Recapping a Huge Division 1 Lacrosse Weekend
The 2019 Division 1 Lacrosse Season promises to be an exciting one for Maryland’s colleges and Universities. Going into the President’s day weekend, Maryland had five teams ranked in the Top 20 (Inside Lacrosse Media Poll), with Navy also receiving votes. Some big games and strong performances shook up the standings leaving a Maryland team at the top of the newest poll.
#2 Loyola 18, #17 Johns Hopkins 12
Loyola entered play on Saturday ranked #2 with a massive game against perennial powerhouse, Johns Hopkins on deck. Loyola jumped out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back, even scoring the first six goals of the second half. The usual suspects looked strong as Pat Spencer had three goals and four assists and Senior Keep Jacob Stover saved half of his twenty-four shots against while battling a fever of 101 degrees. . A big bonus for the Greyhounds was Freshman Chase Scanlan who added four goals and two assists. Their strong performance, along with an overtime upset of the top ranked Yale Bulldogs against Villanova helped the Greyhounds take over the #1 spot. Loyola looks to keep their momentum going with another tough road game at #19 Rutgers on Saturday, February 23 at 2:00 P.M. On the other side of the field, Hopkins is looking quite vulnerable after an 0-2 start. The Jays couldn’t stop Spencer despite dedicating much of their defensive game plan to doing so. It gets no easier for the Blue Jays as they travel to North Carolina on Saturday to take on the 14th ranked Tar Heals. With games following that against #20 Princeton and #17 Syracuse, Hopkins is staring down the real possibility of beginning the season 0-5.
#3 Maryland 13, Penn 12 (OT)
The Terps survived an upset scare on Saturday behind the timely net-minding of first year starter, Danny Dolan. The Senior save 60% of the shots against him to help Maryland escape in overtime, including a massive save with six seconds left in regulation. Logan Wisnauskus led the Terps, offensively with four goals and Louis Dubick added three. Despite being 0-2, the Quakers look strong this year and Maryland Coach John Tillman realizes that his squad needs to make some improvements to hold on to that #3 ranking. “We have a lot of new parts.” Tillman stated. “We’re still kind of finding our way. We made some mistakes, but we battled back from it. We have to keep growing and learning.” The Terps have quite a week ahead of them, facing #16 Colgate on Tuesday and 2-0 Navy on Saturday.
#7 Towson 12, Mt. Saint Mary’s 7
#7 Towson cruised to a victory this Friday against winless Mount Saint Mary’s 12-7. Powered by Junior Brody McLean’s 5 goals and Senior Timmy Monahan’s four assists, the Tigers went four of six in man-up situations allowing them to pull out the victory despite similar stats between the two teams. Junior Goalkeeper Tyler Canto was named NewDay USA Male Athlete of the Week after saving 72% of the 25 shots against him. Towson has a big showdown on Saturday against #18 Georgetown at noon that will go a long way in determining who the Tigers really are this season.
#16 Georgetown 14, Robert Morris 11
The Hoyas men’s lacrosse team remained undefeated on Saturday by winning a hard fought game versus Robert Morris 14-11. Georgetown took their first lead with less than eight minutes left in the game and turned on the burners after that, scoring four of the games last five goals. Senior Daniel Bucaro scored four goals and Junior Jake Carraway added three as the Hoyas. Sophomore Gibson Smith paced the team defensively causing five turnovers and collecting six ground balls as Georgetown wrapped up the victory. They look forward to a big matchup on Saturday at home versus #7 Towson in one of the weekend’s biggest match-ups.
In other Division 1 Lacrosse News…
- Navy’s men’s lacrosse team has been receiving votes for the top 20 of the media poll. A strong showing on Saturday versus Maryland could secure a spot for them.
- The game of the weekend could be #2 Penn State taking on #6 and former top ranked Yale on Saturday.
- Loyola’s Pat Spencer showed up on Sportscenter last week. You can watch the full clip here.
