Ten to Watch: Let The Games Begin
by LaxMagazine.com Staff
Your crack Lacrosse Magazine and LaxMagazine.com experts are back, and we thought we'd spice up Ten to Watch this spring by adding some celebrity pickers from US Lacrosse's Communications team. Each Friday, we will try to handicap the upcoming weekend for the top 10 college games across all divisions while providing previews of each.
Let the games begin. We're listed in alphabetical order since our records are identical, but this will surely change throughout the season. All times Eastern.
Follow the weekend's action here at laxmagazine.com.
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| Last Week | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
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| M:DUKE@ND | ND | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE | DUKE |
| M:UVA@DRX | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA |
| M:BUC@MASS | MASS | MASS | MASS | MASS | BUC | BUC | MASS | MASS | MASS | BUC | MASS | BUC |
| M:DEL@LOY | LOY | LOY | LOY | LOY | LOY | LOY | DEL | DEL | DEL | DEL | DEL | DEL |
| W:LOY@UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | UVA | LOY | LOY | LOY | UVA | LOY | UVA | UVA | LOY |
| W:NU@DUKE | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | DUKE | NU | NU | NU | NU | DUKE |
| W:STAN@ND | STAN | ND | STAN | STAN | STAN | STAN | STAN | STAN | ND | ND | STAN | ND |
| W:MD@PSU | MD | MD | MD | MD | MD | MD | MD | MD | MD | MD | MD | MD |
| M:HAV@STV | STV | HAV | STV | STV | STV | STV | STV | STV | STV | STV | STV | STV |
| M:BYU@CHAP | CHAP | BYU | CHAP | BYU | BYU | BYU | BYU | CHAP | BYU | BYU | BYU | CHAP |
MD1: No. 3 Duke at No. 9 Notre
Dame, 1 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU)
What a way to take your early-season temperature — two top-10 teams with a bit of history battling in balmy South Bend, where temperatures barely will break freezing. John Danowski-coached teams have made a habit of playing their best lacrosse come mid- to late-season, after trip-ups in February. Exhibit A: The Blue Devils suffered a 12-7 defeat at the hands of Notre Dame at the Sunshine Classic in their second game of the 2011 season, then topped the Fighting Irish in the NCAA quarterfinals. Exhibit B: Duke fell 11-7 Notre Dame in the second game of the 2010 season, then knocked off the Irish 6-5 to win the national title. Will the trend continue in 2012? Danowski said after last year's second meeting that he knew the game would “be similar to a street fight.” This year’s meeting certainly should be intense. The Blue Devils looked strong in their debut against Rutgers last weekend, and they have talent all over the field, including three of the Major League Lacrosse draft's top nine selections: midfielders Ron Rotanz and Justin Turri, and defenseman C.J. Costabile. Notre Dame has a blank slate for 2012, but has the benefit of having played Jacksonville and the U.S. men's national team at Champion Challenge, where coach Kevin Corrigan's defense looked typically stout.
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The last three seasons, the Blue
Devils have lost as many games in February as they have won, but I
see this one being a 'W.' Notre Dame is still trying to find some
consistency on offense and Duke's attack trio of Jordan Wolf,
Christian Walsh and Josh Dionne will help produce just enough goals
to win. |
MD1: No. 1 Virginia at No. 20 Drexel, 2 p.m. Saturday
None of the current Cavaliers should remember the 2007 Virginia-Drexel meeting. Or if they do, they didn't play in the game — not even fifth-year seniors Colin Briggs, Chris Clements and Matt Lovejoy. It's almost certain coach Dom Starsia has reminded his team of that '07 matchup, though, which featured a strikingly similar plot line to this weekend's contest: The reigning national champions and preseason top-ranked team — both qualities of the 2012 Cavaliers — dropped an 11-10 season-opening decision to the Dragons. The Cavaliers have won each of the contests since then, but Drexel has lost only three home games combined in the last two years, and a trip to Vidas Field is never easy. With local and national news outlets focused on the George Huguely trial, how will Virginia block out external distractions and stay focused on the task at hand? Another side story: Steele Stanwick, whom Drexel held to one assist in last year's meeting, starts his Tewaaraton Award defense.
