In 2019, NCAA Lacrosse brought us into a new era of the sport. In this new era we some superpowers emerge, some new and some old. A team like Yale who had won the championship in 2018 stayed atop of the game with their working-class mentality, players with a high lacrosse IQ, team chemistry, and offensive talent. Penn State seemed to be on a war-path and the Nittany Lions were not taking any prisoners, doing so with a proven coach in Jeff Tambroni and a roster that was quietly full of talent. The Virginia Cavaliers came back into the national spotlight while accomplishing all their team goals: beating Duke, winning the ACC, and then winning the national championship. Continue reading “Roessler’s Way-Too-Early Championship Weekend Picks”→
When you look at the landscape of Ivy League lacrosse, there is no question that Yale has been the most dominant team in the conference. Andy Shay has built a machine in New Haven and they have really broken onto the national stage over the past few seasons with back-to-back national title appearances, including a national title win in 2018. Yale is the class of Ivy and Penn has started to make strides, as well. But the team with the highest ceiling and most potential for this coming season, and possibly the next few seasons, could very much be the Brown Bears.Continue reading “Why Brown May Have the Most Potential of Any Ivy in 2020”→
The Cornell Big Red are the 34th DI team to release their 2020 schedule. Cornell comes into the 2020 season following a 2019 campaign where they went 10-5 overall, 4-2 in the Ivy League, and lost to Yale in the Ivy League semifinals. Continue reading “2020 Schedule Preview: Cornell Big Red”→
As the calendar turns to November it marks the end of fall ball and the beginning of, essentially, the pre-season for NCAA lacrosse. While it is still early and there is only so much you can take from fall ball scrimmages, let’s take a look at who some of the early contenders in each conference are.Continue reading “Early Contenders: Ivy League”→
The Yale Bulldogs are the 19th DI program to announce their 2020 schedule. The Bulldogs come into the 2020 season after 2019 season where they went 15-4 overall, 7-2 in the Ivy League, lost in the Ivy League championship to Penn, and lost in the national championship to Virginia.Continue reading “2020 Schedule Preview: Yale Bulldogs”→
It almost felt Magical as the Penn Quakers defeated the Yale Bulldogs for the second time this season, and claimed the Ivy League title. The Quakers controlled almost every aspect of the game, including the faceoff dot with Kyle Gallagher going 15-26 against Yale’s TD Ierlan.
Penn was led by Sean Lulley who tallied 5 points (3G,2A) in the win. Adam Goldner 3 goals for the Quakers as well. In cage, Reid Junkin 16 saves as he stepped up big time in this win.
Yale was led by Matt Gaudet who finished with two goals on the day. Jackson Morrill also had 3 points (1G,2A) as well. Jack Starr made 9 saves in goal to anchor the Bulldogs defense as well.
The Quakers got out to a strong start going up 2-0 early on. Midway through the first Yale finally answered with Matt Brandau finding the back of the net for the Bulldogs. Penn finished out the first quarter with a two-goal run, taking a 4-1 lead heading into the second period.
Right off the bat the Bulldogs got hungry in the second. Coming off a first quarter where they just simply got outplayed, the Bulldogs scored two quick ones to cut the Penn lead to 4-3 with 13:31 in the second. Christian Cropp scored another one moments later to tie things up at 4.
Penn got back on track with a three-goal run that included an awesome transition sequence to help the Quakers retake the lead. Near the end of the second Yale went to a two-goal run of their, including a man-down goal. With just seconds left in the half, Simon Mathias converted to give Penn the 8-6 lead heading into the half.
Mathias roll behind the crease to score with only a handful of seconds remaining in the first half! pic.twitter.com/gCQAdluOaK
It was a very back-and-forth third quarter as both squads were taking shots at each other. Yale started off the scoring with a Christian Croop goal to bring it within one. Jack Tigh then tied things up a 8 with 11:50 in the third. Penn returned the favor with a two-goal run of their own to take the lead back.
Penn was able to get the 11-9 lead late in the third but Jackson Morrill found the back of the net for Yale with less then a minute on the clock to make it an 11-10 Penn lead heading into the fourth.
After a lot of play up and down the field to start the fourth, Yale tied things up at 11 midway though the quarter. A few minutes later Yale had a look on the doorstep to take the lead but Reid Junkin was there to deny the shot.
Penn went down that very next possession and Sean Lulley was able to come around the cage, score, and put Penn up 12-11 with 4:52 in the game. The Quakers defense stepped up and was able to hold the Yale offense in the final minutes of the game. With possession under a minute in the game, Penn held on and secured the win.
