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Three weeks after Hofstra fell in overtime to No. 11 Delaware in Hempstead, the Pride finished what they started when it mattered the most.

Dylan McIntosh scored five goals to lead fourth-seeded Hofstra’s 10-9 upset effort over the top seeded Blue Hens at Shuart Stadium. Hofstra’s all-time leading scorer and CAA offensive player of the year Ryan Tierney was held scoreless, but the Pride still prevailed. 

Trailing 8-7 entering the fourth quarter, Hofstra put together a three-goal run with goals from James Philbin, McIntosh and Ryan Sheridan to flip the game and secure the program’s first CAA championship game appearance since 2014. Bobby Casey made eight saves in the first half, at which point the Pride led 6-3, and finished with 11. Charlie Kitchen had three goals and two assists in the loss. 

Hofstra’s Seth Tierney shared some powerful words after the win. 

No. 14 Drexel will meet Hofstra in the CAA Championship after the Dragons defeated UMass 13-8 in a tale of two halves and the teams’ third meeting this season. After trailing 6-2 at the break, Drexel put up nine straight goals to start the second half and put away any hopes of an upset. The victory was Drexel’s 8th win in a row. The Dragons haven’t lost since a 13-7 defeat at UMass on March 23. 

Sean Donnelly spurred the comeback with five goals and two assists and Aidan Coll registered four goals and one assists. Fifth year senior Jimmeh Koita won 14-of-25 faceoffs. 

In Drexel and Hofstra’s only prior meeting this year, the Dragons won 12-8.

Johns Hopkins Knocks Off Rutgers

Jonathan Peshko had five goals and an assist in seven games played leading into Johns Hopkins’  Big Ten semifinal matchup with Rutgers on Thursday night.

The freshman from Etobicoke, Ontario didn’t record a shot in a blowout loss to the Scarlet Knights on March 20, but soon started to find a role on an offense that needed his services. It hasn’t been the debut season that Peshko or the Blue Jays would have hoped, with only three victories entering Thursday and little to celebrate in 2021.

However, Peshko found himself the focal point of the Johns Hopkins offense and in the middle of a postgame celebration thanks in large part to his efforts. He tallied a career-high four goals, nearly matching his season total, to lead the sixth-seeded Blue Jays to a 12-10 upset victory and keep their season alive.

Peshko led the Blue Jays in scoring, while Garrett Degnon had three timely goals, Matt Narewski won 18 of 23 faceoffs and Tim Marcille made 12 saves to clinch another big win.

Johns Hopkins scored the game’s first two goals, but Rutgers answered with three of their own to take a lead into the second quarter. Brett Baskin and Peshko each had two second-quarter goals to help the Blue Jays take a 7-5 lead into the break.

After another strong quarter out of halftime, Johns Hopkins led 10-6, its biggest margin of the game. Connor Kirst, Michael Sanguinetti and Ryan Gallagher each scored in a three-goal Rutgers run to start the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to a goal with 9:44 left.

Less than a minute later, Connor DeSimone ended the run with a nifty goal against pressure from Jaryd Jean-Felix to stop the run. Degnon ripped home another goal four minutes later to clinch the victory.

Georgetown Survives Thriller with Villanova

Coming off a loss to Loyola last week, the pressure was on a Georgetown men’s lacrosse team that started its season as hot as any in Division I.

The Hoyas entered into a matchup with Villanova in the Big East semifinals looking to, by most accounts, solidify a spot in the NCAA tournament field. The Wildcats, also on the tournament bubble, had all the motivation it needed — having lost to the Hoyas twice in 2021, including a 15-goal season-opening blowout.

Georgetown did not deliver its most complete performance of the season, and Villanova provided a major test, but Owen McElroy made 17 saves to seal a 14-12 win in thrilling fashion. TJ Haley had five points to lead the Hoyas’ offensive effort, including the eventual game-winner with 4:39 left.

