My, my, my what an absolutely thrilling weekend to end another regular season of great lacrosse. A total of eight automatic bids were up for grabs this weekend in the NEC, America East Conference, Ivy League, MAAC, Big East, CAA, Atlantic Sun and ECAC. With the tournament field ready to be announced later tonight at 9 pm, here is a recap of all the conference championship action and how it affects the tournament pool.
CAA
What. A. Game. Our very own Kerri Schreiber and John Alfonso Iadevaia both covered the games and following them on twitter was making hands sweat. The game went not one, not two, but three overtimes! Drexel won it as Cole Shafer scored his fifth and final goal of the night to seal a tournament berth. Ben McIntosh scored a goal and had four assists while Nick Trizano found the back of the net three times. Torin Varn scored four goals and had an assist for the Pride as Hofstra now goes squarely onto the bubble heading into tonight’s selection show.
NEC
Bryant handled Hobart 10-4 in the NEC Final on their way to a third straight NEC Championship. Gunnar Waldt was his usual dominant self in cage as he saved 14 shots. Shane Morrell led the way for the Bulldogs with five goals while Colin Dunster added two goals and two helpers. Hobart stayed close in the first half as both teams headed into halftime with Bryant leading 4-2. Then Bryant went on a three goal run in the third quarter to seal the victory.
America East
It was the Thompson show, plain and simple. UMBC had no answer for the Thompsons as Albany ran away with this one in an absolute laugher. Miles Thompson had seven goals and two assists, Lyle had three goals and five assists and Ty had four goals. By themselves, the Thompsons outscored the Retrievers 14-11 and Albany won 20-11. Lyle and Miles also became the first set of teammates to both record 100-plus points in a season.
Atlantic Sun
Richmond crashes the NCAA Tournament field in their first year of Division 1 lacrosse after defeating High Point in a close 8-7 contest. Mitchell Goldberg scored two goals and handed out one assist while Dan Ginestro added two goals as well. Richmond becomes this year’s Detroit Mercy as they enter the NCAA Tournament as at 6-10 and will likely play in the play in game with the winner playing the No. 1 overall seed. Still, a nice story for a first year program.
MAAC
Siena puts itself back into the NCAA Tournament for the third time in six seasons with a 11-7 win over Marist. Siena had big performances from Kyle Curry (1 G, 4 A), Jordan Barlow (3 G, 1 A) and Colin Clive (3 G). Goalie Tommy Cordts also had 13 saves and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament.
Big East
Not much of a surprise here as Denver took care of business and ended its season on an 11-game win streak. Zach Miller led the way with four goals and an assist while Wes Berg added three goals. Ryan LaPlante and Jamie Faus combined for eight saves as the Pioneers handled the Villanova Wildcats 14-7. This should assure the Pioneers of a Top 4 seed.
ECAC
Probably the biggest upset of the week was the run that Air Force made this weekend. After handling Ohio State 14-7, they beat a Top 20 foe in Fairfield in the championship game 9-8. Keith Dreyer scored three goals and added an assist while Doug Gouchoe saved eight shots. With the loss, Fairfield puts itself squarely on the bubble heading into tonight’s selection show.
Ivy
The final championship was a defensive battle between Penn and Harvard. After jumping out to a 4-2 lead after the first quarter, Harvard would remain scoreless for 44 minutes while Penn took over. Brian Feeney was an animal in cage making big save after big save for the Quakers. Zach Losco scored three goals and Nick Doktor scored a goal and handed out two assists. With the loss, the Crimson now sit on the bubble and are in danger of missing the postseason.
Predictions for the NCAA Selection Show
Top 8 Seeds
Maryland, Duke. Syracuse, Denver, Loyola, UNC, Notre Dame, Penn
Penn will probably be the No. 8 and should be ranked ahead of Cornell. Cornell’s only significant win is Virginia who they beat 12-9. Penn avenged their loss to Cornell earlier in the year by beating them in the Ivy League Tournament and won the entire thing. Plus, they beat Denver, who is a Top 3 team.
A lot of people are predicting Syracuse to be the No. 1 seed in the tournament. My question is, how can a team that went 2-3 in conference and snuck into its own conference tournament be No. 1. Plus, did you see how poorly they played against Duke and Maryland in the middle of the year? If we are looking at a total body of work, Syracuse doesn’t deserve the top seed.
My best guess is Duke or Loyola should be the top seed. Loyola’s only loss this season was a heartbreaker in their season opening loss to Virginia. Since then, it is 15 straight wins. Sure the Patriot League wasn’t a great league, but they handled Duke and Johns Hopkins this season.
Prediction In Order: Loyola, Duke, Syracuse, Denver, Maryland, UNC, Notre Dame, Penn
Automatic Qualifiers: Albany, Bryant, Siena, Richmond, Air Force, Drexel
Richmond will be ranked the lowest and should play the play-in game that sees the winner face the No. 1 seed. Their opponent may be Bryant who would be ranked the highest of the four play-in teams. Drexel and Albany should both be two away teams and should play the lower seeds. Meanwhile, Siena and Air Force should be the play-in game for the bottom half of the bracket. Outside of Fairfield, Air Force has no significant win and Siena’s biggest thing going for them is a one goal loss to Hofstra.
At large bid locks: Cornell and Johns Hopkins
Cornell’s nine-game winning streak helped catapault them to a No. 1 ranking before dropping three straight games. They finished 11-4 and lost in the first round of the Ivy League Tournament. However, they did enough early on to keep them safe from the bubble.
Hopkins has a similar situation to Cornell. Hopkins had wins over Top 20 teams at the time in Ohio State, Towson and Princeton. After dropping three straight games to Syracuse, UNC and Virginia they responded with wins over Albany and Maryland which keeps them safe.
On the bubble: Harvard, Lehigh, Army, Hofstra, Fairfield
This may be the toughest calls to make. Hofstra and Harvard are likely battling for the final spot. Army played teams tough but only has a win over Lehigh to show for their efforts all season. Lehigh, has an even worse case having no significant wins and dropping some close contests. Both Harvard and Hofstra made it to their respective title games. Harvard has a big win over Cornell as well as two wins over Yale going for itself. Meanwhile, Hofstra has Drexel, Cornell, UMass and Fairfield to boast. Overall, Harvard had a tougher schedule and that might be enough to push them into the tournament ahead of Hofstra.
Therefore, my final spot is going to Harvard by a nose, however, nothing should be taken away from what Hofstra did this season. If we learned anything from this past weekend, that last spot that is up for grabs, will only cause more madness to come.