Welcome back to another edition of Recruiting Radar. Over the next few months I am going to be breaking down and grading each team’s 2019 recruiting class, or at least of what they have at the moment. Many schools have had their classes finalized, some just recently finalized, and some programs will pick up some guys during the spring.
I am going to be going in reverse alphabetical order and the two two schools moving up to DI next year, Merrimack and LIU, will be added in here as well.
Today we kick things off with a breakdown of Yale’s 2019 recruiting class as it currently sits today. The Bulldogs have 11th ranked recruiting class by Inside Lacrosse and they have nine players currently in this 2019 class.
Attack
Need: 2
Committed: 2
Grade: A
The Bulldogs currently have thirteen attackmen on their 2019 roster and only two of them are seniors. Yale has guys in the pipeline with a lot of guys on the roster already. In the 2019 class they have Skylar and Griffin Wilson (yes they are twins) out of Salisbury (CT) currently committed. Both are rated as 4-stars by Inside Lacrosse.
Defense
Need: 1
Committed: 4
Grade: A
Yale has a very young defense currently on the roster with only three juniors and one senior out of ten guys. While the Bulldogs only lose one guy they bring in a lot of depth in this class with BJ Burlace, Xander Martin, Michael Alexander, and Brett Mallee. All of those guys are rated as 4-star’s by Inside Lacrosse except Mallee.
Faceoff
Need: 0
Committed: 0
Grade: F
While Yale has juniorT D Ierlan, freshman Joe Neumann, and sophomore Jack Mattei in that faceoff room right now it’s always a good idea to go out and grab another guy. They don’t really NEED a faceoff guy in this class but adding depth and competition can never hurt.
Goalie
Need: 1
Committed: 1
Grade: A
Yale has Jared Paquette currently committed in the 2019 class. Rated as a 4-star by Inside Lacrosse Paquette will have to wait his turn with Jack Starr only a sophomore this year. Because of that Yale doesn’t NEED a goalie, but I’m a believer that you need a goalie in every class and Yale has got theirs.
Midfield
Need: 4-7
Committed: 2
Grade: C
Yale looses seven of their 21 midfielders this year to graduation. That is a lot of depth to fill up, especially when three of their best midfielders are seniors. Yale needs to go out and grab at least two more midfielders to get that number to 18 midfielders on the roster in 2020.
That’s the breakdown of Yale’s 2019 recruiting class as it sits at this moment in time. They bring in a lot of depth to help this team at various spots on the field. The obvious misses are at the midfield position with much to left be desired there.
Recruiting in the Ivy League is tricky, but Andy Shay and his staff have a good track record of bringing in guys that will fit in the culture at Yale. So, the good news is that even with a small class of just 9 players Yale doesn’t really need that much, at least in this class.
As the 2019 recruiting cycle comes to a close with just a few months of high school left for those guys the Yale staff will start to turn the page to the 2020 recruiting cycle. In that class they already have a good number of guys that will help this team in the future.
We are just about three weeks away from the start of the 2019 NCAA season as February 1st marks opening day. The first game of the NCAA season will be Utah vs Vermont to kick off what should be an exciting season.
Over the next few weeks I will be giving my own personal conference by conference predictions for this upcoming 2019 season. Going in alphabetical order we move on and take a look at the Ivy League.
Final Standings
1. Yale
The Bulldogs are coming off of their first national championship in school history and they bring back a ton of firepower. They do lose Ben Reeves and others to graduation but that won’t be a problem for Andy Shay and the Bulldogs in 2019.
On offense the Bulldogs return junior attackman Jackson Morrill, senior attackman Jack Tigh, junior attackman Matt Gaudet, senior midfielder Joey Sessa, and others that will lead that Bulldog offense. Defensively it all starts in goal with sophomore Jack Starr as he looks to rise even higher after a breakout freshman season. Sophomore defenseman Chris Fake will be a leader on defense as they have a pretty young core around him. At the faceoff dot TD Ierlan transferred from Albany after a dominate season as a sophomore last year. The Bulldogs also have freshman Joe Neumann who is expected to be just as dominate when he gets his chance.
The Big Red come into 2019 with a ton of firepower after a 2018 season where they won the Ivy League and lost to Maryland in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Big Red return a lot of fire power and are ready to make another run here in 2019.
