Lacrosse Preview- April 17

This week the preview starts in Owings Mills Maryland. On Sunday afternoon it will be #10 Salisbury looking for revenge when they travel to #1 Stevenson at 1PM. Stevenson won 12-8 in Salisbury 2 weeks ago. Salisbury is coming an 18-5 win over St. Mary’s. This is the same team that beat the Sea Gulls 11-10 last Friday. It was their best performance since the escape in York a couple weeks ago. Salisbury led 9-5 at halftime and scored the only 9 goals of the second half to pull away. Kylor Berkman had 2 goals and 4 assists in the win. On Monday he had a goal and 3 assists in the win over Mary Washington 14-5. Stevenson is still undefeated and playing well after a 19-4 win over Wesley in the other semifinal. Washington College looks to put last weeks 3 overtime loss behind them when Franklin & Marshall comes to town tomorrow night at 7PM.

In division one Navy will look to beat Johns Hopkins for the first time in 35 games tomorrow in Baltimore. This game is Homecoming for Hopkins. It starts at 2pm and will be on ESPNU and Ch. 2. Maryland snapped their three game losing streak with a 15-6 win over Binghamton on Tuesday. The Terps will look to start a win streak when they play Penn tomorrow in Philadelphia. Game time is 4:30. In other action Loyola hosts Fairfield at 3PM, Towson travels to Delaware at 1PM, and UMBC travels to Hartford also at 1pm. 

I will recap the action on Monday

Bryan in Annapolis

Lacrosse Recap- April 13

We start the lacrosse recap at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. In the first game of the “Day of Rivals” Navy defeated Army 8-4. Brendan Connors had 3 goals and 2 assists for the Mids. Navy goalie Tommy Phelan had a career high 16 saves in the win. The second game featured Johns Hopkins and Maryland. Hopkins came away with a 10-9 win in a very physical contest. The third quarter featured 11 penalties between the two teams. Michael Kimmel had 2 goals and 2 assists for the Blue Jays. Dan Groot had 3 goals for the Terps. The announced attendance was 20,732 for the doubleheader. In other action Loyola used 5 goals from Cooper MacDonnell to beat Georgetown 8-7. Towson blew a three goal fourth quarter lead and lost to Hofstra 11-10. UMBC took control of the America East Conference with a 15-7 win over Albany.

In division three Salisbury lost to St Mary’s College 11-10 on the road. Chris Becraft scored the winning goal with two tenths of a second left in the game. This is the first win for St. Mary’s in the series since 1977. Salisbury had won 37 straight games. The Sea Gulls probably have to win the
CAC conference tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament.  It will be a tough road. They start with Mary Washington at home today at 4PM. If they win the Sea Gulls go back to St. Mary’s on Thursday. A win there means most likely a trip to Baltimore where #1 Stevenson will be waiting on Sunday. Washington College was upset by Dickinson 9-8 in 3 overtimes on Saturday. The Shoremen also lost a three goal fourth quarter lead.

The midweek schedule features Maryland trying to snap a three game losing streak at home against Binghamton tomorrow at 3pm plus the CAC tournament for Salisbury. I will recap this and preview the weekend on Friday.

Bryan in Annapolis

Lacrosse Preview- April 10

We start this week’s lacrosse preview at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Inside Lacrosse will be hosting the Smartlink Day of Rivals. In the first game at 11:30AM you get the annual Army/Navy lacrosse game. This game is big for both teams. Army needs a win to lock up a place in the Patriot League tournament and a Navy win could lock up a null bid regardless of how they do in the league tournament. I like the null to avenge last years loss tomorrow. In the second game you get #13 Maryland and #9 Johns Hopkins. These two schools can’t seem to agree on anything. Johns Hopkins thinks they have 10 more wins in the series than Maryland gives them credit for. Back in 1895 Maryland was known as Maryland Agricultural College so they say the wins Hopkins got against that school shouldn’t count. Hopkins says they should. This rivalry can also be described as ”band vs. flag guy.” Hopkins brings a pep band with them to most of their games. After they score the band plays the fight song and at the end the Hopkins fans count the number of goals scored and then say “we want more, many more.” This aggravates most of their opponents but especially Maryland. When Maryland takes the field a guy carrying the Maryland state flag leads them. This bothers Hopkins since they are also in the state of Maryland. Maryland needs a win to keep their NCAA hopes alive. I look for a low scoring game between these two teams. Both of these games will be on ESPNU. In other action Towson looks to rebound from a 13-4 loss to Villanova on Wednesday night when #5 Hofstra visits tomorrow at 1PM on Ch. 2. #16 Loyola travels to #18 Georgetown also at 1pm on  MASN and #6 UMBC travels to #19 Albany at 1PM. The local schools web sites have radio information.

