Sign up for the latest news & updates

© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.

Yale is the defending national champion and takes a 10-2 record into its regular-season finale Saturday at Harvard. It is the only team to upend Penn State and has not lost a game in regulation.

And yet it seems like the Bulldogs have quietly toiled, an odd spot for a program that plowed though the postseason just 11 months ago. No one’s dismissing coach Andy Shay’s team, of course. He’ll be the first to say Yale is a work in progress. But it might be a teensy bit overlooked as April is about to turn to May.

On that front, there are no complaints coming from New Haven.

“I think we’re trying to handle our business every week and win the next game,” Shay said. “We’ve maybe been a little bit on the periphery, which is not the worst thing. We didn’t enjoy the extra scrutiny and the early-season ranking. Hopefully, it’s to our benefit to be a little forgotten.”

Yale opened with three consecutive one-goal games, an overtime loss to Villanova followed by tight victories over Penn State and Massachusetts.

Since then, the Bulldogs have systematically picked apart much of their competition, with a triple-overtime loss at Ivy League regular season champion Penn the lone setback in that span. Over Yale’s last nine games, it has trailed only Penn and Princeton at any point after the first six minutes.

What’s interesting is while Yale is exceptionally effective, it isn’t quite as sharp as last year. The Bulldogs shot 33.0 percent in 2018, good for 10th in the country. That’s dipped to 28.1 percent, a middle-of-the-road 38th nationally. Man-down defense (63.6 percent, No. 47 nationally) was a vulnerability last season. This year, Yale is next-to-last nationally at 42.9 percent.

Neither of those problems are easy to notice in a larger context because Yale enjoys a massive possession advantage thanks to Albany transfer TD Ierlan. The junior has won 77.6 percent of his draws, giving the Bulldogs a chance to take nearly 18 more shots per game than opponents.

“I’ve told him before there are times where we can take the foot off the gas because he’s playing so well, and that’s not fair to him and it’s not fair to us to behave that way,” Shay said. “We want to use this advantage as a weapon and not as a crutch. There’s going to be days he doesn’t have his best day. You saw that at Penn. He recovered and had a really solid day overall, but for his standards it wasn’t what he wanted. That’s not fair to look back at him and say ‘Can you win 80 percent? That’d be great.’”

Shay said the Bulldogs are still sorting out their offensive and defensive identities. Balance isn’t a problem in the post-Ben Reeves era; Yale has three 20-goal scorers (led by Matt Gaudet’s 34), six players with at least 20 points (paced by Jackson Morrill’s 57) and nine with at least 10 points.

Nonetheless, there is an obvious temptation for comparisons, especially for a program coming off its first NCAA tournament title. While some of it could be deflected, Shay is optimistic dealing with extra attention early could pay dividends --- even if the Bulldogs have been a bit out of sight of late.

“It’s one year out of 130,” Shay said. “At the same time, you come in with the No. 1 ranking, expectations, lots of guys who come at you, whatever. We’ve weathered that storm. We played a lot of teams that gave us their best version of themselves. My hope is once we get into the Ivy playoff, that helps us and that we’re leathered up from all that stuff.”

Ierlan’s return

There might not have been a weirder and more potentially awkward moment for any Division I player this season than Ierlan’s return to Albany on Friday.

The faceoff ace helped the Great Danes reach Memorial Day weekend for the first time in program history last year before leaving for Yale. In his return to Albany, he won 16 of 17 faceoffs as the Bulldogs earned a 10-5 victory.

“I was very impressed with the crowd and the Albany team in terms of how gracious they were,” Shay said. “When he was announced for the faceoff, I heard 90 percent cheers. I’m sure there were some boos, which is to be expected. What was really impressive was how their fanbase was appreciative of what he did in that jersey. It was a physical game, and a clean and respectful game for a Yale-Albany matchup that is always very physical.”

Terps Back in Business

Maryland owns the longest active streak of NCAA tournament appearances (16), and it has earned a first round home game in each of the last six seasons (tied with Syracuse for the second-longest ongoing streak, behind Notre Dame).

But the Terrapins found themselves in an unusual spot last week, clinging to a top-eight spot in the NCAA committee’s rankings and a finishing stretch of Ohio State, Johns Hopkins and the Big Ten tournament.

Things are a bit more secure now for Maryland (11-2, 3-1 Big Ten) after its 10-9 overtime triumph in Columbus. Logan Wisnauskas forced extra time with a goal in the final 30 seconds, and Jared Bernhardt provided the game-winner on the first possession of overtime.