Jeff Teat is the face of this team and the leader on offense. Along with the junior attackman is senior attack Clarke Petterson, and others as they look to lead the charge on offense. Defensively the Big Red will be led by junior Brandon Salvatore, sophomore Dom Doria, and others. To anchor the defense in net will most likely be junior Caelahn Bullen as he looks to make his mark as a starter after playing backup for two seasons. At the faceoff dot will be junior Paul Rasimowciz as he looks to improve off of a great sophomore campaign.
3. Princeton
The Tigers come into the 2019 season after a 2018 campaign where they went 8-5 and missed the Ivy League tournament. They look to get back to being able to get back to the Ivy League tournament in 2019 with all the talent that they bring back.
Offensively the Tigers will be led by junior attackman Michael Sowers who has been one of the key players and faces of the program over the past few seasons. sophomore attackman Chris Brown and others will also lead that Princeton Tigers offense in 2019. At the faceoff dot it looks like sophomore Jack-Henry Vara will be taking the majority of the draws this season for the Tigers. Defensively sophomore George Baughan, sophomore Andrew Song, and senior Aaron Roberts will help contribute on that end of the field. In goal for the Tigers junior Jon Levine should be the starter this season after being the backup last season.
4. Brown
After a 2018 season where they went 6-9 and lost in the Ivy League semifinals to Cornell the Brown Bears look to improve and get back to challenging for the Ivy League championship this season.
On the offensive side of the field the Bears bring back their top three point scorers from last season in junior midfielder Luke Mccaleb, senior midfielder Carson Song, and senior midfielder Michael Panepinto. Those three look to lead the offense in 2019 along with others that they bring back as well. At the faceoff dot it appears that sophomore Matt McShea will be taking the majority of the draws this season after playing a backup role last season. On defense the Brown had a pretty strong unit last season and they do return a good chunk of that unit. Senior Alex Santangelo and sophomore LSM Adrian Enchill look to help lead that defense this season. To anchor the defense in goal will be junior Phil Goss as he looks to improve off of a great sophomore campaign.
5. Penn
The Quakers always have some hype around them coming into the season. They look to finally live up to some of those expectations here in 2019 after going 7-8 and losing in the Ivy League semifinals to Yale.
Penn returns a pretty good bit of their defense as junior Kyle Thornton and junior Evanchick look to help lead that defense. The Quakers will also have stud goalie Reed Junkin back for his senior season as he looks to add onto an already very impressive year. On offense the Quakers return three of their top five point scorers from a year ago in senior attackman Simon Mathias, junior attackman Adam Goldner, and senior attackman Tyler Dunn. At the faceoff dot junior Richie Lenskold will be taking the draws for the Quakers again this season.
6. Harvard
Harvard comes into the 2019 season after a 2018 campaign where they went 7-6, missed the Ivy League tournament, and ended the season with a five game losing streak. The Crimson look to turn things around this season as they do bring back some good talent on both ends of the field.
On the offensive Harvard loss their best player Morgan Cheek to graduation which is a big hit. Junior attackman Kyle Anderson and junior midfielder Ryan Graff look to be two of the leaders on the offensive side of the ball this season. At the faceoff taking draws again will be sophomore Steven Cuccurullo as he looks to improve off of a great freshman season. At the defensive end of the field the Crimson will see senior Jonathan Butler and sophomore Frankie Tangredi be two of the leaders and main contributors. In goal it looks like sophomore Kyle Mullin will be the starter in goal. The Crimson should also see good contributions from freshman such as midfielder Isiah Allen.
7. Dartmouth
Dartmouth has been pretty bad horrific for quite some time now. The Big Green have won just four games in the past two seasons. However they look to start the turnaround this season with a lot of young guys back and having maybe the best Dartmouth freshman class I can remember.
On the offensive end of the field the Big Green return three of their top five point scorers from last season in sophomore attackman George Prince, junior attackman Ben Martin, and junior midfielder Jack Korzelius. Those three look to help lead that offense along with others that will be contributors as well. At the faceoff dot sophomore Gunn Kiernan will be taking the majority of the draws once again. To anchor that defense in goal sophomore Alex Burnely looks to be the starter, but junior George Christopher could also see a ton of time in the net as well. Out in front of the cage senior Austin Meacham, and junior Kyle Clampitt will be two of the leaders on that defensive unit.
Freshman Watch
Here are some of the freshman that you should keep an eye out for across the Ivy League this season.
Henry Stites, A, Dartmouth
Joe Neumann, FO, Yale
Matt Brandu, A, Yale
John John Lombardi, A, Cornell
Billy Coyle, A, Cornell
Chayse Ierlan, G, Cornell (Yes. Brother of Yale Faceoff man TD Ierlan)
