Week 7 introduced a new theme: Statement Wins. We still saw our upsets and back and forth battles that have been a weekly occurrence, but this week we really saw some teams show they belong where they are in the standings. With a little bit of its own “March Madness”, college lacrosse did not disappoint. Let’s get into it…
2 Virginia and #1 Maryland played at Audi Field in Washington D.C. taking part in the Capitol Classic Tournament. The energy and intensity brought to this game showed why these two teams are at a different level than the rest of the competition. At the end of the day, Maryland solidified themselves as the best college lacrosse team in the world at the moment. Maryland dominated their defensive matchups, and was flowing offensively throughout the entirety of the game. UVA looked to get frustrated at times and broke away from their normal offensive sets, turning to more isolations and 1v1s, which hurt them. Wisnauskas took a back seat this game and let Keegan Khan go to work. Khan finished the game with 4 goals and 3 assists, while Wisnauskas had 3 goals and 2 assists. Matt Moore and Shellenberger had good showings, putting up 3 goals and 2 assists each.
Lehigh had a great weekend, taking down the #9 ranked Army Black Knights in one-goal game. Brendan Nicthern was held in check, only accumulating a goal and 4 assists. Mike Sisselberger dominated at centerfield, winning 17 of 25 face-offs for a 68% win percentage. It’s going to be tough to win if you can’t get the ball to your best player. Lehigh has had a pretty average season so far, but this win changes everything for the Mountain Hawks.
Hopkins did not have the week they were looking for. Actually, it was pretty much a nightmare for the Jays. Navy took a trip to Homewood field on Friday night to renew their rivalry. It was close throughout the entire game, but the Midshipmen were able to capitalize late in the fourth quarter to win 11-10. After a day’s rest, they took on Delaware, who hadn’t played a game in 7 days. Rest vs rust in this game, and rest took the win. The Blue Hens were able to get a big 14-10 win. Hopkins can stay alive as we head into conference-play, but they are going to need to pull it together and go on a big run. We’ll see what these Blue Jays are truly made of as they head into their Big-10 opener against Michigan.
Princeton and Penn found themselves in an Ivy League shootout, where they combined for a total of 41 goals in an overtime decision! Chris Brown of Princeton accounted for 9 points on 6 goals and 3 assists. Sam Handley of Penn had a day too, scoring 3 ginos and notching 8 apples. Cam Rubin from Penn had 7 goals and 2 assists also. The game winning goal caused some controversy: a defender’s stick broke and caused an unexpected scramble within the defense, which led to the game winner from Chris Brown in as Princeton won 21-20.
Denver had a big weekend as well, gaining some momentum back after a huge win over Ohio State at the Shoe. Jack Myers was held to only 2 points on the weekend – a huge W for the Denver defense in the stat column. Denver’s offense was in rhythm, having nine different goal scorers, and 6 players having multi-point games in the 14-12 victory over the Buckeyes.