In division three Salisbury will be looking to rebound from the Stevenson loss when they travel to St Mary’s College today at 4PM and Washington College looks to build from their 7-5 win over Swarthmore on Wednesday when Dickinson comes to Chestertown tomorrow at 4PM

I will be in Baltimore for the doubleheader so I will recap that and the other games on Monday.

Bryan in Annapolis

Lacrosse Recap- April 6

 

We start the recap in Salisbury where the last of the Sea Gulls long win streaks has ended. Stevenson beat Salisbury 12-8 to end the 105 game Capital Athletic Conference streak. Barring a major upset Stevenson will win the conference regular season title and host a probable rematch in the tournament championship. The third quarter was the key to the game. After Salisbury tied the game at 6, Stevenson went on a 5-0 run to pull away. Kylor Berkman was held to one assist in the game. The game drew 2,672 people which is the 4th largest crowd and largest non “War On The Shore” crowd in Sea Gull Stadium history. Washington College also had a rough weekend. Gettysburg raced out to a 5-0 lead to start the game a cruised to an 11-4 win over the Shoremen. Shots in this game were 40-19 in the Bullets favor.

 

In division one Johns Hopkins snapped their 3 game losing streak with a 14-9 win over Albany in front of 1,832 people. Chris Boland had 5 goals for the winners. Navy upset Maryland 10-4 on Friday night in Annapolis. It was the largest margin of victory for Navy in the series since 1992. This game drew 15,109 people. Towson beat Sacred Heart 16-8 behind 4 goals from Will Harrington. Loyola beat Rutgers 12-9 and UMBC beat Binghamton 13-4.

 

Towson travels to Villanova Wednesday at 7pm. At the same day and time Washington College hosts Swarthmore. I will recap these and preview the weekend including the “Day Of Rivals” on Friday.

 

Bryan in Annapolis

Lacrosse Preview- April 3

We start the preview in Salisbury. The Sea Gulls welcome #1 Stevenson tomorrow night at 7:00. These teams met twice last season. Salisbury made a fourth quarter comeback to win the regular season meeting 13-12 in Owings Mills. They made a 9-0 third quarter run to win the CAC title game 20-10. I expect this game to be very physical. There has been a lot of talking from the Stevenson side and I expect Salisbury to retaliate on the field. I don’t know why but as much as I want Salisbury to win my instincts say Stevenson will win it. If you are going you should arrive early since they are expecting a large crowd. I will be making the drive myself for this game and will have a full report on Monday. Washington College is hoping Gettysburg has a letdown after their win over Salisbury because the Shoremen travel there tomorrow at 1pm.

In division one the action starts tonight. #8 Maryland will try to forget about their 7 overtime loss last weekend when they travel to #14 Navy at 7pm. This game will also draw a large crowd. Navy is looking to build on their win over Georgetown last week. This game is on CBS College Sports. Tomorrow #11 Johns Hopkins looks to break their three game losing streak at home against #18 Albany. This was the season opener in previous seasons but this year the coaches decided to move it when Hopkins and Duke decided not to continue playing. The two head coaches were college roommates at Hopkins so there will be no secrets. This game is at noon on Ch 2 and will be taped delayed on ESPNU.  In other action Loyola travels to Rutgers at 1pm, Towson hosts Sacred Heart at 2pm, and UMBC hosts Binghamton under the lights at 7:30. All of the D-1 games have radio information on the teams web sites.

I will recap on Monday

Bryan in Annapolis

Lacrosse Recap- Mar 30

This weekend of lacrosse was the best of the season. We start at Virginia where #9 Maryland came to town. This game would go seven overtimes before Virginia pulled out the 10-9 victory in front of 5,019 people. This is the longest game in NCAA lacrosse history. Brian Carroll scored the game winning goal for the Wahoos. Another game on Saturday night went 5 overtimes as Sacred Heart beat Villanova 8-7. In other in state action North Carolina only needed one overtime to beat Johns Hopkins 10-9 in Chapel Hill. It is the third straight loss for Hopkins, who had a 5 game skid during this part of their schedule last season. The Blue Jays need to get back on track this weekend vs. Albany. Syracuse rallied from a 12-8 fourth quarter deficit to beat Loyola 14-13 in front of 2,620 people on Saturday. Dan Hardy scored to tie the game at 13 and then scored the game winner. Cooper MacDonnell had 5 goals for Loyola in the loss. Navy beat Georgetown 10-8. The win broke a five game losing streak for Navy in the series. Tim Paul had 2 goals and 3 assists for the Mids. Towson beat Drexel 7-4 to stay undefeated in the CAA and UMBC beat Stony Brook 14-8 in front of 4,037 people on Long Island.

