(Photo Courtesy of Princeton Athletics)
A week after falling by five to the top-ranked Maryland Terrapins, the No.18-ranked Princeton Tigers headed south once again. This time to the Nation’s Capital where they would pull off the 10-8 upset over the No. 3-ranked Georgetown Hoyas to score their biggest win of the season and the first top-three upset of the year.
With the exception of James Reilly going 16-for-22 (72%) at the faceoff dot for the Hoyas, it was a fairly even game throughout. Princeton outshot Georgetown 40-37 and put 26 of their shots on goal as opposed to the Hoyas 24 shots on cage. Georgetown won the ground ball battle 36-33 and in the clearing game the Hoyas went 20-22 while the Tigers went 24-28. Both goalies made 16 saves.
Outside of the situation at the faceoff dot, the only other sizable discrepancy was turnovers. The Hoyas made 22 (17 caused) to the Tigers’ 14 (10 caused). Twice Princeton scored directly off Georgetown turnovers and four times they scored on possessions in which they gained off a Hoyas turnover, two of which were man-up goals.
Georgetown got on the board first with a Graham Bundy, Jr., score early in the game, but that 1-0 lead would be the only time they would ever see in the driver’s seat. A Sam English tally and two more more Alex Slusher helped the Tigers to a 3-1 lead late in the first. The Hoyas answered with two goals from Alex Trippi to tie things up, 3-3, with 12:17 in the second. That would be the last time a tie would be seen all game.
Princeton took a 5-4 lead at the half and 7-6 lead heading into the fourth. A 3-2 fourth quarter that saw Alex Slusher get the final two goals of the game for the Tigers secure the victory.
Georgetown had plenty of opportunities to force a comeback in the second half, out shooting the Tigers 22-19 and putting 14 of those shots on cage in the final two periods of play. However, a 10-save second half from Erik Peters made all the difference to help stifle that Georgetown attack.
Alex Slusher led the Tigers with five goals on the day while Sam English had three goals and one assist for four points. Ben Finlay had a big day on the back end, scooping up two ground balls and causing four turnovers to help lead the effort out in front of the cage at close. LSM Andrew Song also had three ground balls and four caused turnovers.
Alex Trippi had four goals to lead Georgetown.
Cornell Holds on Against Ohio State to Move to 4-0
In what was a back-and-fourth game of runs, No. 9 Cornell won the second and fourth quarters to win the day and defend their home turf, 14-11, against the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes in a top-10 battle.
A battle in which Ohio State’s Jack Myers was held to just one point with Gavin Adler on him for the majority of the game.
Ohio State pulled out to 3-0 lead in the first quarter to give themselves plenty of momentum coming into the second quarter of play, and especially so with Cornell committing seven turnovers during that opening period. But as has been the case in each of their previous games, the Big Red soon settled in and came to life.
Cornell rattled off seven consecutive goals in the second quarter of play, despite going 4-for-9 at the faceooff dot in the period. The Big Red’s success in the second, as well as the fourth, can be very much accredited to their ride as they held Ohio State to a 4-of-8 mark in those two periods alone. The Buckeyes were held to an overall 12-of-19 mark in the clearing game on the day and committed 17 turnovers as the Big Red continued to give them fits.
Down 7-4 at the half, Ohio State was able to tie things up twice in the second half. The first time, 9-9, thanks to a four-goal run that featured two goals from Jason Knox in the third. After an Aiden Blake score put Cornell up 10-9 at the end of the third, Ed Shean put in one early in the fourth to make it a 10-10 game. That would be the last time the Buckeyes had any real chance of a comeback as the Big Red up with four-goal run bookended by CJ Kirst to essentially seal the deal.
Shean got the final goal of the day for the Buckeyes with 2:35 remaining and Ohio State, but the Buckeyes would not get any more chances for a late-game comeback as Cornell were able to hold off to secure the win.
In the battle between Justin Inacio and Angelo Petrakis at the dot, it was a fight from start to finish and one that Cornell came out on top in. Petrakis went 55% (16-for-29) at the dot, which included a 3-for-4 mark in the first and 6-for-9 mark in the third.
