Welcome to #BestOfLax2022. Help us celebrate the past year of lacrosse by voting in 15 polls spread over 15 weekdays in December. All voting will be conducted on Twitter (@usalacrossemag), and fans will have 24 hours to let their voices be heard.
For more information — including upcoming categories, rules and more — check out our introductory post to #BestOfLax2022.
Much like our poll for Best Comeback, our poll for Best Game features perhaps the top lacrosse game of the last several years.
But there is so much more to consider when thinking about crowning the Best Game of 2022. Is it a championship game? Is it an international bout for bronze? How about a key Ivy League rivalry that went back-and-forth down to the wire?
Here are the nominees for Best Game.
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) December 7, 2022
For the contest that kept us on the edge of our seats. VOTE in our #BestOfLax2022 poll to determine the Best Game of 2022.
NOMINEES: https://t.co/TyN6AczWiE
BEST GAME
For the contest that kept us on the edge of our seats.
ENGLAND VS. AUSTRALIA
England captured the bronze medal after defeating Australia 8-7 in triple overtime in one of the best games of the 2022 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship in Towson, Md. Olivia Hompe scored the game-winning goal, her fourth tally of the game. Hannah Nielsen tied the score at 7 for Australia with just about a minute left in regulation, but she missed a potential game-winning free position with 18 seconds left. England goalie Britt Read made three clutch saves across the three extra periods, and she made 13 saves to earn player of the match honors. That set up the winner from Hompe, giving England a third-place finish for the fifth time in 11 appearances.
PRINCETON VS. PENN
Just absolute craziness for a mid-March Ivy League rivalry. Princeton came away with a 21-20 win in overtime in a game that was deadlocked for much of the second half. A Chris Brown goal on the only possession of overtime was ultimately the difference between two Ivy heavyweights that made NCAA tournament runs a few months later.
NORTH CAROLINA VS. NORTHWESTERN
The game of the year? Probably. A shock-to-the-system start, a 90-minute lightning delay, redemption for one of the nation’s best goalies, an unlikely heroine and one of the biggest comebacks in NCAA tournament history all happened so North Carolina could erase an 11-3 deficit in the third quarter and top Northwestern in the NCAA semis, leading to UNC’s first NCAA title since 2016. Beth Ann Mayer’s oral history of a comeback for the ages helps encapsulate the action from those who were on the field that day.
NORTH CAROLINA VS. BOSTON COLLEGE
The emotional high of beating Northwestern in dramatic fashion did not tire out the Tar Heels ahead of the national championship game against reigning champion Boston College. Tied at 8 after three quarters and tied at 10 with 9:50 remaining, this national championship game was a wire-to-wire nailbiter. It was ultimately semifinal hero Sam Geiersbach who gave UNC the lead for good at 11-10 before Scottie Rose Growney added another for a 12-10 lead. UNC hung on to win its first title since 2016 by a count of 12-11.