PHOTO CREDIT: IAN NEADLE
College lacrosse put on one heck of a show in the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend. The bracket was turned upside following the first round of play due to upsets galore, and as the dust settled we were left with a few surprising survivors.
The Bulldogs took down the No. 2 seeded Syracuse Orange in a close battle in the Carrier Dome. The Orange found themselves down by two in the waning seconds of the match before scoring with just seven seconds to go, making it 10-9. In a situation familiar to this Syracuse team, they were able to get off one last shot, but Bryant goalie Gunnar Waldt stopped Donahue’s attempt giving Bryant the win. The Bulldogs relied heavily on their defense and their goalie in their surprising victory. Bryant used a zone defense for much of the game, hampering Syracuse shots by packing in the middle. The Bryant defense also locked down Kevin Rice behind the net, preventing him from performing his traditional role of quarterbacking the Syracuse offense.
The weekend started off as it ended, with a major upset. Loyola came into their game with Albany holding a 15-1 record. Blaze Riorden made 13 stops for the Great Danes, while the Thompson trio were just too much for Loyola to handle. Miles Thompson led the Great Danes with five goals, while Lyle and Ty Thompson had three apiece.
While Syracuse and Loyola were both regarded as possible Championship teams, their seasons ended in humbling losses. Penn, on the other hand, arguably had to be the weakest seeded team in this year’s Tournament. The Quakers were easily upset by the unseeded Drexel Dragons, 16-11. Overall, the Ivy League put on a fairly dismal performance getting all three teams bounced in the first round.
The final upset of the first round came in the Virginia-Johns Hopkins game. It is hard to call this one an upset considering how both these programs played well in the regular season. If we take away Virginia’s win over Loyola in the beginning of the season, maybe Johns Hopkins is the seeded team in this matchup. While Virginia had a balanced scoring offense on Sunday, Hopkins’ Wells Stanwick and Brandon Benn had huge games with five and four goals each. Hopkins’ goalie Eric Schneider also snagged 12 saves to stop the Cavaliers.
This weekend, the second round games will be hosted by Hofstra and Delaware. The Delaware site will feature Duke-Johns Hopkins and Denver-Drexel while the Hofstra site will show Albany-Notre Dame and Maryland-Bryant.
While Duke has one of the best attack squads in the country, don’t be surprised if Hopkins gives them a game. In net, Eric Schneider has looked to be slightly better than Luke Aaron this season. Schneider holds a .568 save percentage this season, putting him ninth in the country. It is at the midfield position where the Blue Jays have a more significant edge. Duke’s midfield is basically one line with a big drop off after that. That being said, if Myles Jones gets hot, watch out. Jones can take over a game by using his large frame to work his way inside, and a cannon of an arm that gives him a tremendous outside shooting ability. The second game at that site, Denver-Drexel, should go Denver’s way.
Over in Hempstead, NY, Albany vs. Notre Dame will be a very interesting matchup. When Albany’s attack is on, which they are in most games, the Great Danes can take down anyone in the country. More important for Albany is their goalie, Blaze Riorden. Riorden is fourth in the nation in saves per game, but is 45th in goals against average. He faces a tremendous amount of shots and still has a .604 save percentage. If Albany takes this game, it will take a big effort from their sophomore goalie.
I think the large picture takeaway from this weekend is how little the seedings matter. Obviously Penn did not deserve to be the No. 4 seed, I don’t think anyone agreed with that pick by the Committee, but because of their high RPI and strength of schedule they were given the fourth spot. As the sport grows, the criteria has to become clearer and should reflect the play of its participants rather than inflated statistics. Go back and watch the Ivy League Championship game and then tell me with a straight face that both of those teams belonged in the Tournament.
