that were dogfights to the end.

John Geppert was named 3rd team All American and was signed by the PLL

Second Round

Michigan (Graham Hertzberg, Hunter Taylor) 15 OT

#8 Cornell 14

A dazzling end of the 2023 season continues for Big Blue and Hunter is making plays that keep them alive.  From the start, this was a closely contested match.  Cornell looked hot early when they scored three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead in the middle of the first quarter.  Michigan came back with two scores and the tone for the day was set.  For the rest of the first half, Cornell would score once then Michigan would tie the game again.  The Wolverines broke that pattern with the last goal of the first half to lead 7-6 at the intermission.  Cornell scored quickly to start the second half and force another tie, but Michigan used back-to-back goals to take their first two-goal lead of the day.

Then came the fireworks of the fourth quarter.  The teams traded scores to start the fourth then Big Red netted two goals in forty seconds to tie the game up again.  Michigan and Cornell again swapped single scores then the show started.  In just over a minute the teams combined for four goals.  The first two restored Michigan’s two-goal lead, the next two pulled Big Red even again.  With less than two minutes left in the game, Michigan got the lead back.  After a couple of minutes of calm on the scoreboard and frenetic action on the field, Big Red tied the game up yet again, now with less than a minute remaining in regulation.  Cornell had the only scoring chances in the final minute but drew a post on their best shot.

In overtime, Cornell won the faceoff and rushed the goal, but Hunter made his biggest save of the season and successfully advanced the ball to the Michigan middies.  Michigan was running low on time on the shot clock when two passes moved the ball to an uncovered man on the crease who put away the game winner.

Hunter saved sixteen of the thirty shots he faced and got one ground ball.

Michigan’s reward is a match with #1 seed Duke.

#4 Maryland (John Geppert) 15

Army 16

Unseeded Army was tenacious from the start, scoring the first three goals of the game and another three to end the first quarter to take a 7-2 lead.  Maryland matched that in the second quarter though, scoring five straight goals to tie the game at six all.  Each team then scored once before the halftime break to set the game at 8-8.  Maryland and Army swapped goals to start the second half, then Army got the lead back with two goals in the middle of the third quarter.  The Terrapins closed out the third quarter with a three-goal run to take their first lead of the day.  Army withstood Maryland’s rebound and netted two goals in the first minute of the fourth quarter to take the lead back.  Neither team scored for the next four minutes, then Maryland tied the game up again.  Once more, the teams swapped single scores until Army went up by two with less than a minute left in the game.  The Terrapins pulled within one with thirty-six seconds left in the game and had chances to tie the game again when they won the faceoff that followed that goal, but their shots all missed the mark before time ran out.

John Geppert had two ground balls in his final game for Maryland.  During his time at Maryland John has grown to be an impactful player as a long stick middie providing solid defense (136 ground balls, 47 caused turnovers) and an offensive punch (10 goals, 8 assists) while making key plays in the Terrapins’ 2022 NCAA championship run.

Yale (Jake Cohen) 17

# 7 Georgetown 19

The teams traded goals for the first half of the first quarter then Yale ran off six scores in six minutes to wrap up the first quarter.  The Hoyas more than matched that in the second quarter by outscoring Yale 7-1 to take a 10-9 lead at the half.  Georgetown extended their lead to three with two goals early in the third period, but the Eli tied the game up with three goals in less than two minutes.  Georgetown got the lead back with score to stop that run, but Yale again netted three straight and now led by two.  The Hoyas responded in kind and had the lead once more.  Yale managed to tie the game up two more times before Georgetown took the lead for good with a pair of goals in the last minutes of the game.

Jake had two ground balls for Yale and for the year was a starter on defense for fourteen of Yale’s fifteen games.

THIS COMING WEEK

Quarterfinals-Saturday May 20

Michigan (Graham Hertzberg, Hunter Taylor) versus#1 Duke in Albany.

NCAA Men’s Division III Tournament

The NCAA DIII tournament is thick with Bears and most of those Bears are winning and advancing.  Dickinson (Will Single), Tufts (Garrett Kurtz), and Washington and Lee (Will Bou) all advanced to next week’s quarterfinals with two wins each while Amherst (Nicholas Kopp) and Gettysburg (Billy Banfield) saw their 2023 seasons come to an end after losing in their third-round games.

Second Round

Amherst (Nicholas Kopp) 17

SUNY Geneseo 11

Amherst jumped out to a three-goal lead with the game’s first goals then leveraged that lead with six straight scores in the second quarter.  Geneseo tried to whittle away at Amherst’s lead in the third quarter by preventing any scoring runs by the Mammoths but could only get the Amherst lead down to four.  The first half of the fourth quarter was a dry spell for both teams, then Amherst settled things with three goals in less than two minutes in the middle of the quarter. 

Nicholas had a very successful day at the dot, winning twenty-one of twenty-six faceoffs and collecting ten ground balls.  He also took five shots, two of which were on goal.

Dickinson (Will Single) 19

John Carroll 3

The Red Devils were up 8-0 before John Carroll got their first goal in the middle of the second quarter.  After that there were two iterations of two goals for Dickinson, one goal for Carroll then Dickinson closed out the game with a seven-goal run.

