In a Saturday filled with a ton of excitement, controversy, big goalies running coast-to-coast scoring and setting Twitter ablaze, and upsets, there’s only one thing to follow that up: more excitement! The first half of the first round saw Albany destroy Cornell, Maryland edge out Yale with controversy, Notre Dame coming back against Towson, and Ohio State upsetting Duke. We have four more games on tap today, and here they are:
1 PM: Johns Hopkins vs. #7 Virginia
These two teams played to one of the best games in 2015 at Homewood Field, where the Wahoos defeated the Blue Jays 16-15 in OT. A lot of things have changed for both teams. First for Virginia, Greg Coholan has found his comfort spot at attack, and his fellow teammates are meshing together with the new changes after many injuries earlier in the year. For the Jays, they had three rough games against Rutgers, a loss to Ohio State, and Penn State, before bouncing back in huge fashion, defeating Maryland in the last game of the season to get the Big Ten #1 seed, and getting an AQ by winning the Big Ten tournament. Guys such as Ryan Brown, Wells and Shack Stanwick at attack, and Holden Cattoni and Joel Tinney and the midfielders, and the rest of the team look to have a ton of chemistry heading to Charlottesville, as well as freshman Hunter Moreland taking over face offs. Pick: Johns Hopkins.
3 PM: Brown vs. #4 Denver
Two explosive offenses collide in the Mile High City, as the nation’s leader in goals in sophomore Dylan Molloy, as well as other important parts like LSM Larken Kemp and goalie Jack Kelly lead Brown. But Denver has a ton more weapons, such as Trevor Baptiste taking face offs, Connor Cannizzaro, Zach Miller, Wesley Berg, Ryan LaPlante, and so much more. But with the tournament in fruition, who knows what could happen. I think the key for Brown to pull out is the upset is play strong defense and not force shots off. Brown usually likes to pull the trigger at the first possible opportunity, but they have to wait to find better chances to record goals in order to win. Pick: Denver.
5:15 PM: Colgate vs. #3 North Carolina
Will North Carolina be able to make it to championship weekend for the first time since the early 90s? They get a very tough draw against a strong, underrated Colgate team that played Syracuse very well last week in Hamilton, NY. Brandon Burke and Ryan Walsh have to have similar performances to last week in order to pull off the biggest upset of the tourney so far. But with an explosive offense of Jimmy Bitter, Luke Goldstock, and Jimmy Bitter, as well as midfielders such as Chad Tutton and Peyton Klawinski available, Burke better be playing on his head. Pick: North Carolina.
7:30 PM: Marist vs. #2 Syracuse
The first round concludes with a familiar team for the third consecutive year in Syracuse. This year, they play host to Marist, who defeated Bryant in their play-in game on Wednesday 10-6. Marist is very young and has a very good attack and midfield and could also play a force at face offs at the wings. Syracuse has one of the best offenses in the nation, with the usual faces of Kevin Rice, Dylan Donahue, and Randy Staats, but also include midfielders that can go to the third unit. Add a better defense from last year, Bobby Wardwell, and especially Ben Williams, and you have a title contender. Pick: Syracuse.