CJ Kirst had five points (4G/1A) to lead the way for Cornell while John Piatelli scored four goals. Chayse Ierlan made 11 saves in cage to anchor the Big Red defense while LSM Joseph Bartolotto III had another strong game with two ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Ed Shean led Ohio State with four points off two goals and two assist. Caton Johnson made 10 saves.
Matt Brandau Calls Game, Pushes Yale Past UMass in Overtime
With 42 seconds on the clock in the overtime period, Matt Brandau took it from behind on the quick restart following a Leo Johnson shot that went wide, created separation just above GLE, and put one past Matt Knote for the most important of his four goals on the day to secure the Yale victory.
In a game that saw neither team get up more than two after a Yale answered an early UMass four-goal run with three of their own in the second quarter, it was a Gabriel Procyk score off a Dillon Arrant feed that forced overtime with 3:13 left in regulation. It marked the third tie in the fourth quarter alone and fourth tie of the entire second half.
Yale cut the UMass lead to one, 10-9, with just one second left in the third quarter off a Johnny Keib man-up score and then added two more from Will Cabrera and Patrick Hackler to take the 11-10 lead. After Shane O’Leary answered for UMass it was Brad Sharp that put the Bulldogs back up with 5:20 remaining before the Minutemen forced overtime.
In addition to his four goals, Brandau dished out three assists for tally seven points on the day. Cabrera had two goals and two assists four points. Jared Parquette made an impressive 18 saves, facing down a UMass offense that put 30 of its 45 shots on cage. Nicholas Ramsey dominated the faceoff dot, going 14-for-24 (58%).
Gabriel Procyk led UMass with four goals on the day.
Maryland Tops Notre Dame in NCAA Quarterfinals Rematch
Just as they did 10 months before, the Maryland Terrapins leave South Bend with a victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
After trailing 2-1 at the end of the first quarter, the Terrapins offense found it’s rhythm in the second quarter as two early goals from Eric Malver and Logan Wisnauskas put Maryland in the driver’s seat 3-2. Later goal from Jack Koras and Roman Puglise, both of which were assisted by Wisnauskas, put the Terrapins up 5-3 with 8:25 in the half.
Notre Dame cut the Maryland lead to one-goal, 5-4, at the half with a man-up goal from Griffin Westlin with just 16 seconds remaining. Maryland answered with a quick three-goal run to get their largest lead of the game, 8-4, at the 13:18 mark in the third.
The Irish ended the game strong, outscoring Maryland 5-3 in the final 23:25 of the game, but it wouldn’t be enough. Kyle Long got his second of the day off a Jonathan Donville feed in what would be the last goal of the game to put Maryland back up two, 11-9, with just under five minutes remaining. Notre Dame only got one set possession in the final minutes of the game and it ended with Pat Kavanagh hitting the post before Chris Kavanagh turned the ball over, marking the Irish’s 18th turnover of the day (ninth caused) and fifth of the fourth quarter.
Luke Wierman dominated the faceoff dot for Maryland, going 18-for-24 (75%). Logan Wisnauskas, along with Kyle Long, had four points off two goals and two assists. Logan McNaney made 12 saves in cage.
Pat Kavanagh had two goals and one assist to lead the Notre Dame offense. Liam Entenmann made 10 saves in cage to anchor a defense that caused 10 of Maryland’s turnovers.
Chris Gray’s Sock Trick Leads North Carolina Past Denver
Behind a sock trick from Chris Gray, the North Carolina Tar Heels were able to skim by the Denver Pioneers, 17-16.
Down 6-5 with 9:40 left in what had been a very back and fourth first half, the Tar Heels rattled off seven consecutive goals, including two each from Chris Gray and Nicky Solomon, to get ahead 12-6 midway through the third quarter. Denver then answered strongly, holding Carolina to two goals from the end of that run through the 9:02 mark in the fourth while the Pioneers put in 10 of their own to jump back ahead 16-14.
