The Cooldown: Army, Michigan, UMass Answer the Bell on Prove It Weekend

Call it Prove It Weekend.

Several teams looking to make a statement did just that this weekend, none more so than Army.

Army’s undefeated season ended with a loss to Boston University last weekend, and then BU turned around got beaten fairly handily by Harvard on Tuesday night. Did Army deserve the high rankings they were getting this season?

One would say yes after they gutted out a 13-12 victory over No. 5 North Carolina on Saturday. A senior-laden team was led by a pair of veterans with senior Jackson Eicher matching his career-high of six goals and junior Evan Plunkett adding a goal and five assists.

It was the second straight year Army beat North Carolina, but this one will carry some more weight if the Black Knights do stumble down the stretch in the always dangerous Patriot League. Early season wins over UMass, Rutgers and Yale were solid, but this is clearly the big one they needed for their at-large resume.

UMass is another team that showed it deserved the early-season attention it was getting. After opening the year with a loss to Army, the Minutemen ripped off seven straight wins before falling in overtime last weekend to Brown.

UMass got back on the winning side in a major way with an 11-10 win at No. 19 Saint Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams. Senior T.J. Casey won 14 of 17 faceoffs and the Minutemen continued to get big production from their freshman class with Robbie Granara scoring three goals and Owen Salanger making 13 saves.

Michigan showed its not a one-trick pony by following up its upset over then No. 1 Maryland with a big 11-8 victory over Johns Hopkins. Michigan scored the first four goals of the game and never trailed, but the Blue Jays rallied to tie the game 8-8 in the fourth quarter. Michigan’s stout defense then locked things down and the Wolverines scored the game’s final three goals. Both teams are now 6-4, but moving in different directions. The Wolverines are 2-0 in Big Ten play while Hopkins has dropped three of its last four games.