MD1: No. 12 Bucknell at No. 11 UMass, 1 p.m. Saturday
Here's something you don't see everyday: this is the first time the UMass and Bucknell men's lacrosse teams will have ever played each other. It should be a brisk and sunny late winter afternoon in Amherst for opening faceoff of this intriguing non-conference tilt. Bucknell, a Cinderalla-type darling last season that nearly elminated Virginia from the NCAA tournament, faces its second of three straight nationally-ranked opponents to start the season. Much of the offense from last year's Patriot League championship team is back, including Billy Eisenreich, who has moved from midfield to attack and had a goal and an assist in Bucknell's overtime loss to Delaware last Saturday. One person not yet back to Charlie Streep, who hopes to return from a knee injury by mid-March. UMass is a squad with tons of potential with NCAA tournament aspirations. The Minutemen opened the season with a 12-9 road win over Army last Friday, paced by a seven-goal, two-assist performance from junior attackman Will Manny, the Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Player of the Year. UMass was picked second in the CAA preseason poll, just one point behind Delaware.
MD1: No. 19 Delaware at Loyola, 1 p.m. Saturday
The Blue Hens blew a big lead last week before edging Bucknell in overtime. If Loyola can figure out a way to neutralize Grant Kaleikau (four goals, eight assists in two games) and force Delaware to initiate from the midfield, the Greyhounds could pull the upset -- in terms of rankings, at least. Loyola has won 18 straight in the series. This will be the teams' first encounter since 2003.
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Congratulations are in order for
Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw, who began his 37th season as a
college head coach and his 34th with the Blue Hens by capturing his
300th career victory earlier this month. This is no small feat, as
evidenced by the fact that, in the first week of the season, he
became just the third active NCAA Division I head coach, joining
Dave Urick and Dom Starsia, to reach the milestone. (Duke's John
Danowski also reached 300 wins last week). "He is the face of
Delaware lacrosse," said senior Blue Hen Grant Kaleikau of
Shillinglaw. No argument here. |
WD1: No. 7 Loyola at No. 10 Virginia, 2:30 p.m. Saturday
Hope this game, which is a season opener for both, doesn’t become a media circus due to the number of journalists in Charlottesville for the George Huguely trial with nothing else to do for the weekend. That said, if any of those folks show up, they will likely see a great game between two top 10 teams. The draw is key. Virginia senior Josie Owen (43 DC) is an old pro at the draw, but like everyone else will have to adjust to the new rules implemented this year. Loyola lost its top draw specialist, Taryn van Thof, to injury, and junior midfielder Cass Cursaro has had to step up in her place. Cursaro’s newness to the position may prove an advantage, though, since she doesn’t have to re-learn the draw motion under the new rules. Assistant coach (and former NCAA career draw leader) Dana Dobbie has been working hard to get Cursaro up to speed.
National pundits were high on Loyola, but do the Big East coaches -- who picked the Greyhounds to finish behind Georgetown and Syracuse in the conference -- know something we don't? We'll find out Saturday against a Cavaliers team that was perhaps underrated. Despite finishing just 9-9 in 2011, Virginia earned its 16th straight NCAA tournament berth and returns 99 percent of its offense.
WD1: No. 1 Northwestern at No. 5 Duke, Noon Sunday
Northwestern is 8-2 overall versus Duke, and has one the last seven in a row. Last year, the Wildcats had to rally from a three-goal deficit to nab a 12-10 win. The Wildcats are currently 1-0 after stomping on Stanford, 18-6, in Palo Alto last weekend. The Blue Devils (2-1) stumbled against Vanderbilt and lost 7-5 in their last outing. The Commodores got the win by playing a slow-down game with a suffocating defense, and reaped the benefit of a bad shooting day from senior attacker Emma Hamm, who went 0-for-6 on shots, including a few that went off the pipes. Northwestern will want to limit Hamm as a shooter and on the draw to get the win. Duke has the unenviable task of trying to stop, or at least slow, the Wildcats’ powerful attack led by Shannon Smith and Erin Fitzgerald. They’ll have to do it without fouling, too. (Ten of Northwestern’s 18 goals versus Stanford came on free position shots.) The Blue Devils may need another career day from goalie Mollie Mackler, who made 20 saves versus Northwestern last year.
