Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Oh, the drama. Will May Madness even measure up to all the April Feels the penultimate weekend of the college men’s lacrosse season gave us?
It started Friday when Michigan defeated archrival Ohio State 13-10 to eliminate the 10th-ranked Buckeyes from Big Ten tournament contention and push them into the NCAA tournament’s increasingly crowded at-large field.
Then on Saturday, five of 11 games featuring teams ranked in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 went down to the wire. Wild stuff.
When the dust settled, the brackets for the nine conference tournaments whose winners will earn automatic bids to the NCAA tournament were in. Look at who’s playing where and when.
2. Boston College survived Syracuse but could not overcome North Carolina, which claimed its fourth straight ACC championship with a 15-13 win over the previously unbeaten Eagles. In between, the Tar Heels also defeated Duke for the second time in as many weeks.
The ACC was one of four conferences with automatic qualifiers to crown champions Sunday. In addition to North Carolina, High Point (Big South), Richmond (Atlantic 10) and USC (Pac-12) all clinched NCAA tournament berths with conference titles. The remaining 11 conference tournaments will play out this week. Look at who’s playing where and when.
3. Johns Hopkins erased a four-goal deficit and defeated Maryland 16-11 on Saturday for its first regular season win over the Terps since 2015. More than 12,000 fans turned out for the latest edition of “The Rivalry” in College Park, and while it was a potentially season-saving victory for the Blue Jays, they won’t have long to savor it. Because, well, it’s onto Maryland. The two teams meet again Thursday in the Big Ten semifinals in Piscataway, N.J.
4. Major League Lacrosse held a redraft Friday to redistribute players chosen March 9 by the three MLL teams that have since ceased operations—as well as to give the six remaining franchises an opportunity to select any players that may not have previously come off the board.
WHAT WE’RE READING
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How to close the gate like Whipsnakes LC defenseman and U.S. hopeful Matt Dunn.
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719 Lacrosse brings the adaptive movement to Colorado Springs.
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Reigning Warrior/US Lacrosse Player of the Week TD Ierlan might just be up for a repeat. Yale’s unparalleled faceoff specialist set a new NCAA single-season record by winning the most faceoffs without a loss during a 26-for-26 performance in the Bulldogs’ 22-11 win over Harvard. Yale coach Andy Shay apparently had no idea Ierlan was on the precipice of the record when he trotted the junior out for his 26th faceoff attempt. He’s glad he did.
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Brian Holman gets retrospective about Utah’s inaugural season in this article by the Deseret News.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
A field-level look at the Matt Moore-to-Mikey Herring alley-oop connection that pulled Virginia even with North Carolina after trailing by four in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s ACC semifinal. The Cavaliers went on to win 14-13 in one of the best games of the year.
BE LIKE MIKEY
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 28, 2019
Another at the @UVAMensLax Moore-to-Herring connection from today’s @ACCMLax semifinal thriller pic.twitter.com/OBr9lM0XmI
UMass’ Chris Connelly went into Superman mode.
If you haven’t seen this goal you need to see this goal. Chris Connelly takes out the defender on the pick, then scores jumping, no look backhand goal while getting popped himself in #15 @UMassMLacrosse @CAASports regular season championship clinching win over #20 Delaware pic.twitter.com/RyGndzrTsV
— Lax Sports Network (@LaxSportsNet) April 27, 2019
The wild final sequence that allowed Providence to tie the game at the buzzer before eventually upending No. 17 Villanova in overtime.
Can you say COMEBACK @PCFriarsLax takes home an OT win against Villanova. #NCAALAX
— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) April 27, 2019
(via @PCAthletics)pic.twitter.com/pmGvrO4ugM
WHAT’S ON TAP
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New rankings come out this morning. Expect a change at the helm of the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20, in particular.
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