(Photo Courtesy of Princeton Athletics)
Welcome back, Y’all! With a weather-impacted week six in the books, it’s time to rewind the weekend that was in college lacrosse.
Ohio State and Georgetown Bounce-Back
Two weeks ago now, both Ohio State and Georgetown suffered their first loss of the season. And in both of those contests, it was a battle but the Buckeyes and Hoyas just couldn’t get over the hump.
Well, on Saturday both of those teams found themselves back in the win column.
For Ohio State, after seeing their top scorer, Jack Myers, practically shut down and their clearing game look abysmal against Cornell, they got a win, 14-11, over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In that win, Myers went off four seven points (4G/3A) and Bobby Van Buren held Notre Dame’s Pat Kavanagh, who he was matched up with mostly, to two goals and one assist.
Georgetown had fight off a late-game effort from Richmond to secure the win, 15-10. It was Graham Bundy, Jr., that led the way for the Hoyas with six points off five goals and one assist. That performance coming a week after he was held to just two goals in a game where the Hoyas ran into a hot goalie in Princeton’s Erik Peters, and a strong defense overall.
Erik Peters Goes Off, Again!
On Friday night, the Princeton Tigers beat rival Rutgers 16-11. And one of the biggest storylines to come out of the contest was another great performance from the Princeton defense, and especially the play of Tigers goalie Erik Peters.
After making 19 saves against Maryland in the Tigers lone loss and 17 saves in their upset win over Georgetown, he stepped up once again with a career-high 21-save performance against Rutgers on Friday night. It is, without a doubt, that Peters has asserted himself as one of the best goalies in college lacrosse through the start of this season.
In Friday’s win, Peters was especially good in the second half where he made 11 saves to anchor a defense that only allowed four goals in the final two periods of play. Six of those saves came in the fourth quarter alone as Rutgers let go 19 shots, trying all they could to get back ahead.
Kevin Lindley: A dodging threat?
On Sunday, the Loyola Greyhounds knocked off Duke 12-10 in a game that was not nearly as close as the final score suggest. Loyola led 10-2 at the half and Duke only got hot in the fourth quarter, scoring their final three goals in garbage time.
A 6-0 second quarter was difference in the contest and during that quarter it was the Patriot League’s All-Time leading scorer, Kevin Lindley, went off. The fifth-year attackman ended the day with six goals and one assist. All six of those goals came in the first half with four being tallied in the second quarter alone.
What was intriguing about his impressive performance was how he got those goals. Lindley is not known as a super strong dodging threat, but yet on Sunday he showed the lacrosse world that he can indeed be one as he scored multiple goals off the dodge. His lone assist also came off a strong dodge where soon after beating his man he found Dylan Binney open for the score.
Wagner’s Defense Continues to Impress
The Wagner Seahawks haven’t received much press this year, and maybe rightfully so. The Seahawks have a 2-3 record coming heading into their NEC opener against LIU this weekend.
But both of those wins came in the past few weeks as they beat NJIT 7-5 and then plowed through Mercer 13-4 on Saturday, outscoring the Bears 10-1 in the second half alone to secure the win. A win which marks the first time since 2019 that the Seahawks have earned two wins in a season.
While Stephen Dwyer went off for seven points (4G/3A), tying his career-high, it’s the defense that has been the hallmark of this Wagner team in 2022. After allowing 16 goals per game a season ago as the nation’s third-worst defense, the Seahawks have allowed an average of nine goals per game.
The defensive turnaround has been impressive. And one of the interesting tidbits from this unit is how transfers have impacted it. Danny Cassidy transferred in from Stony Brook over the summer and has shined as a starter, grabbing 14 ground balls and causing five caused turnovers. Matt Morris, who leads the team in caused turnovers (10) and has also grabbed seven ground balls, arrived on Staten Island last season after also starting his career at Stony Brook
Those aforementioned two, along with Tommy Scarpello (9GB/7A), create a very solid close defense unit. And anchoring it all is Danny Brady in cage. The two-year starter has been very strong this season, registering 25 saves with a 73% save percentage.
Each of their last two games the Seahawks have held their opponent to single digits. They will have another test in front of them this weekend as they open up NEC play against LIU.
Who’s Left on Reverse Survivor Island
Congratulations to Detroit Mercy as they earned their first win of the season in comeback fashion, beating VMI 16-11 on Saturday. They were the only previously winless team to earn a victory this past week.
Four teams are still left without a win: Hampton, Holy Cross, NJIT, and UMass Lowell.
Tanner’s Top 20
While I don’t have a vote, here is what my top 20 would look like after this week.
- Maryland
- Virginia
- Princeton
- Georgetown
- Cornell
- Ohio State
- Penn
- Army West Point
- Rutgers
- Yale
- Jacksonville
- North Carolina
- Brown
- Duke
- Boston U.
- Notre Dame
- Michigan
- Stony Brook
- Delaware
- Drexel
Others Considered: Johns Hopkins, Bucknell, Harvard, Saint Joseph’s
Lacrosse Bucket 