“Obviously with looking at the schedule overall and what Ohio State had been doing, it was important to get a victory for the at-large and things like that with the NCAA tournament,” coach John Tillman said. “Certainly, our focus has been more on improving as a team, but having done this for a long time, you know you have to win some games in case you don’t get that automatic bid.”

The Terps are probably safely inside the field at this stage, but now must deal with a Hopkins team with little margin of error left. The Blue Jays (6-6, 2-2) visit College Park on Saturday night in a showdown that would carry great significance regardless of the postseason stakes.

“I think everybody is going to be excited about playing in this game,” Tillman said. “I would think they would be excited regardless of their record. At the end of the day, it’s Hopkins-Maryland.”

SORTING OUT SCENARIOS

America East: Friday’s Albany-Stony Brook winner will earn the top seed and host the conference tournament.

Big East: Villanova is the top seed with a victory. Denver is the top seed with a victory and a Villanova loss. And if both the Wildcats and Pioneers lose to Providence and Marquette, respectively? It becomes a big old mess.

In a four-way tie at 3-2 involving those four teams, Marquette would be the top seed (the two teams that beat Georgetown --- Denver and Marquette --- would get separated and Marquette would win based on a head-to-head victory). If Georgetown joins the party at 3-2 with a defeat of St. John’s, it would go to goal differential within the five-team minigroup. Denver has a considerable advantage at the moment.

Big Ten: Penn State is already assured the No. 1 seed entering its regular-season finale against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are the league tournament’s predetermined hosts.

Colonial: With a victory over Delaware on Friday, Massachusetts gets the top seed and the CAA tournament on its home field. If the Minutemen stumble, it opens the door for Towson to get the top spot with a victory over Drexel. Should both Massachusetts and Towson lose, Delaware will earn the No. 1 seed. Drexel will be the fourth team in the field.

Ivy: Penn has already wrapped up Ivy play with a 6-0 record and will be the top seed in New York in two weekends.

Metro Atlantic: If Marist wins at Canisius on Friday, it claims an outright league title and the top seed for a tournament it is already hosting. But Canisius would claim the top seed for the tournament with a victory thanks to tiebreakers in either a three-way (with Detroit and Marist) or four-way (with Detroit, Marist and Quinnipiac) tie at 5-2.

The Golden Griffins aren’t quite in all-or-nothing territory, but they’re close. If they lose to Marist and Quinnipiac (against Manhattan) and Siena (against Monmouth) close with victories, they would be bumped out of the MAAC tournament altogether.

Northeast: Hobart is the top seed if it defeats Robert Morris. If the Statesmen sputter, Mount St. Mary’s can claim the No. 1 seed and home field in the conference tournament if it handles Saint Joseph’s.

In case of a four-way tie at 4-2, Robert Morris would land the top seed. But if Sacred Heart beats Wagner to get to 4-2 and there’s a five-way tie, the deciding factor would be goals allowed within the minigroup.

Patriot: Loyola needs only a victory at last-place Lafayette on Friday to secure the outright regular season title, but it would also claim the top-seed in a three-way tie with Boston University and Lehigh. Boston University can still earn hosting duties with a victory at Navy, a Loyola loss and a Lehigh loss to Holy Cross.

Southern: Tournament host High Point will land the No. 1 seed with a victory over Richmond, which can itself secure the top seed with a win and an Air Force loss to Bellarmine. Air Force will be the top seed with a win and a High Point loss. Jacksonville has also secured a SoCon tournament berth.

NUMBERS OF NOTE

37

Rutgers earned its 37th victory over the last four seasons with its 11-9 defeat of Michigan, making the Scarlet Knights’ senior class the winningest in school history. Rutgers is 37-21 since 2016 as it enters its regular-season finale against Penn State on Saturday.

247

Princeton junior attackman Michael Sowers tied Kevin Lowe’s school record of 247 career points with his three-goal, seven-assist outing in the Tigers’ 19-15 defeat of Harvard on Saturday. Sowers needed just 41 games to reach 247 points (compared to 60 for Lowe) and still has another season of eligibility to go after this spring.

356

Loyola attackman Pat Spencer now has 356 career points after a four-goal, three-assist outing against Army on Saturday. He ranks third on the NCAA career points list, behind only Lyle Thompson (400) and Connor Fields (364), who both played at Albany.