March 7, 2008
1. MD1: No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 4 North Carolina
Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Hook: Look out, special teams. Faceoff specialists Taylor Clagett (Notre Dame) and Shane Walterhoefer (North Carolina) and goalies Joey Kemp (Notre Dame) and Grant Zimmerman (North Carolina) could probably go 1-2 in ranking their respective positions. Zimmerman's goals against average has dropped from 9.94 last year to 5.41 thus far in 2008, against some good competition. He's really giving the Tar Heels some chances to win, and they'll be tough at home.
2. MD1: No. 2 Duke at No. 13 Loyola
Saturday, 2 p.m.
Hook: He may admire and embrace his former teammates, but certainly Collin Finnerty would not mind sticking it to Duke University, the institution, lest anyone forget that the Hounds upset the Blue Devils in California last year.
3. MD1: No. 17 Army at No. 8 Cornell
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Hook: Huge opportunity for the dark-horse Black Knights, who debuted this week in the USILA's top 20 and have the kind of defense and goalie the Big Red used to boast.
4. MD1: No. 3 Virginia at No. 11 Princeton
Saturday, 12 p.m.
Hook: How will the Tigers respond to the lambasting they received last week? Even when Princeton's offense started clicking against Hopkins in the second half in a 13-9 loss, it still didn't look good enough to beat a hot goalie like Cavs freshman Adam Ghitelman.
5. MD1: No. 12 Georgetown at No. 7 Syracuse
Sunday, 3:30 p.m.
Hook: No team has been more upbeat following a loss than the Orange, who probably have more momentum following the OT game against Virginia than the Hoyas have following a win over listless St. John's.
6. MD1: No. 20 Fairfield at No. 19 Rutgers
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Hook: Two ECAC upstarts who are already positioned to make a run at young and injury-depleted Georgetown. With Loyola looking strong and UMass in the fold, the conference is shaping up as one in which one loss can undermine a season. The Stags and Scarlet Knights would probably prefer to hold onto that card for one of the ECAC heavyweights.
7. WD1: No. 3 Duke at No. 7 Princeton
Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Hook: Jess Adam was a big recruit for her class, but an inconsistent factor for Duke until now. With the big game-winner over Maryland last week, is a breakout season in the works? The Blue Devils obviously trust her with the game on the line.
8. WD1: No. 11 Vanderbilt at No. 8 North Carolina
Saturday, 12 p.m.
Hook: Rival coaches polled in the preseason by LM pointed to both of these teams as being soft and inconsistent, but the Tar Heels took a very tough Penn team to the wire last week and the Commodores have yet to lose, albeit against much weaker opposition. Who can tough out a win in Chapel Hill?
9. WD1: No. 9 Georgetown at No. 14 Johns Hopkins
Friday, 4 p.m.
Hook: These two teams have been a thorn in each other's side ever since Hopkins became a legitimate Division I contender. The Blue Jays got Kadie Stamper back from injury just in time, while the Hoyas have shown poise beyond their young years. Georgetown has recovered from key graduation losses (Coco Stanwick, Maggie Koch) much better than Hopkins (Mary Key).
10. WD1: No. 6 Penn at No. 20 Stanford
Sunday, 1 p.m.
Hook: Stanford put it all together to upset Notre Dame last week, while Penn made a statement of its own in a win at UNC - that the Quakers are here to stay. The Cardinal's Laura Shane can be either unbeatable (see: 17 saves against the Irish) or very shaky, depending on the momentum. Penn's Sarah Waxman is steady across the board. Either way, great goalie duel.