In division three both of the local teams lost. Salisbury lost to Gettysburg 11-10. The loss snaps three long win streaks. The Sea Gulls had won 55 straight overall, 80 straight at home, and 87 straight in the regular season. The last regular season loss before Saturday was April 10, 2003 to Lynchburg. Kylor Berkman and Kevin Maynard were the only players who were part of the 2006 team that lost the National Title game to Cortland State. Their career record in now 75-2. The rest of the team suffered their first loss in a Sea Gull uniform on Saturday. This week gets no easier. Mary Washington comes to town on Tuesday night at 7 and the new #1 team in the country Stevenson comes to town on Saturday night also at 7. The Sea Gulls will out there CAC win streak that dates back to 1994 on the line in both of these games. Washington College lost 8-5 to Haverford in Chestertown. Next Saturday the Shoremen head to Gettysburg to play the same team that just beat Salisbury.

In addition to the Salisbury/Mary Washington game on Tuesday, Towson travels to UMBC at 7:30 Tuesday night. I will recap those and preview next weeks action on Friday

Lacrosse Preview- Mar 27

It was a tough decision where to start this weeks preview. If you count D-3 there are five games between two ranked teams that involve local schools. We start with #9 Maryland traveling to #1 Virginia. If Maryland wins they win the ACC regular season title. The Terps are still looking for a good win to add to their resume and UVA definitely would fit. Virginia will be looking to get back on track after almost giving back a 6 goal lead last week at Johns Hopkins. I like Virginia to win by 3-4 goals. This game is on ESPN2 tomorrow at noon. Also at noon #2 Syracuse travels to #15 Loyola. I think Syracuse will win by at least 5 goals. This game is on ESPNU and Ch 2. Following that game at 2pm on ESPNU will be #6 Hopkins traveling to #12 North Carolina. The Blue Jays have played great 2nd halves the last two weeks. The problem is they got off to bad starts and couldn’t overcome them. North Carolina was unlucky in their loss to Maryland last week. I like Hopkins to get revenge for last season’s loss in this game. Navy travels to Georgetown in another big game. The loser of this game will not get an at large NCAA bid and will have to win their repective conference’s bid to get in. This game starts at 1pm and will be on MASN. In other D-1 action Towson coming off a huge 8-7 win at Bucknell Tuesday night travels to Drexel. This game is big for positioning in the CAA since only the top four teams make the tournament. I like Drexel in this game which will be on the Comcast Network (formerly known as CN8) at 3pm. UMBC travels to Stony Brook for a 2:30 game.

In division three York College almost upset the mighty Salisbury Sea Gulls on Tuesday. York led 5-4 at halftime and even after being outscored 5-0 in the tird quarter responded with a 3 goal run of their own to cut the lead to 9-8. Salisbury went on to win 13-9 but that was a major scare. Salisbury went 0-9 on extra man which can’t happen again this weekend. Gettysburg comes to town. Salisbury had to mount a big comeback to win 11-8 during the regular season last year and the Kylor Berkman scored the game winner in double overtime in the NCAA semifinals. This game starts at 1pm. Washington College scored the only two goals of the fourth quarter to beat Ursinus 7-5 Wedneday afternoon. The #8 Shoremen return home to host #14 Haverford tomorrrow night at 7pm.

I will recap all of this action on Monday.

Bryan in Annapolis

The Lacrosse Blog- Mar 23

This week’s recap has to start in Baltimore with the game I attended. Top ranked Virginia paid a visit to # 7 Johns Hopkins and 5,475 fans who braved temperatures in the low 40’s to watch the game. Virginia dominated the first half. They led by as many as 6 goals at 12-6. The Blue Jays went on a 9-2 run from late in the second quarter to the early fourth quarter. At the end of the run they led 15-14 but Virginia got the last 2 goals of the game to win 16-15. Hopkins was led by Kevin Boland with 6 goals and 2 assists. One of his goals made #7 in SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays. In Annapolis Navy continues to struggle. The Mids lost another one goal game. This time it was 10-9 to Colgate. Patrick Moran had 2 goals and 2 assists in the loss. More than four thousand people were in attendance for this contest. Navy needs to start winning games before the Patriot League Tournament, but with Georgetown, Maryland, Hopkins, and Army next on the schedule that will be a tough assignment. Maryland got an 8-7 win over North Carolina on Saturday. Dan Groot’s shot got deflected and took a weird bounce off an Carolina player and ended up in the goal for the game winner. A capacity crowd of 2,688 watched this game at Ludwig Field. UMBC got a game winning goal from Alex Hoppmann to beat Ohio State 9-8 in overtime. Loyola lost to UMASS 8-6 and Towson beat Robert Morris 11-9

In division three Salisbury beat Eastern Connecticut State 15-7 on Saturday night. Kylor Berkman was held to just 2 assists for the Sea Gulls. The next two Saturdays are huge for Salisbury. They host Gettysburg this weekend which is always a war and then Stevenson University who is ranked #2 in this week’s poll comes to town for a showdown the following Saturday. Washingon College beat McDaniel 9-8 on an overtime goal by Matt Moreton.

