Lacrosse Preview- May 15

 

We start this week’s preview with a look back at Wednesday. Salisbury traveled to Stevenson for the rubber match. Stevenson led 5-3 at halftime. Salisbury scored the first two goals of the second half to tie the game at five. The Mustangs then went on a five goal run that would be the difference in the game. Two of the goals were scored by Salisbury transfer Brett Yoder. The Sea Gulls tried to comeback but fell short 11-9. Stevenson moves on to host Gettysburg in the semifinals on Sunday. This is the first time since 2002 the Sea Gulls didn’t make at least the semifinals. Kylor Berkman had one goal in his last game. The seven seniors went 82-5 in their careers with 2 national titles.

 

In division one the quarterfinals take place this weekend. On Saturday there will be two games at Hofstra. In the first game Maryland plays Syracuse for the first time since 1997. I think Syracuse has too much speed for the Terps and will win a close game. This game is on ESPNU and ESPN2 at noon. The second game at Hofstra is Cornell and Princeton. This game is also on ESPNU. I pick Cornell to get to the Final Four. On Sunday the action moves to Annapolis where the Naval Academy will host the other two games. These games should draw a great crowd. The first one is Virginia and Johns Hopkins. These two teams played a 16-15 classic during the regular season won by Virginia in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins can’t afford to blow leads like they have in the last three games. Virginia needs to put up a good performance to silence their critics after the second loss to Duke. I like Virginia to win in another close game between these two teams. This game starts at noon on ESPNU if you can’t make it to Annapolis. The second game is another round in the “Battle Of The Blues.” It will be Duke and North Carolina. Duke has already beaten Carolina twice this season. The key to this game will be face offs. In the game between these two teams Duke got three goals on fast breaks off of face offs. I like Duke to advance to the Final Four. If you are making the trip to Annapolis I would allow extra time. There is a festival at Sandy Point that is using the stadium lots for parking, St John’s College is having graduation, the Annapolis Memorial Day parade is also Sunday, and it is the start of Commissioning Week at the academy.

 

I will recap the quarterfinals on Monday

 

Bryan in Annapolis