The conference tournaments started off with a big bang this weekend, with Colgate defeating Army 11-8 to win the Patriot League Championship, followed seconds later by nearby power Syracuse holding off Duke 15-14 to take the ACC Championship. Both of these teams play Saturday at Colgate at 3:30.
The ACC Tournament began Friday with Duke defeating #1 Notre Dame 13-8. The game was scoreless for the entire first quarter, before the Blue Devils got on the board early in the 2nd from Case Matheis. An interesting point came after the first goal, when senior Conor Kelly started to warm-up for the Fighting Irish. Kelly eventually came in early in the 3rd after Matheis scored his 3rd of the game and made it a 7-1 Duke lead. Duke scored seven unanswered goals in the 2nd and 3rd quarters to get a 10-1 lead with 3:55 left to play in the 3rd. Although Notre Dame scored six straight in the 4th to stay alive, it was too late to advance to Sunday’s title game. Duke was dominant all day with individual performances, and sophomore FOGO Kyle Rowe forced Notre Dame to use five players at the x. He even had a goal to begin the 4th quarter.
The nightcap came in the form of Syracuse defeating North Carolina 9-8. It was a back-and-forth game as each team had scoring runs of at least two goals throughout the game except for the last goal that broke an eight all tie. Former Tar Heel Nicky Galasso recorded a hat trick and the game’s first two goals. UNC scored three straight even goals from Drew Hays, Walker Chafee, and Brett Bedard. After both teams exchanged two goals, Galasso tied the game at five with 1:20 left in the first half. Cuse exploded early in the third to take an 8-5 lead with goals from Randy Staats, Dylan Donahue, and Henry Schoonmaker. UNC tied the game with 11:12 left from a goal by Chad Tutton. It was a tight defensive battle until Kevin Rice drawed in defenseman Jake Bailey and dodged right to get the game-winning goal. UNC had a chance to tie the game again, but Chad Tutton was caught offside late and sealed the win for Cuse.
Saturday’s showcase game saw Virginia defeat Penn 12-6. Greg Coholan had four goals and four assists on the night, his first goal started a 9-0 run for the Cavaliers. Virginia needed a win to possibly host a first round game in the NCAA Tournament, while Penn knew already that this would be their final game of the season, after Brown defeated Dartmouth to clinch a spot in the Ivy League Tournament.
Sunday’s ACC Final between Duke and Syracuse was a vastly different game than the 19-7 beat down by the Orange inside the Carrier Dome. Nicky Galasso once again opened the scoring 39 seconds into the game, but then Duke scored five unanswered and eventually led 6-2 after one. Cuse scored seven of the second quarter’s eight goals, including a 5-0 run to lead the Blue Devils 9-7 going into halftime. The second half wasn’t lopsided for one team or another, as each team traded three goals in the third. Tim Barber scored the eventual game winner with 3:15 left in the game to go up 15-12. But two quick goals by Thomas Zenker and Myles Jones gave Duke the momentum, and with Kyle Rowe performing better than Ben Williams at the x, there was a chance that Duke would steal an ACC title. But the Orange played their strongest defense of the season, capped by Paolo Ciferri winning the race to the end-line with about thirty seconds remaining to give Syracuse their 5th league championship in six years and their 1st in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
It was a great weekend for lacrosse in Chester, and I expect at least one, probably two, ACC teams to be back in the Philadelphia area for Memorial Day weekend and the Final Four. Any of these five teams could win it all, and Duke may be the hottest team in the NCAA.