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Graduating Christie Kaestner, Sarah
Bullard and Virginia Crotty, Duke coach Kerstin Kimel knew she
would need to replace a significant amount of scoring from last
year's team. But Kimel didn't expect to also have to
replace Kat Thomas, who could miss the rest of the season with an
apparent Lisfranc fracture. All told, that's more than 50 percent
of last year's scoring lost. Still, it'll be exciting to watch
the development of young midfielders Molly Quirke, Maddy Morrissey,
Taylor Trimble and Kerrin Maurer, as they'll have more
opportunities than might have been anticipated, helping
take the load off all-everything attacker Emma Hamm. The Blue
Devils have overcome with injuries before — and they
certainly have the talent to do so again — but it
might take some time. Northwestern won't hold its breath. The
Wildcats' well-balanced offense — 12 players scored in the
18-6 win over Stanford — attacked the Cardinal in waves last
weekend, but this one will come down to the stars: too much Shannon
Smith, too much Taylor Thornton. |
WD1: No. 6 Stanford at No. 20 Notre
Dame, Noon Sunday
That No. 6 ranking in front of Stanford is deceiving. The Cardinal have dropped thier first two games of the season, but a new IWLCA coaches' poll hasn't been released since the preseason. This one wil test the Cardinal's ability to bounce back -- from the latter of those two losses, to No. 18 Ohio State -- against a Notre Dame starting a new era under coach Christine Halfpenny. The Irish were picked to finish fourth in the Big East, and return unanimous preseason all-conference pick Maggie Tamasitis. Tamasitis is just 15 assists from setting a new Irish record in a career at 107.
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The blueprint for Stanford's recent
success -- earn signature wins at home over travel-weary foes in
February to hold it over until a dominating run through the MPSF --
went out the window with losses to Northwestern and Ohio State
opening weekend. I know I'm not the only one who was surprised to
see the Cardinal in the preseason top 10 after losing such
influential players as Leslie Foard and Lauren Schmidt, not to
mention goalie Annie Read. Stanford shuffled a lot of its players
between positions in preseason, which doesn't exactly scream
"reload." It's pretty early to call this a must-win, but MPSF
sleepers Oregon and Denver would love to see the Cardinal start
0-3. |
WD1: No. 2 Maryland at No. 17 Penn
State, 1 p.m. Sunday
Maryland alum Missy Doherty led Penn State to 10 wins in her first year in State College. A continued infusion of young talent, led by U.S. U19 star Tatum Coffey, has the Nittany Lions thinking big. After easing into the season with a 19-3 win over Bucknell on Wednesday, Doherty has to figure out how to stop her alma mater on Sunday. The second-ranked Terps look dialed in already with blowout wins over William & Mary and Delaware. Maryland outscored those two teams by a combined score of 28-3 in the first halves with All-American Brittany Dipper posting a 75.0 save percentage.
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Cheers to Karri Ellen Johnson, who scored three goals in the Terps’ 21-4 win over Delaware to become No. 3 on Maryland’s career goals list with 188. (She passed Kelly Amonte Hiller, who scored 184 goals in her career in College Park.) |
MD3: No. 17 Haverford at No. 7 Stevenson, 7 p.m. Saturday
Trolling in conferences with a presumed winner isn't comfortable, especially when your team is operating on the cusp of Pool C anonymity. By name, these two teams are logical favorites for at least one of the at-large bids this season, but nothing is guaranteed. The Black Squirrels could get wiped out via the Centennial schedule and the Mustangs' non-conference slate could spell doomsday. The winner of this game pockets a very nice Selection Sunday chip.
MCLA: No. 1 BYU at No. 4 Chapman, 10 p.m. Saturday
No need to build the drama up too much with this one: the Cougars and Panthers will both be in Greenville for the national championships, and both will probably be among the top four seeds. This is strictly a confidence game. BYU has been sloppy in its first three contests this year and Chapman hasn't really faced anyone. The winner of this game (briefly) becomes the team to beat.
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It was four years ago when the defending champion BYU team traveled to Orange County and faced a then-unknown Chapman team, coming away with a one-goal loss. It was a seminal moment for Chapman, which went on to two-straight finals appearances and one semifinal clash (losing to Michigan in all three). Now the Panthers have another bite at the apple, and they can do it with a brash team and no Wolverines in sight. I smell another upset. |
