Week 10 of college lacrosse was filled with some wild games, and some unlikely outcomes. Every week has delivered in its own way and this week is no different. There were a lot of class games throughout the week, and some big time matchups as well. Let’s go through the ins and outs of what happened…

On Thursday, Syracuse took a quick trip to Albany to play the Great Danes at their home for the first time in series history. They have played each other 20 times now, and this was the first at Albany’s place. It was a perfect storm for Albany lacrosse, and a nightmare for the Orange. It was down-pouring, windy, and a cold night out in Albany. The Orange are not used to the weather, they play indoors or in nice weather when they travel through the ACC. It was a back and forth game to start, and the first quarter ended in a knot at 4 after the teams traded goals. Syracuse struggled big time with their off-ball and transition defense for most of the game, and that’s where Albany attacked and went up 8-5 at half. The Orange tried to get back in the game, but the Great Danes would hang on for their third series win 14-12.

That brings us right to Friday, where we got to see a big time upset in the B1G Ten conference. Penn State hosted Michigan for Senior Day, and these seniors will not forget this game. It was an awesome game that came down to the wire. Neither team was interested in continuing the losing streaks that they came into this game with. Penn State was scoring at will to start the game, and outscored the Wolverines 8-4 heading into the fourth. That’s when Michigan turned it on and started getting the ball in the back of the net, tying it up 8-8 at the end of the fourth to send it to overtime.  Mac Costin had a chance to dodge in OT, and he took it. Running a lefty sweep across the middle and snuck a goal in past the Michigan defense to secure the huge win for Penn State.

The Fighting Irish seem to have found their groove, and are not looking back. Notre Dame flew down to Durham for an ACC battle. Pat Kavanagh got the Irish on the board with two quick goals before Duke and they went up 2-1. Notre Dame went on to score 7 goals in the first quarter, and we saw the Duke defense having problems stopping the Irish in 6v6 with their slide packages. The stars were on display for both teams, with Pat Kavangh putting up 7 points on a hat trick and 4 assists, and Jake Taylor, the emerging Irish star finishing with 2 goals and 2 assists.  Brennan O’Neill and Nakeie Montgomery both finished with 5 points each on 3 goals and 2 assists. Notre Dame held off the Blue Devil comeback and won the game 15-13. Notre Dame seems to have hit their stride after a bumpy start, and Duke looks to be doing the opposite searching for some consistency.

Penn faced off against Brown in a huge Ivy League matchup. The Ivy League is up for grabs as every team has been fired up about being back on the field, and anyone can take control of the lead. Penn has had a rocky start opening up conference play going 1-3. Brown is the team that no one wants to play in the Ivy League; they are a true wild card. Penn would open up the scoring with five unanswered goals by the end of the first quarter, but Brown wouldn’t go down that easily. Brown turned it up and won the second quarter 7-2, keeping the score tied 7-7 at half. Both offenses would continue their dominance in the game, but Brown took the lead 10-9 heading into the fourth quarter. Both defenses stepped up in a low scoring 4^th quarter as only 3 goals would be allowed. Brown scored twice to Penn’s one and that was all the difference they needed to pull off the upset victory over #8 Penn.

#1 Maryland and #4 Rutgers played in a highly anticipated B1G Ten matchup to close out the week on Sunday night. Maryland showed once again why the Terps are the number 1 team in the nation, and it is not even close. The Terps would take down the Scarlet Knights 17-9 and we saw Logan Wisnauskas become the record holder for most points in Maryland Lacrosse program history with 292 career points after their game Sunday. Congrats to Logan!!

We have got another action packed week coming up, so get ready for some more craziness as we enter the end of the college lacrosse season.  Monday, Syracuse hosts Cornell. Tuesday Notre Dame plays Marquette, ACC Thursdays have made a comeback with a Duke vs Virginia battle. Saturday has a good slate of games as well. Yale vs Brown, Cornell vs Army, Maryland vs Ohio State, UNC vs ‘Cuse, and Johns Hopkins vs Penn State.