A lot of good college lacrosse was played this weekend. It is coming down to games that really matter and that can put teams into their conference tournament or not. There was a top 10 matchup, and 3 top 20 matchups this weekend. The nation’s top team almost goes down at home and a lot of goals were scored in other games. Each team should be close to fine-tuning their squad ready for a nice conference and tournament run.
Maryland Men’s Lacrosse vs. Rutgers Men’s Lacrosse
Maryland (10-1) beats Rutgers (8-4) 11-10 The Terps are able to sneak away with a win at home in a hard fought battle with the Scarlet Knights. It was an interesting first half Maryland started off hot went up 4-0, then Rutgers decided to put up 5 in the second quarter. Going into the half at 5-5 both teams were looking to pull away. The second half was back and forth action and the nation’s leading team was down. Maryland was able to outlast Rutgers and beat them in the fourth. The Terps were led by Senior star Connor Kelley who had a huge day getting 4 goals 4 assist. Bubba Fairman also scored a hat trick along with the defense killing several penalties. Rutgers played very hard all game, but could not pull away. They were led by their two main scorers Christian Mazzone and Jules Heningburg with 4 points each.
Denver Men’s Lacrosse vs. St. John’s Men’s Lacrosse
Denver (9-2) beats St. Johns (6-6) 15-6 The Pioneers easily took care of business this weekend. They went into halftime up 9-1 which has been a struggle at points in the year starting off well. The nation’s leading goal scorer Ethan Walker had a light day with 1 goal 2 assists. He let Austin French with 5 goals 1 assist, and Joe Reid 3 goals 1 assist do most of the work. It was hard for St. Johns to get the ball a lot due to face off beast Trevor Baptiste who went 19 for 24 with 12 ground balls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqqh2D9CY1A
Johns Hopkins Men’s Lacrosse vs. Penn State Men’s Lacrosse
Johns Hopkins (8-3) loses to Penn State (8-4) 14-12 In one of the best games of the weekend the Nittany Lions upset the Blue Jays for the first time ever in their history of playing each other. The game also ended Johns Hopkins long win streak. Penn State came out swinging early putting up 5 goals in the first and second, going into half up 10-5. Their offense was really clicking at home behind Mac O’keefe and Kevin Hill both with hattys. Along with career day for Nick Spillane who had 2 goals and 5 assists in a monster performance. It kept looking like the Blue Jays were making a comeback but then Penn State would answer. Hopkins had a disappointing injury early in the game with star senior Shack Stanwick which ended his school record point streak. The rest of their attack trio tried to put enough in for him behind Cole Williams big days 3 goals 2 assists and Kyle Marr had 2 goals 1 assist. The stud middie Joel Tinney also put up solid numbers 2 goals 3 assists but just not enough for the squad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp_nE9uvgAg
Duke Men’s Lacrosse vs. Virginia Men’s Lacrosse
Duke (11-2) beats Virginia (9-4) 18-13 In a game of big scoring runs the Blue Devils just had more. Duke started the game off on the right note going up 11-6 into the half. They played well all game besides a few minute stretch. They had several scorers but led by Joe Robertson and Peter Conley who both put in hat tricks. Along with both teams star players putting up 9 points, Justin Guterding of Duke and Michael Kraus from Virginia both had 4 goals 5 assists on the day. Also putting up solid numbers for the Cavaliers were Dox Aitken with 2 goals 1 assist and Mikey Herring added 3 goals 1 assist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kDyA_2fsE8
Yale Men’s Lacrosse vs. Brown Men’s Lacrosse
Yale (9-2) beats Brown (5-5) 27-15 An absolute slobberknocker of a game. Tons and tons of goals were scored in this blowout. It was a relatively close even game going into half the Bulldogs were up 11-8. Then the second half came and Yale decided to make it rain and set the school record for goals in a game. Yale had 15 players score a goal and 17 registers a point. They were led by star Ben Reeves who had 4 goals 3 assists, and Joseph Sessa with 4 goals 1 assist. Brown played a solid first half in big conference game but fell apart in the third quarter and was thrashed. The Bears were led by Jackson Newsome with 5 goals on the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Ef6GQ4fzE
Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse vs. North Carolina Men’s Lacrosse
Syracuse (7-4) beats North Carolina (6-7) 13-12 in OT A great thriller of a game for these two ACC opponents making Syracuse the number 1 seed in their tournament. The Orange had to fight back in the second half at home after coming out from half 4-4 then going down. It came down to the wire and Syracuse was able to connect when it mattered behind Nate Solomon with 4 goals, one being a very nifty fake top 10 play. Along with Brendan Bomberry and Freshman Brendan Curry who both had 2 goals 1 assist, Curry’s being the two to send them into OT. North Carolina had a well-balanced attack but couldn’t hold off the home team’s comeback. They fought hard with Matt Gavin and Alexander Trippi leading the way with 2 goals 1 assist each.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3hch-pZoM4
