The first weekend of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament is in the books. A weekend of close games was exactly what you’d expect as parity in college lacrosse continues to increase.
Entering Selection Sunday, the top four seeds in the NCAA Tournament were a pretty safe bet, and even Duke at #5 was almost a sure thing. The top four seeds took care of business (there were some close calls), but three of the final four seeded teams all fell, and the one win featured #6 Maryland narrowly escaping Yale.
In the end, those top four seeds continue to be the favorites to advance to championship weekend in Philadelphia, but three unseeded teams will make it interesting and it wouldn’t be surprising if any one of them pulled off an upset this coming weekend.
Albany opened the weekend in a big way, scoring 19 goals in a dominant 19-10 win at Cornell, avenging an early-season loss to the Big Red. All-world attackman Lyle Thompson tallied nine points, but the goal of the game came from goaltender Blaze Riordan, who was stellar with 19 saves and also scored a late third-quarter goal which essentially served as the backbreaker. Riorden went the length of the field, dodged and split several defenders and fired a high shot that made it 14-7 after three quarters of play.
Perhaps the most surprising unseeded victory was Ohio State beating #5 and two-time defending National Champion Duke with relative ease, 16-11. A bubble team on Selection Sunday, the Buckeyes’ best has been extremely good as they’ve now beaten the #4, 5 and 6 seeded teams in the NCAA Tournament (Ohio State also defeated Denver and Maryland). Trailing 3-1 in the early going, Ohio State scored seven straight goals to take an 8-3 early in the third quarter. Duke scored two quick third-quarter goals to pull back within 8-5, but that’s as close as the Blue Devils would come. Ohio State eventually opened a 16-8 lead before Duke responded with the final three goals. David Planning was the story offensively for the Buckeyes, scoring six goals and dishing an assist.
Red-hot Johns Hopkins wrapped up the weekend of unseeded victories with a dominant performance at #7 Virginia to kick off Sunday’s action. The Blue Jays scored 12 of the game’s first 13 goals and eventually took a 17-4 third-quarter lead on their way to a 19-7 victory. Ryan Brown led the offense with four goals and two assists while Connor Reed dished six assists. Not to be forgotten, Eric Schneider was stellar between the pipes, making 14 saves and allowing just five goals.
Out of the other five games, only one (Marist at #1 Syracuse) was a complete blowout. Even Colgate at #3 North Carolina saw the Raiders lead after one quarter and pull within 15-11 after three quarters of play. The Tar Heels were generally in control, but the game was still in the balance. Towson put forth a valiant effort at #1 North Carolina and after a slow start, Brown was formidable down the stretch at Denver.
The first weekend of action has set up a theme for the upcoming quarterfinals… rematches. Albany and Notre Dame played a classic game in last year’s quarterfinals while Ohio State and Denver played earlier this season, a Buckeyes’ victory. North Carolina and Maryland is a showdown of former ACC rivals while Syracuse and Johns Hopkins play on an annual basis, including a 13-10 win by the Orange this season.
