Towson defeated Johns Hopkins
The last week of college lacrosse games featured enough upsets, overtimes, and nail biters to make any bracket busting cinderella envious. Teams ranked in the top ten dropped like flies. Unranked new teams pushed long-running programs to the brink. I imagine media members voting for new polls like Russell Crowe with a wax pencil in A Beautiful Mind. But this is what makes lacrosse so much fun. Nobody is ever safe. The path to the finals looking relatively simple for any one team (looking at you, Cleveland Cavaliers) could not be further from reality. As of this moment, you could make a case for at least six teams having legitimate chances at the national title. In fact, that’s how many teams got first-place votes in the polls on Monday. Here’s a look at the madness.
Towson headed across town to beat Hopkins at Homewood, 13-8. If you haven’t been watching Towson, you may not have noticed Alex Woodall. If you have been watching, you may not appreciate him enough. Woodall takes draws for Towson and had three points in this game, two goals and an assist. He took all 25 draws and won 16 of them, included every single one in the fourth quarter. Teams across the country often take the approach of not sliding to face off men, choosing instead to hold on proven offensive threats. Woodall is making teams reconsider that approach, as has shown an ability to punish defenses for not respecting him. Hopkins lost a ton of possession time, especially in the fourth, thanks to Woodall being so successful at the x, and ultimately that made the difference. Hopkins has Syracuse this weekend and will need a win to stay respectable in the polls. They’re four wins are against UNC, UMBC, Navy, and Loyola. Unfortunately, only UMBC got a win this weekend.
Michigan finally broke through and beat a top ten team for the first time in their program history, as they downed Penn 13-12. Michigan got out to a 6-1 start and all was looking well. They had a confidence about them, it looked like they really felt they belonged among the ranks of the top teams. Penn would threaten, but Michigan would answer, and the lead was six goals in the third quarter. Penn’s Simon Mathias and Kevin McGeary led the comeback that brought Penn all the way back within one and even had a chance to tie on the game’s final possession, but they couldn’t crack the Michigan defense. Michigan’s win shows us just how strong the Big Ten has become in lacrosse. Penn State still hasn’t lost and is at the top of some polls. Oh yeah, Ohio State and Rutgers haven’t lost yet either. Maryland has spent time at the top spot and is still in the top five with arguably the nation’s best attack. Both Michigan and Hopkins are in just about every Top 20 poll out there. Whoever wins this conference is going to have an absolute war on their hands to do so.
UNC has had a rough week. They went down to Hofstra on Saturday, and then Richmond came into Chapel Hill and beat them on Monday. UNC is still the defending champ and has the personnel to be able to beat anyone in the country (they have a win over Denver on their resume). But the losses to quality teams are starting to pile up without much to balance them out. Richmond is a young program with only a handful of years at the D1 level, and with respect to the Spiders, they just aren’t as talented as UNC. Don’t get me wrong, Richmond is now 6-1 and earned their spot in the top 20. But a look at the box score tells you what you need to know. Luke Goldstock had no points against Richmond, and most of the midfield was silent. Chris Cloutier managed two goals, but he isn’t the type of player capable of carrying an offense on his own. Against Denver, the Heels got four goals from Goldstock, two each from Cloutier and Anderson, and goals from five different midfielders. UNC needs production from all over to be successful at this point, and they haven’t been getting it with any measure of consistency. Without their Denver win, they have only beaten Lehigh, Furman, and UMBC. Not exactly dynamos at this point. Their remaining games feature almost entirely heavy hitters, with Maryland, Duke, Virginia, Syracuse, and Notre Dame left.
Penn State handed Harvard their first loss. Mac O’Keefe just won’t slow down. The kid is up to 29 goals this year, four more than the next closest in the ranks, and is averaging over four goals per game, the only player IN THE NATION doing so. The next high scoring freshman in the country is Vermont’s Ben French with 20. A lot of people, myself included, think PSU may be getting a little too much love. Every week I think should be the week they finally go down. They routinely give up double digit goals (15 to Hobart, 11 to Robert Morris), and are winning simply by outshooting teams. Their defense is, analytics suggest, mediocre. Let’s be honest, it’s flat out bad. Their strength of schedule is, up to this point, really not that impressive. Wins are wins, but their best win is probably a one-goal squeaker over a Penn team that just lost to Michigan. PSU has a chance to prove all us doubters wrong, as their Big Ten schedule rears its head in April. They have Ohio State, Maryland, Hopkins, Rutgers, and Michigan, in that order, in the course of that month. Those are some signature wins to be had.
Denver beat Notre Dame. This game absolutely puts my mind in a pretzel for rankings. For my money, Notre Dame is the best team in the country right now. They play defense as well as anyone. Sergio Perkovic really hasn’t broken out and had that “screw everyone, I’m the best shooting middie in the sport” game yet (he has that in him). In fact, Perkovic only has four goals. Only Ryder Garnsy and Mikey Wynne have ten or more goals for the Irish, and the next highest is Bryan Costabile with five. As backward as it sounds, I’d still put the Irish at number one in the polls despite losing to #4 Denver a day before. Denver won 19 of the 24 faceoffs. That’s a ton of possession. Notre Dame also had eight turnovers and lost the ground ball battle 29-18. And all that added up to just a one goal win for Denver. Notre Dame has an absolute beat down of Michigan and a win over then #1 Maryland on the resume. They still play Virginia, Ohio State, Syracuse, Duke, and UNC, and will likely be considered favorites against all of those teams. Gun to my head, Notre Dame is the team to beat right now, but it really is close.
A few notes to keep in mind, Binghamton beat Delaware. Yeah I know, these teams aren’t ranked, they aren’t exactly sexy names in the lacrosse world right now. But Binghamton and first-year coach Kevin McKeown are now 4-1. Their schedule isn’t the best, but they have Syracuse and Albany later in the year, which should prove to be excellent measuring sticks for this team. Some pollsters are mentioning Binghamton as a team that should find it’s way into the rankings, and it’s not unreasonable to say so. Keep an eye on this team. Syracuse narrowly got away from St. John’s over the weekend with a one goal win. Their last four games have been decided by one goal, the only loss behind a last-second defeat by Army. Duke absolutely annihilated Loyola. You could set your watch by the Blue Devils. Slow start, gradual improvement, turn the corner with a big win and charge up the ranks the rest of the year. Beating Loyola 15-7 could be that win.
The games this week could provide even more of a mess for pollsters. Rutgers plays Princeton on Tuesday. Saturday is a full slate including Ohio State against Towson, Brown against Harvard, Hopkins hosting Syracuse, Loyola hosting Navy, Notre Dame on the road at Virginia, and Penn home for Princeton. Wouldn’t it be cool if all of these games were on TV and not just internet streaming? I can dream. One day folks.
Enjoy the madness. And if you have time, try to watch some basketball too.