The Tar Heels ended the game on a three-goal run to seal the deal. Chris Gray was involved in each of those goals, assisting Nicky Solomon on the first and scoring the last two off feeds from Connor Maher and Henry Schertzinger.
Gray ended the day with eight points off six goals and two assists. Lance Tillman, Henry Schertzinger, and Nicky Solomon each had five points while Collin Krieg made 14 saves.
JJ Sillstrop tallied six points off three goals and three assists to lead the Denver Pioneers. Alec Stathakis went 20-for-35 (57%) at the faceoff dot.
Virginia Dominates Johns Hopkins to Claim The Doyle Smith Cup
In their first meeting since 2019, the Virginia Cavaliers dominated the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, 19-8, to win the Doyle Smith Cup.
Virginia stepped on the gas at the opening whistle and never looked back, getting up 4-0 in the first quarter and then 10-1 at the half. The Blue Jays got three on the board and four on the board in the fourth, but it would not matter as the Cavaliers kept piling on to pull out the 11-goal victory.
Connor Shellenberger had eight points off three goals and five assists while Payton Cormier had himself a sock trick with six goals. Cole Kastner had five caused turnovers, two ground balls, and scored a goal as the leader of the Virginia defense. Matthew Nunes made nine saves in the action he saw.
Jack Keogh and Garrett Degnon each had two goals for Johns Hopkins.
Rutgers Escapes Long Island With a Win
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights head off Long Island with a 17-16 victory over the Stony Brook Seawolves.
In a game that saw five ties in the first three periods of play, the Scarlet Knights had to hold off a late-game Stony Brook surge. After seeing things get all knotted up at 11 midway through the third, Rutgers went on a 6-1 run to push ahead 17-12 and seemingly take control. However, Stony Brook would have an answer by way of a four-goal run to end the game and get within one of the Scarlet Knights.
Dylan Pallonetti (5G) and Mike McCannell (5G/1A) each had two goals during that game-ending run. Also during that run, Renz Conlon went 3-for-4 at the dot to help the effort. He ended the day with a 24-for-34 mark.
Mitch Bartolo (2G/3A), Ross Scott (4G/1A), and Shane Knobloch (3G/2A) each had five points on the day to lead Rutgers.
Anthony Palma made 16 saves for Stony Brook and Colin Kirst made 12 for Rutgers.
James Shipley Send The Cardiac Quakers Home With a Win
In what was a very tightly-contested game between the Penn Quakers and Penn State Nittany Lions in Charlotte, James Shipley scored with one second left on the clock to life Penn past Penn State 10-9.
No team ever got more than a two-goal lead in the game. Things were all knotted at 2 at the end of the first, Penn held a 5-4 halftime lead, and remained ahead 8-7 heading into the final period of play. It was a Mark Sickler goal, his third of the day, that tied things up at nine late in the contest before Shipley called game a little over four minutes later.
Dylan Gergar had four goals to lead Penn while Sam Handley had himself a hat trick. Patrick Burkinshaw made 14 saves in cage.
Sickler had an assist in addition to his three goals to end the day with a team-high four points for Penn State. Hudson Bohn went 12-for-21 at the faceoff dot and Aleric Fyock made 11 saves in cage.
Other Scores
- Michigan trounced Delaware 18-8 behind a five-point performance from Josh Zawada (3G/2A) that helped him break the Michigan single-season points record.
- Duke beat Richmond 14-8 to move to 7-2 on the season.
- Mike Sisselberger went 18-for-22 (82%) at the dot to help Lehigh past Navy 11-9.
- Ross Blumenthal’s 20 saves helped Drexel past LIU, 10-8.
- Asher Nolting had six points (1G/5A) in High Point’s 15-4 win over Bellarmine to enter the 300-point club.
- Brown came to life in the second half to beat rival Providence 22-10.
- Dartmouth held off a second-half effort from Siena to win 11-9.
- Boston U. moved to 4-0 with a dominant 18-6 win over Colgate.
Lacrosse Bucket 