Lacrosse Recap- May4

 

For this week’s recap I will mix in the NCAA tournament brackets with some scores. In division one Johns Hopkins received the #8 seed after beating Loyola 11-10 in double overtime. Brian Christopher scored the game winner but the play of the game was when Loyola’s P. T. Ricci picked up a ground ball and riffled a 30 yard pass to Shane Koppens who scored to tie the game at 10 with 4 seconds left. The Blue Jays open the tournament when they host Brown Saturday at noon. The winner of that game will play the winner of #1 Virginia and Villanova who held on to beat Towson in the CAA final 10-9. The Wildcats were up 8-3 at halftime and held on for the win. The UVA/Villanova game is Sunday at noon in Charlottesville. The winners play at Navy on May 17th. The other Navy quarterfinal will features the winners of #3 Duke and Navy who play Saturday night at Duke. The winner of that game plays #6 North Carolina and UMBC. UMBC beat Stony Brook 11-7 to win the America East automatic bid. That game is Saturday at 2:30 in Chapel Hill. The other two quarterfinals will take place at Hofstra on May 16th. #5 Cornell hosts Hofstra Saturday at 5. The winner plays the winner of #4 Princeton and UMASS who play Sunday at 5pm in New Jersey. The last quarterfinal will be the winners of these two games. #2 Syracuse hosts Siena in the biggest mismatch of the first round Sunday at 7:30. The winner gets the winner of #7 Notre Dame and Maryland. This means Will Yeatman gets to face his former Notre Dame teammates after he transferred to Maryland following some legal problems. This game is Sunday at noon. Before the season I had Maryland, Virginia, Hopkins and Syracuse in the final four with Virginia taking the title. I think I will be half right. I like Virginia, Cornell, Duke, and Syracuse to get to the final four. I like a Syracuse/Virginia final and Virginia to win it all.

 

In division three if Salisbury wants their 6th title in 7 years they are going to have to win on the road. The Sea Gulls open the tournament @ Haverford who won the Centennial Conference regular season but lost the conference tournament to Gettysburg. If they win they will probably have to head to Owings Mills again to play Stevenson. Stevenson plays the winner of Cabrini/Montclair State in the first round. The south bracket also features Gettysburg who won at Salisbury earlier in the season and Roanoke who has one loss. Whoever makes it out to play the north winner in the championship game will have earned it. I have no idea why but I am sticking with my preseason pick of Salisbury and Cortland State with Salisbury winning.

 

I will have a more in depth first round preview on Friday.

 

Bryan in Annapolis