This week Towson travels to Bucknell tomorrow at 7:30. Salisbury travels to York tomorrow at 3:30 in their last tune up for Gettysburg and Washington College travels to Ursinus Wednesday at 4pm.

I will recap the midweek games and preview the weekend on Friday.

Bryan in Annapolis

Lacrosse Preview- Mar 20

 We start this weeks preview at Homewood Field in Baltimore where #7 Johns Hopkins hosts top ranked and undefeated Virginia. This will be the first game I attend this season. Hopkins is coming off last week’s loss to Syracuse while Virginia beat Towson. This week the discussion in the lacrosse world is whether Virginia can go undefeated. They are entering the a stretch of Hopkins, Maryland, Duke, and North Carolina. I don’t see them running the table but I do see a Virginia 2-3 goal win in this game. I am hoping the same Homewood magic that helped Hopkins beat a similarly talked about Duke team in 2007 will help the Blue Jays pull off the upset. Game time is 8pm tomorrow night. It is on Ch. 2 and ESPNU. Earlier in the day #10 Maryland has a huge game when they host #11 North Carolina. Both of these teams are looking for that signature win to get their season back on track. Maryland has already lost twice at home and can’t afford another one. This game starts at 2pm on ESPNU. Navy is hoping to carry the momentum from a good 4th quarter last weekend at Holy Cross into tomorrow’s home game vs. Colgate. Navy has yet to play a complete game this season. Tomorrow at noon in their next chance. In other D-1 action UMASS travels to Loyola and Ohio State travels to UMBC for 1pm starts. Robert Morris travels to Towson at 2pm. The local school’s web sites have the radio information.

 

In division three Salisbury beat Colorado College 15-2 on Tuesday afternoon in Florida. Mike Winter had 5 goals for Salisbury. The Sea Gulls return home to play Eastern Connecticut State tomorrow night at 7pm. The visitors are coached by former Salisbury player and assistant coach Justin Axel. Washington College beat New England College

17-3 Tuesday. The Shoremen led 12-1 at halftime. Jimmy Kielek had 5 goals and 3 assists in the win. Washington travels to McDaniel College for a 3pm game tomorrow.

 

I will recap on Monday

 

Bryan in Annapolis

Lacrosse Recap- Mar 16

 In division one Virginia, Navy, and Loyola all had seven goal runs to help them to victories this weekend. However we start in Syracuse. The #2 Orange beat #6 Johns Hopkins 14-11 in front 9,197 people. Kyle Wharton had 2 goals and 3 assists in the loss. Hopkins returns home this weekend to play #1 Virginia. The Cavaliers scored the last 7 goals of the game in their 11-2 rout of Towson. Virginia and Syracuse look the clear cut best teams in the country so far this season. Maryland split a pair of games this weekend. UMBC beat the Terps 9-7 on Saturday. This was the Retrievers third straight win over the Terps. Kyle Wimer had 2 goals and 1 assist for UMBC while Grant Catalino had 3 goals and 1 assist for Maryland. On Sunday Maryland beat Bryant 13-6. Zach Greer had two goals for Bryant and Grant Catalino continued his hot streak with 2 goals and 3 assists for the Terps. Navy went from losing 4-3 to at the beginning of the 4th quarter to a 10-4 lead and held on for a 10-5 win over Holy Cross. Patrick Moran and Tim Paul had 2 goals each for the Mids. Not to be outdone Loyola beat St Johns 10-7. The Red Storm led 2-0 before Loyola scored the next seven goals to take a 7-2 lead. Shane Koppens had 2 goals and 2 assists for the Greyhounds.

In division three Washington College beat Muhlenberg 16-7. Jimmy Kielek had 3 goals and 4 assists in the win. Salisbury was off this weekend.

None of the local division one teams play until this weekend but in division three Salisbury plays Colorado College tomorrow in Florida and Washington College hosts New England College tomorrow in Chestertown. Game time is 4pm.

I will preview on Friday.

Bryan in Annapolis