Photo: Maryland Sports Insider
March madness is not just for basketball. NCAA Men’s lacrosse has seen its share of upsets in 2013 with just a little more than half of the regular season to go.
Top ranked Maryland kept their undefeated ways going, dropping Stony Brook in a 13-7 romping on Sunday.
Saturday was full of one goal games. After routing Lehigh, Air Force has dropped two in a row, most recently to Bellarmine by one 11-10. Brown flew by Saint Joseph’s 17-9, while Delaware was heartbroken in a 9-8 loss to Binghamton. Albany defeated Canisius, Navy sank Lafayette, and Mercer surpassed Wagner, as all three games ended with a 12-11 final. Hartford and Siena had one of the more high scoring games, the Hawks got their first win of the season over the Saints 15-14.
#3 Cornell and #8 Virginia went down to the wire. With 13 seconds left, Rob Pannell found Steve Mock to score the game winner. The Big Red finally ended their four game losing streak against the Cavs.
#17 Fairfield wound up falling short to Yale 12-8. Providence continued their undefeated run, picking up their fourth win over Sacred Heart 12-10. Rutgers lost their fourth game in a row as the Black Knights marched in and conquered the Scarlet Knights 10-8.
#18 Penn is 3-0 in their games against Pennsylvania teams after they defeated Villanova 13-9. In central PA, Bucknell shocked the lacrosse world with their 7-4 routing of #9 UMass. The other surprise of the day was when #15 Hofstra gained a three goal lead in the second half of their game against #2 Notre Dame and held the Irish at bay on their late game surge to bring home the 8-7 W.
Mount Saint Mary’s trounced Manhattan 16-7 after they were torn apart by Johns Hopkins the game before. Marquette goalie James Sagl made 15 saves in his teams 13-7 loss to Jacksonville. Georgetown dropped to 2-2 with the Crimson from Harvard nabbing their second win of the season. Peter Baum tallied six points for #16 Colgate, who routed Holy Cross 14-6. Dartmouth, Hobart and #15 Drexel all scored 11 goals in their victories. Hobart 11 – Michigan 7, Dartmouth 11 – RMU 9, #14 Drexel 11 – Bryant 5.
#9 North Carolina and #5 Princeton duked it out. The Tar Heels were coming off a one goal loss to Notre Dame with the Tigers heading to Chapel Hill 3-0 with wins over Hopkins and Villanova. Down one with 37 seconds left, UNC scored once to tie and then again with three seconds left when Chad Tutton shot an over the hand bouncer to beat O’Connor for the game winner and to complete his hat trick.
The inaugural Whitman’s Sampler Independence Classic took place this weekend. Fans saw #12 Syracuse challenge Saint John’s in Big East play, with the Orange coming out on top 13-11. In the second game, #7 Denver and #11 Ohio State met for an ECAC competition. OSU was undefeated going into the game and found themselves on the losing side of the ball with the Pioneers squeaking out a 10-9 win. Viewers that were present for #19 Lehigh versus #13 Penn State got one heck of a game. Nittany Lions found out the hurt the Mountainhawks can put on a team early as Lehigh took a four goal lead into halftime. With an 8-2 second half run, Coach Cassese’s team went down 10-9 towards the end of the fourth and went on a 3-0 run to upset Tambroni and his squad 12-10.
Fans in Durham were in for a thriller as Loyola traveled to battle Duke on Friday. It was a hard fought game that saw the Blue Devils, who have been slumping so far this season, route the Greayhounds 9-8. Giving Danowski’s team a big and very much needed morale boost. Hopkins took advantage of UMBC with a 13-7 victory. Quinnipiac is still perfect, tallying ten goals to Vermont’s six to go 3-0. Marist and Towson went into OT, with the red Foxes walking away victorious, also staying undefeated.
Only a few unbeaten teams remain: #1 Maryland (5-0), Providence (4-0), Marist (4-0), #20 Quinnipiac (3-0). The Friars are one of the biggest surprises this season, averaging 13.5 goals a game. Maryland is as strong as ever with wins over powers Duke and Loyola. Marist shocked Stony Brook with a 13-9 season opener win to start 1-0, recently downing Towson, they haven’t looked back. Quinnipiac’s most noticeable win so far is against Brown. Come Tuesday, Providence and Quinnipiac will meet to see who will remain undefeated.
