Another week goes by, and another week of college lacrosse delivering in every way we can think of. There was conference play, big time upsets, and great matchups across the board this weekend. Strap in, and let’s get into the nitty gritty of it all…
Virginia took a quick trip down to Richmond to play the Spiders this weekend, and the Spiders were ready to battle. UVA started out hot scoring the first two goals of the game, but Richmond would answer right back to tie it up. The Cavaliers pulled away again, but Richmond continued to grind and gained a 9-8 lead by halftime. Richmond held onto the momentum through the end of the game and upset the #2 Virginia Cavaliers for their biggest win in program history. The Cavalier offense looked great for the most part, but their defense was struggling big time against the Spiders. Dalton Young, Ryan Lanchbury, and Ryan Dunn combined for 17 points in the 17-15 victory.
The ACC craziness didn’t stop there… Syracuse visited Notre Dame for an ACC battle with the Fighting Irish. ‘Cuse was shutout in the first quarter, but Notre Dame was not, as they scored 9 goals to get things started. Syracuse’s defense did not look great at all; Notre Dame was able to get their hands free whenever they wanted, and Bobby Gavin only had a 20% save percentage, while Harrison Thompson came in and did slightly better with a 33% save percentage. Jake Taylor of Notre Dame had a break out performance, finishing the day with 8 goals, while Pat Kavanagh finished with 9 points on 3 goals and 6 assists. This was a big test for both teams to get into their rhythm for the rest of the season and the Irish were ready for it. Notre Dame came out with a 22-6 win.
UNC and Duke faced off in a highly anticipated matchup with Chris Gray and company taking on the high powered Blue Devils offense. Brennan O’Neill had a day for himself, scoring 7 times on just 10 shots in an incredible 70% shooting stat line. If he saw a chance to get a shot off, he was letting that ball go with no hesitation. Duke had a 4-0 lead on UNC with two minutes left in the half until the Tar Heels got a man-up goal to get them on the board. Mike Adler had an outstanding game for the Duke defense, saving 19 out of 24 shots faced for a 79% save percentage. Chris Gray was able to get just 1 goal and 3 assists against Adler. Duke’s offense was no match for the UNC defense as the Blue Devils won 15-6 in a big statement win for Duke.
Moving over to the Ivy League where everyone is fighting for that top seed, UPenn faced off with Yale Saturday afternoon in a top 10 matchup. Penn would lead for most of the first half, until Yale was finally able to gain the lead in a 6-5 game with 7 minutes left before halftime. Penn quickly tied it up and Yale answered back again with a first-half buzzer-beater to go up 7-6. Both teams were buzzing in the second half. With 4 minutes left in the game Penn tied it up at 11 before going into overtime. Chris Lyons had an opportunity with a righty sweep, and he let the ball fly, scoring the game winning goal for Yale.
Georgetown visited Denver in a Big East matchup where Denver was looking to get a three game winning streak going and the Hoyas want to keep rolling. The Hoya offense was on fire, putting up 17 goals in a 17-9 victory over the Pioneers. Georgetown had 5 different players with a multi-point performance in the statement win.
We’ve got some good games on deck for this weekend. On Thursday Syracuse are taking a quick drive over to Albany for a big New York rivalry game.To start off Saturday, Richmond is heading down to Jacksonville for a huge SoCon game. Duke will be hosting Notre Dame, Virginia against UNC, Villanova vs Denver, Cornell vs Harvard, and UPenn vs Brown. On Sunday to wrap everything up Maryland will be taking on Rutgers at 7pm. We’re excited for this slate as we head into the bulk of conference games, and we hope you tune in with us!
