The M-O of this season is delivery. This league has delivered week in and week out, and that trend continued into week 6. In the face of some unexpected weather delays, we saw some great competition, and again, we saw a bunch of upsets. Let’s dive into it…
Thursday UNC and Virginia faced off for an ACC battle that lived up to the hype. This meeting of the giants was a back and forth battle throughout the entirety of the game. Connor Shellenberger and Matt Moore had a great outing, accounting for 12 of UVA’s 15 points with 7 goals and 5 assists. The Cavs’ defensive strategy was pretty clear: shut down Chris Gray. UVA held Chris to 1 goal and 3 assists for a total of 4 points, and it proved effective as the Cavs went on to win 15-11. Virginia looks to be head and shoulders above the rest of the pack, so the question remains: will anyone be able to dethrone the back-to-back champs?
The Ivy League came into this weekend on fire, and kept it rolling with an undefeated weekend. Rutgers took on Princeton in a Friday night battle for New Jersey. Rutgers has had their offense firing on all cylinders recently, but Princeton put an end to that. Princeton would take down the Knights 16-11 behind freshman Coulter Mackesy’s 6 point performance. Yale took down the Denver Pioneers in a close 16-13 game, where Matt Brandau had a standout game, putting up 8 points on 5 goals and 3 assists for Yale. Denver is falling off quickly, and will need to do some soul-searching if they hope to turn this season around. Harvard took down Michigan in what many will say was Michigan’s first test. Harvard’s goalie Kyle Mullin had a terrific game, recording 12 saves on 21 shots faced for a 57% save percentage. Penn took down Villanova with a last second buzzer beater to win the game, and Brown beat Stony Brook 10-7. Huge shout out to the Ivy League, we’re going to want to keep an eye on this league, they might do some serious damage.
Loyola had a great game against Duke as they came in looking to get their team back on track. Loyola came out prepared and ready to go against the Blue Devils, who on the other hand looked very sloppy. Loyola outshot Duke 45-36, and Duke even racked up 4 turnovers on clears. Loyola went on to win 12-10, leaving Duke in a spot where they need to re-discover themselves. With as many upsets as there have been this year, there are very few clear-cut, dominant teams, so there is always time for anyone to slip back into that top-tier. Keep an eye out for both these teams.
Ohio State took on Notre Dame, and both needed a win. These make for the best games: 2 powerhouses, both coming off of losses and looking to realign their season. Notre Dame would get out early to lead the game, but Ohio State kept on fighting and would soon take over the second half. Notre Dame looked great in transition, getting most of their goals on change of possession, but they were not able to transition this game to the W column, as Ohio State went on to win 14-11 in a close bout.
Week 7 Preview
We’ve got lacrosse on all throughout this week! Friday we get to watch Johns Hopkins take on Navy in what is always a great rivalry game. Saturday has a great slate of games, with Notre Dame vs Michigan, Princeton vs Penn, Towson vs Duke, and most importantly Maryland vs Virginia; a national championship rematch. Sunday we have Ohio State vs Denver, High Point vs UNC and Delaware vs Johns Hopkins to wrap up the weekend. Stay tuned as the rankings have been shifting week to week as the NCAA still tries to get a read on the legitimacy of each team!
