We Have a New Number 1 in College Lacrosse

There were a ton of games this weekend and we had several big time shake ups in the rankings. The biggest impact of the weekend is from the Friday night primetime game between the number 1 Maryland Terrapins and the number 2 Syracuse Orange. And because of this premier match up, we have a new number 1 in the country.

1. Maryland (1-1) @ 2. Syracuse (3-0)

Syracuse 11-9 over Maryland

The Terrapins and the Orange are two of the most decorated programs in college lacrosse history and it is always a battle of supremacy when they face off. This game was no different, and one team came out looking more prepared and ready more than the other. It was a slow first half for the Terps, they were getting dominated at the face off x and it felt like Syracuse had a better game plan coming into this game then Maryland did. The big match up everyone was watching was between Tewaaraton favorite Joey Spallina for Syracuse and star defenseman Will Schaller for Maryland. Spallina has been criticized in his career for not being able to perform well against a top tier defender. Well in this game coach Gary Gait was not going to let that happen again. Spallina had 4 goals in the contest but all were by getting Spallina separated from Schaller. Whether it was a pick play, he had time and space created, or got the match up against a short stick Syracuse had a game plan to get Spallina away from Schaller and it ended up being huge.

Someone who really stepped up in this game for Syracuse was Junior midfielder Wyatt Hottle. Hottle put up 2 goals with an assist and he was taking advantage of his match up all game long. It was uncharacteristic to see out of John Tillman to see him not adjust something sooner when it obviously was not working. Hottle had a short stick defender on him for much of the game and he used his lightning speed to torch the defenders to capitalize. Where coach Tillman did make a big adjustment was at the face off dot. Johnny Mullen for Syracuse was dominating in the first half and was gaining so many more possessions for the Orange. Then at halftime Tillman made the adjustment to rotate his face off guys which turned the tide a bit to make it such a closer game.

The thing that impressed me most from this game was how suffocating and physical the Syracuse defense was. I imagined this was going to be such a high scoring affair, but because of the Syracuse defense it never got the chance to be one. Attacking the ball, shutting down all passing lanes, and being physical and on time with their slides, Maryland just could really never get in a full offensive groove. Maryland even had a full minute man up situation, but all they could do was spin the ball on the perimeter and did even got a shot attempt on. For Maryland though no one on offense really took over and it felt like they needed it. Midfielder Elijah Stobaugh got a hat trick plus an assist and he got in a groove as the game went on, but guys like Eric Spanos, Leo Johnson, and Chris Lyons just could not take over.

13. Virginia (1-1) @ 8. Richmond (2-0) 

Richmond 18-12 over Virginia

We had a big in state battle on Saturday in Virginia, only separated by about an hour the Richmond Spiders and the Virginia Cavaliers were both looking to make statements in both teams first true test.

Virginia was coming into this game at a bit of a disadvantage with not having their top defenseman John Schroter due to injury. And his absence was very apparent for the Cavaliers as he would've had the tough job of guarding senior attackman Aidan O'Neil. Richmond made it a point of emphasis to get the ball to O'Neil, he finished the game off with 5 goals and adding on an assist. O'Neil was just having his way with the Virginia defense and there was not much that could be done about it. Things started to get a bit out of hand in the third quarter when Richmond went on a 7-0 run and even got starting goalie Kyle Morris pulled for Virginia and replaced with graduate student Jake Marek. Another guy who had a day was midfielder Joe Sheridan who had himself a 5 point day with 4 goals. The Richmond offense kind of felt like a runaway train in the 2nd and 3rd quarter just dominating and finishing their shots more than Virginia was able to.

Now as bad as it may sound for Virginia, they actually played much better than the score shows. Virginia in the box score actually had the advantage in shots and shots on goal, the problem was they just could not find a save from their goalie. A lot of outside shots were going in with time and room to shoot where in some of the cases, a goalie making a stop and getting his team in transition can completely change the game. Virginia offensively was carried by their star McCabe Millon, Millon ended the game with 4 goals and 3 assists with 3 of the goals coming in the second quarter where he was the only Cavalier to score. Virginia was relying heavily on their attack man where at many times throughout the game, there were 5 attackmen on the field. Having both the Millon brothers, Ryan Colsey, Truitt Sunderland, and Ryan Duenkel on the field at the same time it is no wonder they had the advantage in shots, its just that they ran into a hot goalie in Connor Knight who had 18 saves. But the real positives to come out of this game if you are Virginia is that McCabe Millon really looks to be the superstar we all thought he was going to be, and his younger brother Brendan Millon looks like he is living up to being the number 1 recruit in last years class.

Around the Country

Cornell vs UAlbany 

The defending National Champions Cornell Big Red kicked off their season on the road against the UAlbany Great Danes in an 11-10 victory. The love was spread for the Big Red as 4 players had 3 or more points, with junior attackman Ryan Goldstein having 5 points with 2 goals and 3 assists. It was a tight game but with 13 saves from Cornell goalie Matthew Tully, the Big Red were able to pull out the victory.

Penn State vs Princeton

The Penn State Nittany Lions were looking for redemption after their embarrassing home loss last week and they got it by going on the road and grabbing a 13-7 victory over the Princeton Tigers. Princeton just really had no fire power at any point in the game, attackman Nate Kabiri grabbed 2 goals but outside of that it was a really rough performance for the Tigers. The Nittany Lions though was getting contributions from everyone, having 8 different goal scorers the offense was humming and it was a really good bounce back game for Penn State.

Providence vs Harvard

In the Crimsons first game of the year they are really looking to prove to the college lacrosse world that they can be one of the top teams in a stacked Ivy League and can make some noise come tournament time. And if they are going to get games like this from Teddy Malone, they might just do it. Malone kicked his season off with a great 4 goal and 2 assist game helping Harvard to the 10-4 win. Harvards offense was relentless firing off 35 shots, but turned the ball over 19 times which is something coach Gerry Byrne will look to improve upon as the year goes on.