NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Scores Week 2

This Highlighter of Wednesday’s Weekly lacrosse content is all about NCAA lacrosse scores from week 2. The second weekend of NCAA men’s college lacrosse contained OT thrillers, upsets, and loads of goals. If you missed out on any of the action, here are recaps on five of the biggest games from over the weekend.

Villanova Wildcats Over Yale Bulldogs

Villanova, now in back to back years, takes down Yale in overtime games. The defending champions lose their opening game of the season on home turf in devastating fashion. The star transfer everyone was ready to see, TD Ierlan, started the game off on the right foot with a winning faceoff that helped the team score a goal in the first 13 seconds. On the game, Ierlan won 18 out of 25 with some dominant stretches but he did fail to win the face off on the game-ending goal. Yale caught an early lead; but, once Nova smelled blood in the water, they did not let up.

The Wildcats came back from a 5-2 deficit, tied the game up at 5, and never lost a lead from there. Villanova was coming off a tough loss handed to them by Penn State 17-7. Their previous loss made this a huge win for them emotionally, and it’s always a good win out of conference when you take down the top dawg. Nova was led by Keegan Khan, Joey Froccaro, and Colin Crowley, all with 3 points on the day. The victory also came from a stout defense forcing 10 turnovers on the day. The Bulldogs had a disappointing start after winning it all, but look what happened last year after they lost to the Wildcats early to start the year.

An OT Thriller for Maryland Over Penn

In this overtime, the powerhouse of the Terps reigned superior. This was the Penn Quaker’s home opener in which they got to host the great Maryland Terps. Maryland was able the hang on and pull this one out from behind their transfer goalie Danny Dolan standing on his head. Dolan had a career-high in saves with 18 and some crazy crucial stops throughout this game. This game had large lead swings, Penn led 4-1, and Maryland was up 9-5; and, it still wound up in OT. Kyle Gallagher, who went 21 for 27 on the day, was a big part of Penn being able to even reach OT in this contest. His efforts helped his team kill Maryland in the ground ball battle 29 to 10.

This game was still a positive for Penn and a great season opener; even though it was a tough loss. Their squad was led by Adam Goldner and Simon Mathias, both with 4 points. It was a quick overtime victory after a scrum for the ball led to Maryland long pole Nick Brozowski scooped up the ball and ran down for the easy assist on a step-down. The Terps now advance to 3-0 after the tough road scare. They were led by their two stars Logan Wisnauskas and Jared Bernhardt putting up 6 points a piece. Adversity makes a team in May and this game should help both teams.

Pat Spencer’s Bag of Tricks, Tricks the Jays

After another impressive win for the Greyhounds we will have a new top dog, passing Yale after their loss. Even if their head coach doesn’t agree, which he made clear after the game. That he did not see a number one team in the nation when he watched his own. An absolute stellar start to the season for Loyola, in two games putting up a total of 35 goals and a win margin of 14 against two great teams in Virginia, and Hopkins. They continue the tough start to the season with another road game at Rutgers.

A fierce rivalry played 2 games into the season could always go anyway. Freshman stud Chase Scanlan from the IMG Academy balled out, putting in 4 goals and adding 2 assists. He is definitely a player to keep an eye on especially when he is learning from the great Senior Pat Spencer. Pat also had himself a day making defenders stumble to the ground and look around for the ball with slick passes. He had 3 goals 4 assists, 2 assists being behind the back passes. Another huge contributor was keeper Jacob Stover with 14 saves while reportedly sick. The Greyhounds offense looked lethal and it is just getting warmed up on the year.

Hopkins now looking at a 0-2 record not what they wanted to start the season. Their season is not getting any easier either with their next 3 games all on the road against North Carolina, Princeton, and Syracuse. The bright side for the Blue Jays is the top-ranked freshman coming in, Joey Epstein, had a solid day with 3 goals and 3 assists. Hopkins had 7 failed clears and need to clean things up on the defensive end. After this one, Loyola has the last 4 wins in the instate rivalry.

Syracuse Beats Down Albany In Revamped Rivalry

This game was a preseason noteworthy one to watch that came and went without the expected pizzaz. Unfortunately it did not live up to the hype. Syracuse opened the season at home on a disappointing note with a surprise loss to Colgate. They bounced back in a big way and made Albany open the new season with a loss as well. It also came with some revenge after Albany smacked Cuse last year 15-3. The Orange came out with high intensity and played with it all day winning the grit war. They won the groundball battle by 20 and caused 11 turnovers. The defense played very physical a lot of big hits throughout this game. They were led in scoring by Bradley Voigt 6 goals and 1 assist, and Brendan Curry with 2 goals 3 assists.

The Great Danes just were not ready for that physicality and could not handle Syracuse offense. Tehoka Nanticoke was shut down for the most part only scoring 2 goals both coming in the first half. He was getting bodied all day especially when he is diving through the crease. Albany should be able to bounce back next game against Drexel but face a tough Cornell squad right after.

Duke Blue Devils Topple Denver Pios

Always a great beginning season matchup between two great lacrosse schools. It was a wet windy rainy game all day, and some of the play showed it. Denver outshot Duke, had fewer turnovers, and even won the faceoff battle but could not pull out the win. The Pioneers star, Ethan Walker, had a disappointing day with 0 points and 1 unsportsmanlike conduct. Along with that unfulfilling performance, Denver only had 2 saves coming from keeper Alex Ready. This is never a recipe for success. Denver was led in scoring by Ellis Geis with 2 goals 1 assist but they couldn’t pass up Duke. It was a game of runs, and Duke was just the last one to make the run winning the second half 8-5.

Duke powered through the sloppiness and was able to find the net behind Joe Robertson’s 4 points and Joey Manown’s 3 points, including the game-winning goal with only 7 seconds remaining. In this great tune-up match-up we keep seeing, Duke has won the previous 2 now after Denver won the prior 2. Both teams should have great seasons as Denver will try to bounce back against Utah, and Duke will hope to continue on their path versus Penn.