Villanova and star attackman Keegan Khan got hot early, jumping out to a 5-2 lead early in the second quarter and holding Georgetown at bay throughout the first half. The Hoyas led for less than a minute entering the fourth quarter.

James Reilly won seven faceoffs in the fourth quarter, allowing Georgetown to score six goals and limit Khan, who finished with five goals. A back-and-forth final quarter ended with goals from Haley and Nicky Petkevich.

America East 

Five days after a thrilling finish between Vermont and Stony Brook, the second-seeded Catamounts, ranked No. 18 in the Nike / US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20, were victorious again. This time, Vermont did not need a buzzer-beater. 

The Catamounts’ 10-7 comeback win turned late in the third quarter when they reeled off three extra-man goals in 1:08 against the third-seeded Seawolves’ fifth-ranked man-down defense after a two-minute non-releasable body check penalty. Vermont took its first lead of the game after a goal from Michael McCormack with 13 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Catamounts scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter and put the game away. 

McCormack and David Closterman each scored three goals, and Vermont’s defense held the sixth highest scoring offense in the country to less than half of its average output. Ryan Cornell made 14 saves, and Tommy Burke won 14 of 20 faceoffs to help Vermont advance to the America East final for the fourth time in the last five tournaments. 

The Catamounts will face Albany, the fourth seed, which never trailed against No. 1 UMBC and outlasted the Retrievers, ranked No. 17 in the Nike / US Lacrosse Top 20, 14-12. The Great Danes raced out to a 7-1 lead in the first quarter. Although UMBC tied the score at 11 with 9:52 to play in the fourth and at 12 with six minutes to play, Albany answered each time. 

Graydon Hogg and Corey Yunker led the way with a pair of hat tricks. 

“We give UMBC a lot of credit; they were down 7-1 and really turned this thing into a game,” Albany head coach Scott Marr said. “This is what semifinal and championship games are all about."

Vermont faced Albany twice already this season and prevailed by two goals in each contest. The championship is slated for Saturday at 10 a.m. Eastern at UMBC Stadium and will be televised on ESPNU. 

Full TV listings here.

Big Ten

“Can anyone stop the Maryland express?” Big Ten Analyst Mark Dixon asked late in Maryland’s first game in two weeks. 

The question at this point seems almost rhetorical. The undefeated and top-ranked Terrapins and Jared Bernhardt continue to prove peerless in the Big Ten, this time with a 16-8 victory over Michigan in conference semifinals. 

Bernhardt, the conference’s offensive player of the year who entered the Big Ten tournament with 43 goals and 19 assists through 10 games and earlier this season set the program’s all-time goals record, tallied a season- and career-high eight goals in seemingly every which way. He added two assists for a career-best 10 points. 

He broke Matt Rambo’s Maryland all-time points record on an assist in the second quarter to Colgate graduate transfer Griffin Brown that made the score 7-3. 

The 10-point outing is the third-most points in a Maryland men’s lacrosse game and the most since 1979. 

“I was home for a long time and away from the guys on the team,” Bernhardt said after the game on the Big Ten Network broadcast. “You definitely take it for granted some of that stuff once it’s taken away from you. Now that I’m back and with the guys, you just love it so much. I’m trying to give these guys something that I was fortunate to have my freshman year. I had a great senior group that kind of showed me the way, and I am trying to show some of these young guys.”

That way leads to the Big Ten tournament championship game, in which Maryland will try to claim its third conference tournament title and first since 2017 — Bernhardt’s freshman year. 

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SCORES 

America East Semifinals

No. 19 Vermont 10, No. 20 Stony Brook 7
Albany 14, No. 17 UMBC 12

CAA Semifinals

Hofstra 10, No. 11 Delaware 9 
No. 14 Drexel 13, UMass 8

Big Ten Semifinals

Maryland 16, Michigan 8 
Johns Hopkins 12, No. 5 Rutgers 10

Big East Semifinals

No. 7 Denver 14, Providence 5
No. 10 Georgetown 14, No. 13 Villanova 12