Will had two ground balls for Dickinson.

Gettysburg (Billy Banfield) 22

Scranton 9

Scranton was up 3-0 less than three minutes into the game, but the Bullets figured out what to do and Scranton did not score back-to-back goals for the rest of the game.  It took a little while for the Bullets’ offense to get rolling, but they tied the game up at four all early in the second quarter and then took the lead for good with a seven-goal run.  In the second half, the Bullets continued to extend their lead with the biggest impact coming from two four-goal runs.

Tufts (Garrett Kurtz) 27

Emmanuel 5

The Jumbos scored eight times before Emmanuel got their first, then another ten before they got their second. 

Garret took three shots and scored twice.

Washington and Lee (Will Bou) 21

Centre 10

The Generals used runs of three, five, and four goals in the first half to take a 13-4 lead at the end of the second quarter.  Centre put together a three-goal run to start the second half, but that was the high-water mark for their attack.  Washington and Lee closed out the game with two brief scoring runs that were interrupted by single scores for Centre.

Will had a light workload at the dot, winning nine of thirteen faceoffs and getting to three ground balls.

Third Round

Amherst (Nicholas Kopp) 10

Salisbury 14

The Mammoths moved on to face Salisbury, a team that has for years been at the very top of D-III men’s lacrosse.  Salisbury shut out the Mammoths in the first quarter while scoring five times.  Amherst rallied back to start the second quarter with three straight goals, before a late goal to the Gulls wrapped up the first half.  Amherst narrowed Salisbury’s lead to two with the first score of the second half, but the Gulls responded with three goals.  The Mammoths stopped that run, but this time the Gulls netted four straight and now led by eight early in the fourth quarter.  Amherst did not fold tents but rallied back with five straight scores to pull within three with almost four minutes left in the game.  However, they would get no closer.  Salisbury closed out the scoring with a minute left in the game to end Amherst’s 2023 season.

Nicholas was a force in the game, winning twenty-two of twenty-seven faceoffs and covering twelve ground balls.  This season, Nicholas took 534 faceoffs (nearly 30 per game) and won 58% of those draws.  He backed up that strong play at the dot with 144 ground balls and contributed directly to the scoring with six goals and an assist.

Dickinson (Will Single) 12

Stevens 10

Dickinson netted the last three goals of the first half to take a two-goal lead at halftime.  Stevens scored twice to start the second half, tying the game at six apiece.  Stevens stayed right on Dickinson’s tail, trading goal for goal, until they netted a pair to go ahead by one midway through the fourth quarter.  Dickinson then put the game away with a burst of four goals in a minute and a half to take a 12-9 lead.  Stevens scored soon thereafter, but Dickinson was able to frustrate them over the balance of the game.

Will assisted on Dickinson’s last goal of the first half.

The win moves Dickinson on to the quarterfinals against Christopher Newport in Salisbury on Saturday.

Gettysburg (Billy Banfield) 12

Christopher Newport 17

The Bullets and the Captains played a fairly even first quarter, but a Christopher Newport goal at the end of the first period launched a fast run of five goals in four minutes.  The Captains continued to record multiple-goal runs, albeit runs that were shorter than the run of five, while Gettysburg was limited to single scores.  The Bullets closed out the game with a four-goal run.

The loss ends the Bullet’s season and Billy’s time in a Gettysburg uniform.

Tufts (Garrett Kurtz) 22

York 7

For the second time in a row, Tufts overwhelmed their opponent by limiting them to single goals while the Jumbos’ attack enjoyed several healthy scoring runs.  York scored first, but the Jumbos came back with four straight.  After York stopped that run, the teams traded single scores then Tufts was off and running again—this time netting seven goals in a run that lasted into the early minutes of the second half.  After York scored their run stopper, the Jumbos were back at with eight straight goals.  The teams closed out the game with three iterations of swapping single scores.

Garrett played in this game.

Washington and Lee (Will Bou) 13

Grove City 10

The Generals and the Wolverines met earlier this season, with Washington and Lee winning 20-10.  This time around, Grove City had their best run early when the game was still very much in the balance, and they managed to prevent any large scoring runs for Washington and Lee.  Grove City got their first, and as it turned out only, lead of the game with three consecutive goals in a run that carried over from the end of the first quarter into the second.  W&L went back ahead with a pair of goals then the teams matched each other goal for goal, the game either tied or the Generals up by one.  W&L broke that trend with two in a row, but Grove City responded with the same to tie the game.  Ten seconds after the Wolverines tied the game at ten, Washington and Lee launched the three-goal run that decided the game.

Will won sixteen of twenty faceoffs and scooped up five ground balls.

THIS COMING WEEK

Quarterfinals—Saturday May 20

@ Salisbury

Dickinson (Will Single) vs. Christopher Newport

Washington and Lee (Will Bou) vs. Salisbury

@ Tufts

Tufts (Garrett Kurtz) Tufts vs. Lynchburg

Semifinals—Sunday May 21