We truly hope you did not miss rivalry week this year, because it was one for the books. We saw some incredible competition, and a sad end to the season for some teams. We came out of the week with a massive tie for first place in the Ivy League, and a lot of question marks as teams enter their conference tournaments.
North Carolina played Notre Dame in a classic Thursday night ACC defensive battle. The Notre Dame defense was ready to go and was able to hold the best player in college lacrosse, Chris Gray, to just a single goal and 2 assists for the day. It was a full team effort for the Irish as they had six different goal scorers, and went on to win the game 12-5. Liam Entenmann was on fire as well, saving 14 of 19 shots for a 74% save percentage. It’s going to be tough to win when you play a goalie who holds that stat line at the end of the game.
5 Army hosted Navy in a huge rivalry game for both sides. This game was incredible start to finish, as one team got a lead the other would answer right back and make it a game again. Xavier Arline had a huge day, notching 4 points after not playing much throughout the season because of injuries. Brendan Nichtern started to take over the game as needed when the Black Knights were desperate for some goal scoring to tie the game up. Navy got a man-up advantage in overtime, and the rest was history as Navy went on to win the game 12-11 in a terrific rivalry game.
That brings us over to the Ivy League, where there is currently a five-way tie for first place in the conference with each team sitting at 3-2. Harvard took on Princeton this weekend, and the Tigers have been hot all season long. Harvard wasn’t afraid of the challenge, and brought it right to them. Harvard was able to squeeze out a close 19-16 win this weekend to shake everything up. The talent on the Harvard squad really showed out as they had six players with over 3 points in the game! Princeton’s squad was letting it fly as well as they had 5 players over 3 points as well. The Crimson were able to come away with the big time win and keep their season alive with the hopes to make a run and win the whole conference.
Brown has emerged as the wild card of the Ivy League after a convincing win over Cornell this weekend, who has been in the top 5 for a while now. Connor Theriault was the hot topic of the game, and rightfully so. Thierault had 24 saves on 32 shots faced for a 75% save percentage in an outstanding day for the keeper. Devon McLane and Brian Antonelli led the way for the Bears with 4 goals and an assist each. Trevor Glavin put his assisting abilities on display as he finished the day with 4 assists. This is a gigantic week for the Ivy League. It’s the last week of the season and literally anything can happen. From the top seed to the fifth, everyone is 3-2 in-conference, so there is going to be some major drama with the Ivy League tournament seeding.
Virginia and Syracuse had a rematch of their game from earlier this season, but the result was the same. UVA won the game at the Carrier Dome 21-15 on Saturday to secure the ACC title after going 5-1 in-conference. Matt Moore and Jeff Connor led the way for the Cavs, scoring 7 points each on the day. Syracuse fought hard, but the chemistry and scheme of the Cavaliers was just too much for the Orange to handle.
Maryland took a quick bus ride down to Johns Hopkins to renew the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse. Surprise, surprise, the Terps showed once again why they have been the number one team in the country all year long. The Terps secured a convincing 22-7 win over the Blue Jays at Homewood Field. John Tillman’s offense was on full display all game long, as the Terps had 7 multi-point scorers, and 4 players at 5+ points for the day. If anyone can stop this team, they are going to shock the world and it will be a tremendous game to watch.
We’re now at the final week of regular season college lacrosse. It’s time to put up or shut up, there’s a lot on the line for everyone if they want to keep their season alive and play in the post-season. Once we get to the post-season, anything can happen, which we have already been seeing. Some of the games to look forward to are Princeton vs Cornell, Johns Hopkins vs Penn State, Syracuse vs Notre Dame, and Duke vs UNC. Tune in and support your squad!
