Three teams this season made the NCAA Tournament for the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Defending champs Loyola Greyhounds, Bill Tierney’s Denver Pioneers and black horse squad Ohio State Buckeyes. This is starting to turn into one of the most competitive conferences in college lacrosse, as one team from the ECAC has made the NCAA Final Four the past three years running. Unfortunately or fortunately, if you’re an ECAC team, Denver is moving to the Big East Conference as of 2014. This will give other programs a chance to enter the conference tournament and get more recognition.
Denver made it the farthest out of the three ECAC teams in the NCAA Tournament, eventually losing to Syracuse in the Final Four after frustrating the Orange thanks to great goalie play from Ryan LaPlante who ended with 13 saves. Jamie Faus stepped in at halftime per the system Denver worked with, making spectacular saves. Unfortunately he met the Orange at the wrong time as they figured out what to do and capitalized. Eric Law filled the shoes of Mark Matthews greatly, not letting the loss of one of the top players to ever enter the NCAA bother their blue print. The Pioneers finished 2013 14-5, 6-1 in the ECAC, losing to Ohio State in the championship. With their move to the Big East, the Pioneers will birth new life in the youngsters with the graduation of Law, Cameron Flint, Taylor Young and Chase Carraro, and return to 2014 play with unfinished business.
Ohio State was the underdog as folks thought that it would be a Denver vs Loyola showdown in the ECAC title game. Starting off 4-0, the Buckeye’s were on a roll. They met ECAC foe Denver, losing by one. They shocked the world beating Virginia 11-10. Then lost to Notre Dame but downed Bellarmine to even their ECAC record at 1-1. Loyola visited the Horseshoe and held the tough OSU offense to only four goals. Winning out the rest of the regular season, Coach Nick Meyers team took down Hobart, Michigan, Air Force and Fairfield. Their winning streak continued in the ECAC Tournament, where they bested Loyola and Denver to win the ECAC Tournament at Hobart for the first time in program history. They disarmed Towson with a 16-6 victory. Unsuccessfully though, they met their season’s end in the NCAA Tournament Second Round getting demolished by Rob Pannell and the Cornell Big Red 16-6. Ending an aggressive 2013 season 13-4 overall with an ECAC record of 5-2.
Everyone remembers the Greyhounds cinderella run to the National Championship last year, where they met and dismantled Maryland 9-3. There were two records broken with the Terps tying the lowest score in a National Championship game and Eric Lusby breaking the record for most points in an NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. With a lot of talent coming back with Mike Sawyer’s 62 point season in 2012, Chris Layne, Davis Butts, LSM Scott Ratliff and goaltender Jack Runkel, things looked positive. Loyola made a terrific run, ending the regular season 11-3, losing to Ohio State in the ECAC Tournament Semi’s (6-1 overall), and were knocked out of the NCAA First Round by the eventual National Champions, Duke.
Fairfield was the fourth school to make it into the ECAC Tournament. After an astonishing year in 2012, with a record of 12-4, making it to the conference finals and going undefeated for the first seven games, the Stags 2013 season wheeled different results. It was a back and forth season, but a winning season none the less. Coach Andrew Copeland’s lineup went 8-7 overall with a record of 4-3 in conference play. The Stags ended their season going 2-2, with wins over Air Force and Denver, and losing their last regular season game to Ohio State. They were ousted in the ECAC Semi Finals by Denver to end the red and white’s season. However, the future looks bright for Fairfield as Jordan Greenfield stepped up big time, tallying 42 points on the season after a four point outing in 2012.
Bellarmine, Hobart, Air Force and Michigan all round out the Eastern College Athletic Conference. The Knights went 7-7 this season, beating Air Force, Fairfield and Michigan. Unfortunately, they lost the last five games of the season, including a game to newly added Marquette.
Hobart had a great showing against Siena, putting up 18 goals to start with a win. They won two conference games this season against Michigan and Bellarmine and went 6-8 on the season, 2-5 in ECAC games. It’s a great sign for Statesmen as they finished 3-9 just last season.
Air Force made a splash in the lacrosse world this year. After their opening season loss to North Carolina, the Falcons went on a four game winning spree, including a huge program win over visiting Lehigh. Sadly, they would lose their next four games, but finish out the season 3-2, including an end of the season win over Hobart to lift their team to a 7-7 season end with a conference record of 2-5.
Since joining the Division 1 ranks for NCAA Men’s Lacrosse, Michigan has acquired only two wins in two years. Last years win came over Mercer in a 14-4 shoot down. This seasons win was surprising to even the Wolverines as they took down Saint Joseph’s 11-8. Michigan would finish 2013 just like 2012 with a 1-13 record and 0-7 in conference play. The Wolverines are young but have much to look forward to with the return of Gerald Logan in net, who will have recovered from his injury fully, and on offense, point leaders Kyle Jackson and Mike Hernandez.
