The Post-Week Tailgate: April 2, 2023

For the fourth week in a row, we’re likely to have a change at the top of Nike / USA Lacrosse NCAA Division I men’s rankings.

Duke continued its bewildering mastery of Virginia – beating the No. 1 ranked Cavaliers for the 17^th straight time in the regular season dating back to 2004 – with a 16-14 triumph at rainy Klöckner Stadium. Will that thrust No. 3 Duke, with eight straight wins, into the top spot?

It’s hard to imagine it won’t.

Notre Dame entered the week at No. 2 and had a dominant fourth quarter in a 20-12 win at Syracuse, but Notre Dame’s best win of the season – Maryland – lost some luster with the Terps getting upset by Michigan yesterday. Given Duke’s head-to-head win over Virginia, which beat Notre Dame just last week, the Blue Devils should be on the top perch.

The ACC, a year after getting just one team in the tournament, is reasserting itself in 2023.

Random Observations

It feels more and more like the Tewaaraton is becoming a two-man race between Cornell’s C.J. Kirst and Duke’s Brennan O’Neill. O’Neill took advantage of a nationally-televised spotlight on Friday night with a performance for the ages – six goals and three assists – in the Blue Devils win at Virginia. For a guy who has been in the spotlight since making a collegiate commitment in eight grade, he keeps on shining.

All of the sudden Navy has won two straight games – upsetting Boston University 10-8 on Friday night. Navy, which had lost six straight before its last two wins, snapped the Terriers’ seven-game winning streak.

A tough travel week had less than ideal returns for Jacksonville. The Dolphins, buoyed by an early-season win over Duke, entered the week No. 9 in the Nike / USA Lacrosse rankings. Jacksonville had to gut out a 14-12 win at Cleveland State on Wednesday and then got blitzed early by Utah before falling 18-15 on Friday night. Utah went on a 11-1 run spanning the first and second quarters before Jacksonville regrouped.

Utah, which started 1-4 against a tough early-season schedule, has now won four straight league games to lead the Atlantic Sun at 4-0, including wins over the two one-loss teams in the league — Air Force and Jacksonville. The Utes have nine players in double-digits points this season and have scored at least 13 goals in seven of their nine games.

One of the annual highlights of the Franklin Field calendar is the Penn Relays. On Saturday, Penn and Yale had their own track meet at the historic venue. Kenny DeJohn was in Philadelphia for Penn’s 17-16 comeback victory.

“You know they’re coming.” Those were the words of Paul Carcaterra early in the fourth quarter after Maryland had scored to cut Michigan’s lead to two goals. But Michigan was more than ready and stayed aggressive to pick up a massive win, beating the Terps 16-11 in College Park. It was Michigan’s first win over Maryland in 11 tries.

FINAL: Michigan 16, No. 2 Maryland 11

The win is the first Big Ten victory over a top-five team in program history, and the first victory over the Terrapins.#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/o0BxMP2ZrV

— Michigan Men's Lacrosse (@UMichLacrosse) April 1, 2023

In the age of the shot clock, does the 10-man ride still make sense? Quint Kessenich brought up this point during the Duke-Virginia game and it does feel like we’ve seen a rise in empty-netters in 2023.

Weather is a fickle thing. Virginia had a strong crowd despite constant rain on Friday night against Duke, but as I watched Johns Hopkins and Rutgers at Homewood Field on Saturday and Penn State and Ohio State at Panzer Stadium on Sunday – both playing before nice crowds on sun-splashed days, it rekindled my disdain for February lacrosse. The sport is flat-out wasting opportunities for exposure by starting so early.

Matt DaSilva opined on Friday that the Atlantic 10 could be a wild ride this season. He was on the mark. UMass scored two goals in the final five minutes to beat High Point 12-10, Saint Joseph’s and Richmond were tied with under four minutes to play before the Hawks won 14-12 and Hobart put on a show with 14 goal scorers in a 24-10 win over St. Bonaventure.

I don’t know how good Syracuse is, but I do know this – every Orange game is exciting. Saturday was no exception as the Orange dug out of an early hole to come back and take a lead on Notre Dame in the fourth quarter. The Irish responded, that’s really not a strong enough word, with nine straight goals to win 20-12 in the dome.

Who saw Johns Hopkins at the top of the Big Ten? Back-to-back early-season losses to North Carolina and Loyola made it easy to write off a Blue Jays team coming off of a 7-9 season, but Saturday’s 16-12 win over Rutgers sees the Blue Jays atop the Big Ten standings at 2-0. Experience gained as a result of some early season injuries is playing a factor.

There are times this year when Ohio State’s defense seems suffocating, but not on Sunday against Penn State. The Nittany Lions scored six times in the first 17 minutes of the game and brought back visions of the dominant Grant Ament-Mac O'Keefe era in a 17-9 victory over the Buckeyes. Jack Traynor and Matt Traynor each had hat tricks and Mac Costin had a game-high six points (3g, 3a) for the Nittany Lions.

By the Numbers

10 • First-quarter goals for Cornell in a 22-11 win over Dartmouth. C.J. Kirst had five goals in the win, the fifth time in eight games this season that he’s had at least five goals.

251 • School-record tying career points for Delaware’s Tye Kurtz. Kurtz had four goals and four assists in a 19-1 win over Hampton to tie Anthony DiMarzio’s school mark. Kurtz is also just three goals behind Curtis Dickson’s school-record total of 162 career goals.

217 • School-record career points for Villanova’s Matt Campbell. Campbell had three goals and five assists, tying his personal best of eight points in a game, in the Wildcats’ 18-8 win over St. John’s.

111 • School-record career assists for Notre Dame’s Pat Kavanagh. Kavanagh had two goals and three assists in the Irish’s 20-12 win at Syracuse.

133 • School-record career points for Bellermine’s Kyle Playsted. Playsted had four goals and three assists in the Knights 18-7 win over Lindenwood.

1 • Division I conference wins for Queens. The Royals beat Detroit Mercy 9-5 on Saturday in Charlotte behind 16 saves from Wesley Wheat to pick up the program’s first Atlantic Sun victory.

5 • Consecutive wins for Georgetown, which stifled Denver 13-6 to continue its bounce back from an 0-3 start this season.

8 • Consecutive wins for Army, which beat Colgate 12-7 on Saturday. Junior Matt Chess made his first career start in goal and finished with 12 saves.

21 • School record goals scored by Binghamton in a 21-10 win over UMass-Lowell. The Bearcats have won four straight games and are 3-0 in America East play.

2013 • The last time Drexel started a season 3-0 in CAA play. The Dragons beat Fairfield 15-11 to win their fourth straight game overall in 2023.

2012 • The last time VMI had won a conference game on the road before beating Canisius 11-10 in overtime on Saturday on Hartley Jordan’s goal. VMI’s five wins this season is the most for the school since the 2008 team went 6-10 and reached the MAAC championship game.

86.4 • Season-best faceoff winning percentage for Lehigh’s Mike Sisselberger. Sisselberger won 19 of 22 in the Mountain Hawks 15-9 victory over rival Lafayette.

19 • Saves for Providence goalie James Corasaniti as the Friars opened Big East play with an impressive 16-14 win over Marquette.