Another Saturday marked by upsets and down-to-the-wire finishes has left Division I men’s lacrosse in a state of blissful chaos.
Parity? Yes, indeed.
Three teams ranked in the top 11 of the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 suffered defeats Saturday, including defending NCAA champion and top-ranked Yale, which was victimized by Villanova in overtime for the second consecutive year.
Connor Kirst rolled underneath his defender on the wing and scored to lift the visiting Wildcats to an 11-10 victory — the 100th career win for Villanova coach Mike Corrado.
.@NovaLacrosse's Connor Kirst rolls underneath, calls game and down goes No. 1-ranked and defending @NCAALAX champion Yale 11-10 in OT pic.twitter.com/0rAgSwnBwx
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 16, 2019
No. 6 Denver, meanwhile, couldn’t hold onto a four-goal lead against No. 14 Duke, as the Blue Devils rallied in the fourth quarter for a 10-9 victory over the visiting Pioneers at rainy Koskinen Stadium.
Denver appeared to be in complete control, its defense blanketing Duke for the better part of three quarters and inducing the Blue Devils to commit 22 turnovers. But then Joe Robertson, who scored four fourth-quarter goals in Duke’s comeback win over the Pioneers last year, reprised his role as the sparkplug with three unanswered goals in a span of 1 minute, 55 seconds, igniting a five-goal run that put the Blue Devils ahead 9-7 with 2:51 remaining.
Then came the wild finish. A transition goal by Ellis Geis 26 seconds later and then Alex Simmons’ nifty inside finish with 19 seconds remaining drew Denver even at 9 apiece. After Duke won the ensuing faceoff, Joey Manown corralled a mishandled pass off the wet turf and calmly sunk the game-winning goal with an overhand blast from the right alley with 7 seconds remaining.
18 seconds left? No problem. MOEY FTW! pic.twitter.com/WHWTpylDbz
— Duke Men's Lacrosse (@DukeMLAX) February 16, 2019
No. 11 Rutgers also suffered its first loss of the season, at the hands of a surprising Army team that knocked off its second ranked foe in as many weeks after defeating UMass last week. Brendan Nichtern scored the go-ahead goal with 3:45 remaining and the Black Knights held on for a 10-9 victory in a similarly back-and-forth affair Saturday in Piscataway, N.J.
Not to be forgotten, High Point, which stunned then-No. 2 Duke in Durham 10 days ago, proved its new No. 13 ranking was no fluke. Despite trailing Drexel for nearly the entire game, the Panthers scored the last two goals of regulation and then defeated the Dragons 15-14 on Koby Russell’s game-winning goal with just 41 seconds left in overtime.
Asher Nolting and Tim Troutner, heroes of the Duke win, stepped up again. Nolting finished with two goals and three assists, feeding Russell for the winner, while Troutner made 10 of his 13 saves after halftime.
.@HPUMensLax is here to stay. Despite trailing for most of the game, the No. Panthers scored the last two goals of regulation and defeated @DrexelMLax 15-14 on Koby Russell’s GWG with 0:41 left in OT. ( @kevinptucker) pic.twitter.com/gR2ZUDBept
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 16, 2019
More from Saturday:
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Tewaaraton favorite Pat Spencer was masterful with three goals and four assists — including two behind-the-back crease feeds and an ankle-breaking jab step — as No. 3 Loyola dominated No. 20 Johns Hopkins 18-12. Kevin Lindley added four goals for the Greyhounds, who dealt the Blue Jays their second straight defeat to a Baltimore-area foe to start the season. Johns Hopkins likely will drop out of the rankings this week.
Pat Spencer, the Maestro, GOT BUSY today at Homewood Field. A compilation for your viewing pleasure, as No. 3 @LoyolaMLAX defeats No. 20 Johns Hopkins 18-12 behind 3G, 4A from the @Tewaaraton favorite ( #ESPN3) pic.twitter.com/AQCcfovMKk
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 16, 2019
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Syracuse, which dropped out of the USILA coaches poll for the first time since 2012 and also fell out of the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 after its season-opening loss to Colgate, showed some life with a 13-5 victory over No. 16. Albany. Bradley Voigt scored a career-high six goals for the Orange.
VOIGT VIBES
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 17, 2019
Led by career-high 6G by Bradley Voigt, @CuseMLAX rebounded from a season-opening loss to Colgate with a convincing 13-5 win over No. 16 Albany.
Saturday Wrap: https://t.co/gFACXsAilj pic.twitter.com/YC3LXeAWTG
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Matthew Pedicine won an NCAA Division I record 32 faceoffs and Jason Knox set Hobart record (Division I era) with nine goals in the Statesmen’s 22-12 victory over Siena. Coupled with a 21-12 season-opening win over Canisius, Hobart has piled up 43 goals in two games.
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No. 5 Penn State continued its torrid start, torching Stony Brook 17-4 to improve to 3-0. Mac O’Keefe scored seven goals, the last of which was the 100th of his career. The Nittany Lions have outscored their three opponents 61-21.
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No. 3 Maryland continues to play with fire, but has yet to be burned. The Terps, who nearly coughed up a six-goal lead against Richmond last week, required a stellar performance from goalie Danny Dolan (18 saves) and an overtime winner by Roman Puglise to eke past Penn 13-12. Dolan ranged to his left to make a last-second stop on Quakers long pole Kyle Thornton and send the game to overtime. Maryland won the OT faceoff, with Nick Brozowski scooping the ground ball and feeding Puglise in the middle of the field for the clinching goal.
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Two results that will garner little notice but say something about the teams’ up-and-coming status: Cleveland State, after pushing both Ohio State and Michigan to the limit, pasted Bellarmine 17-8, while first-year Utah hung with long-time lacrosse power Hofstra for most of the way in a 14-10 defeat. Josh Stout, top scorer in the country, put up five goals in the losing cause.
Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s
Top 20 Scoreboard
Villanova 11, No. 1 Yale 10
No. 2 Maryland 13, Penn 12 (OT)
No. 3 Loyola 18, No. 20 Johns Hopkins 12
No. 5 Penn State 17, Stony Brook 4
No. 14 Duke 10, No. 6 Denver 9
No. 7 Notre Dame 19, Detroit Mercy 6
No. 8 North Carolina 16, Harvard 11
Army 10, No. 11 Rutgers 9
No. 12 Ohio State 11, UMass 7
No. 13 High Point 15, Drexel 14
No. 15 Colgate 16, Binghamton 10
Syracuse, 13, No. 16 Albany 5
No. 17 Georgetown 14, Robert Morris 11
No. 18 Princeton 23, Monmouth 7