Army Beats Navy and Patriot League Has Six-Way Tie

Another week, more chaos in the Patriot League.

With just two weeks to go in the regular season, there is a SIX-WAY tie for first place in the league following a pair of upsets on Saturday. Lucky for us, the Patriot League has its tie-breaker procedures directly on its standings page.

Boston University, Colgate and Navy came into the day in a three-way atop the standings. All three lost.

Lafayette, which is not one of the teams now tied for first, beat No. 15 Boston University 11-10. Peter Lehman scored the game-winner as time expired on a fast-break goal following a save by Joe Doherty (12 saves0. The win was the first for Leopards in 10 all-time meetings against BU.

Bedlam in Boston.@GoLeopards #RollPards | #DMGB #HTB pic.twitter.com/6dTTCgjvWs

— Lafayette Men’s Lacrosse (@LafayetteMLAX) April 13, 2024

Lehigh picked up its first victory over a ranked team under first-year head coach Will Scudder, as the Mountain Hawks beat No. 16 Colgate 9-7. Lehigh scored the first five goals of the game and never trailed, but Colgate pulled to within one goal three times, the last with 3:37 to play. Lehigh’s Scott Cole iced it just 44 seconds later and he and Quinn Armstrong each scored four goals.

A non-upset on a national scale, but one that helped create the logjam in league play was No. 11 Army West point beating Navy 13-8 in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated.

Army jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, but the Black Knights went nearly two quarters without a goal and Navy tied the game 7-7 early on the fourth quarter on a Max Hewitt goal. Army’s offense then came to life as they scored five goals in about five-and-half minutes in the fourth quarter to pull away. Paul Johnson had the go-ahead goal and Gunnar Fellows scored twice during the key run.

Army goalie Sean Byrne made 19 saves to outduel Navy’s Dan Daly who finished with 14 saves.

The six-way logjam at 4-2 in league play includes Army West Point, Boston University, Colgate, Lehigh, Loyola and Navy.

Elsewhere in the USA Lacrosse Top 20

No. 6 Maryland secured a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament with an 11-6 win at Rutgers. Logan McNaney made 15 saves in the victory and the Terps beat the Scarlet Knights for the 19th straight time. Daniel Kelly led Maryland’s offense with three goals and an assist.

Jack Fracyon made a career-high 19 saves as No. 7 Penn State snapped a two-game winning streak with a 14-8 victory over Michigan, which has lost three straight since beating Maryland earlier this season. TJ Malone had five goals and two assists for the Nittany Lions.

No. 8 Yale was on the ropes after falling behind 7-1 at Dartmouth and trailing 10-7 at the half, but the Bulldogs bounced back in a big way to clinch a berth in the Ivy League tournament. Yale scored the first 12 goals of the second half – part of a 14-goal run overall to win its fifth straight game. Matt Brandau continued his torrid scoring pace with four goals and five assists and David Anderson had five goals.

No. 12 Syracuse snapped a two-game losing streak, holding off a late charge from North Carolina to post a 10-9 victory in Chapel Hill. After falling behind 3-0 early, Syracuse scored seven straight goals and held a 10-4 lead late in the third quarter. North Carolina scored the final five goals of the game, the last coming with 1:48 still remaining. Syracuse goalie Will Mark made one of his 13 saves down the stretch and LSM Saam Olexo caused a turnover on UNC’s final possession. Joey Spallina had a goal and five assists for Syracuse.

No. 13 Penn rallied from an early four-goal deficit and scored the final three goals of the game – all in the last 4:14 of gametime – to beat No. 18 Harvard, 15-12 and clinch an Ivy League tournament spot. Cam Rubin had six goals and two assists for the Quakers and Emmet Carroll piled up 18 saves in his impressive season. Sam King had six goals for Harvard.

Marcus Wertheim scored the go-ahead goal with 2:24 to play as Brown upset No. 14 Princeton, 13-12. Connor Theriault preserved the win with a late save for Brown, one of 14 he had on the day. Spencer Hughes had four goals for Brown while Ben Locke and Aidan McLane each scored three times.

Zach Vigue made 12 saves while allowing just five goals as No. 17 Richmond shut down High Point 9-5. The Spiders did most of their damage in the second quarter, outscoring the Panthers 5-0 I the frame. Richmond midfielder Jack Pilling had five caused turnovers and added an assist. Gavin Creo, Max Merklinger and Dalton Young all scored twice for Richmond.

No. 19 Towson stayed perfect in the CAA, posting its fifth straight win, beating Hampton 25-2. Hampton scored the first goal of the game and the Tigers led just 2-1 after the first quarter, but Towson blanked the Pirates in the second and third quarters. Matt Burnam and Nick DeMaio each scored five times for Towson. Hampton goalie David Sadasivum made 15 saves in three quarters of action.

Notable

Siena scored four goals in just 44 seconds, rallying from a three-goal deficit with under a minute to play to stun Manhattan 11-10. “I’ve been coaching for 16 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Siena head coach Liam Gleason. Caden Olmstead scored the winner with three seconds remaining and Dylan Pape, who won 15 of 22 faceoffs in the game, won the three critical faceoffs down the stretch to allow the comeback.

😱😱😱😱 CADEN OLMSTEAD FOR THE WIN‼️

HOW ABOUT 4⃣ GOALS IN 4⃣4⃣.5⃣ SECONDS TO COMPLETE ONE OF THE MOST IMPROBABLE COMEBACKS IN PROGRAM HISTORY⁉️#MarchOn x #SienaSaints pic.twitter.com/q4vxWz2ahw

— Siena Lacrosse (@SienaLacrosse) April 13, 2024

Sacred Heart clinched the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season championship for the first time in school history with a 16-5 win at Mount St. Mary’s. The Pioneers have won eight straight games, all in the league. Morgan O’Reilly had six goals and two assists for Sacred Heart.

Atlantic 10 leader Saint Joseph’s beat Hobart 12-7 to record its eight straight victory after opening the season 0-3. The Hawks scored the first five goals of the game and were led by Matt Bohmer with four goals and two assists.

Kevin Ellington made a career-high 21 saves and JP Ward became the third player in Delaware history to record both 100 career goals and assists as the Blue Hens beat Stony Brook 16-12.

Vermont kept its America East tournament hopes alive with a 16-12 win at Bryant, the Catamounts first win ever in Smithfield, R.I. George Egan made 17 saves in the win.