Unsurprising to us, this NCAA Men’s Lacrosse season has delivered right away. Upsets, dominant performances and OT thrillers to say the least. It’s too early to write anyone off or over-hype any singular squad, but there’s some teams who are already starting behind the curve, and some teams that are stepping on the gas right out of the gate. Let’s take a look at some early breakouts, disappointments and predictions moving forward.
Johns Hopkins VS Denver
This had to go down as the game of the week. Matt Brown, first year Denver head coach, led this Pioneers squad to a last second comeback and an OT win. On the field, JJ Sillstrop – who had the performance of the week – scored the last 4 goals to shoulder the squad and will this team to a dub, including the game tying goal with :02 seconds until the final whistle. Now, this isn’t all doom and gloom for Hopkins. They played a solid game, and were well balanced on offense with Jacob Angelus and Hunter Chauvette each notching 3 goals. They brought a lot of chemistry to the field and we think they will learn from this defensive breakdown at the end of the game and revisit the drawing board to pull out wins in these situations moving forward. Either way, we’re excited to see what both of these teams bring to the field each week. Is it too early to put Sillstrop on Tewaaraton watch?
Loyola VS Georgetown
Loyola has been on the rise the past 2 years. Just last season, they started 2-0 with wins against the reigning champs in Maryland, and a highly touted Johns Hopkins squad – and this year they’re starting hot again. After a tough loss to the Hoyas last season where they were handed a 23-7 L, Loyola came out firing to start this season and throttled the No. 12 ranked G-town squad 18-10 as an unranked team. Evan James led the charge with 9 total points on 5 goals and 4 assists, followed up by Adam Poitras and Matthew Minicus each finding the back of the net 4 times. Not only was this a truly dominant offensive performance, but to hold this Hoyas squad to 10 points is a success for this Greyhound defensive unit. Georgetown had a slow start to last season as well – will this become a norm for this program? Or will they bounce back quicker this year? A bright spot for them was James Ball who dominated the face-off winning 73% of face-offs. Maybe they can fix their offensive scheme to convert more of those possessions, but something definitely needs fixing sooner than later.
Colgate VS Penn State
This was an eye opening loss for the Nittany Lions squad. Coming into this season ranked No. 4, they had high expectations and were considered a top contender for the chip. Despite Hunter Drouin’s 5 point performance with 4 goals and 1 assist, Liam Connor walks away with the headline game-winning goal in the last few seconds of the game to put the Raiders ahead for a 1-0 start to the season. In net for the Lions, Jack Fracyon had a tough day with only a 35% save percentage – we expect this to change moving forward and for him to have a big game come next appearance. Chase Mullins had a dominant day at the center x, winning 61% of face-offs and providing some hope for this Penn State squad that they can win some possessions, increase efficiency and lock down the defensive end a bit better moving forward. Big, big dub for the Colgate squad, and we sort of love their underdog story coming into this season - let’s see if they can keep it rolling.
Syracuse and Duke Start Off Dominant
While neither team played the “strongest” of opponents, they went out and handled business as expected, and their stars proved why they are looked at as some of the best players in college lacrosse. For the Orange, Spallina went out and logged 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists), showing why he is one of the most dynamic attackmen in college lacrosse with his feeding and shooting abilities. However, he wasn’t the most efficient when firing away at the net, with only a 38% shot percentage – but this doesn’t worry us and we expect him to tidy this up moving forward; it was the first game after all.
For the Blue Devils, Zawada, O’Neill and Williams combined for 18 total points on 10 goals and 8 assists. This offense is just elite and there’s no real way around acknowledging that. Jake Naso also dominated the face-off, winning 18 of 23 attempts for a 78% win percentage. The Devils did however let up 12 goals, and need to work on tightening up that defense for when they face more elite opponents, but we don’t see that they will have an issue with that. Duke should be at the top again, and we expect them to be title contenders.
This Week’s Games to Watch:
Georgetown VS Johns Hopkins
Saturday, Feb 10th @ 12PM
Virginia VS Michigan
Feb 10th @ 12 PM (ACC Network)
Maryland VS Loyola
Feb 10th @ 12 PM
Penn State VS Villanova
Feb 10th @ 12PM
