The Post-Week Tailgate: April 8, 2023

The game of hot potato as the No. 1 team in the country has been passed back to Notre Dame as the Irish did something no one else has been able to do this season – shut down Duke’s Brennan O’Neill.

No. 2 Notre Dame beat No. 1 Duke, 17-12, on a gorgeous day in South Bend, Ind., and the Irish should see their name at the top of the Nike/USA Lacrosse rankings on Monday. It will mark the fifth straight week with a new team at the top of the standings.

Nike/USA Lacrosse No. 1 team in the country

• March 13: Virginia

• March 20: Notre Dame

• March 27: Virginia

• April 3: Duke

• April 10: TBA, but you can put your money on Notre Dame

Brothers Chris Kavanagh (5g) and Pat Kavanagh (3g, 5a) did much of the damage for Notre Dame, including Pat scoring or assisting on five of Notre Dame’s game-changing seven second-quarter goals, but the star of the day was Notre Dame defenseman Chris Fake.

Fake, a graduate transfer from Yale, limited to O’Neill to just one goal – a man-up tally in the third quarter – and no assists. O’Neill had at least four points in every game this season before Saturday and was coming off of a 6-goal, 3-assist effort against Virginia.

Quite the effort from Fake – who also had three groundballs and two caused turnovers. The three-time USILA All-American began his college career with an NCAA championship at Yale in 2018. Could he end it with one at Notre Dame in 2023?

Random Observations

The most talked about story of the weekend had nothing to do with play on the field. Maryland beat Ohio State in an overtime thriller on Friday night, coming back from a three-goal deficit, but all anyone was talking about was Ohio State losing possession of the ball in a tie-game late after Maryland coach John Tillman questioned the officials about Ohio State having players with different dominant colors on their gloves.

The Big Ten is bringing the drama. You had the controversy in the Maryland-Ohio State overtime game, Rutgers went to overtime beating Michigan 13-12 on Shane Knobloch’s goal on Friday night and then Johns Hopkins and Penn State decided one overtime wasn’t enough on Saturday night. Kevin Winkoff took advantage of a failed clear by the Blue Jays and buried a shot from the point to give the Nittany Lions a 12-11 win in double overtime.

Penn State’s win moves them into a three-way tie atop the league standings at 2-1 with Johns Hopkins and Maryland. Michigan, Ohio State and Rutgers are all one game back at 1-2. It’s going to be a wild few weeks.

Bill Tierney Day turned out to be an appropriate tribute for the Hall of Fame coach. Denver used a dominant defensive effort to knock off No. 8 Villanova, 12-6, in Denver. Denver held Villanova scoreless for a stretch of over 30 minutes to pick up its third Top 20 win of the year in Tierney’s final season as head coach. Villanova’s Matt Campbell, among the Tewaaraton Award frontrunners, was held to just a single assist.

A hot Cornell start did not lead to the anticipated storyline. CJ Kirst scored 57 seconds into the game and No. 4 Cornell jumped on Harvard quickly with a 3-0 lead, but the Crimson played one of their best defensive games of the season in a 10-8 upset over the Big Red. Kirst did his usual damage with four goals and an assist, but Cornell committed 19 turnovers and Harvard goalie Christian Barnard made 16 saves to fuel the upset.

It's been anything but normal for Georgetown in 2023, but the Hoyas have won six straight games after a 13-11 win over Providence on Saturday. Its 0-3 start is starting to feel like a distant memory.

Joseph Persico continues to be one of the best stories of the season. The graduate student at Manhattan had not seen a minute of playing time before the season began. On Saturday, he made nine saves while allowing just six goals, allowing the Jaspers to rally past VMI 8-6. He lowered his national-best goals against average to 7.91.

Brown kept its postseason hopes alive. It’s only early April, but Brown picked up a must-win for its Ivy League tournament chances. The Bears scored five times in the fourth quarter to beat Penn 12-11 and avoid falling to 0-3 in league play.  

Bryant and Vermont did their parts to set up a huge showdown next Saturday. Bryant, in its first year in America East knocked off Albany 20-16 on Saturday to move to 4-0 in the league while Vermont, the league’s measuring stick the last few seasons, also went to 4-0 with an 11-9 win over Binghamton. The Catamounts host Bryant next Saturday.

By the Numbers

23 • Saves by Navy goalie Pat Ryan as the Mids upset Loyola, 11-10, for the second straight Friday night win over a Top 20 opponent. Henry Tolker had a career-best six goals in the win.

19 • Goals scored by Virginia in a seven-goal win at North Carolina, even playing without playmaker Connor Shellenberger. Shellenberger was sidelined with an injury.

2013 • The last time Bellarmine had beaten Air Force before the Knights held on to beat the Falcons 11-10 on Saturday in an Atlantic Sun game.

256 • Career points for Delaware’s Tye Kurtz, setting a new school record for the Blue Hens. Kurtz had four goals and an assist in a 17-7 win over Fairfield, also giving him a school record 163 career goals. A fitting effort on a day when Delaware celebrated the 75^th anniversary of its lacrosse program.

5 • Wins so far for Lafayette after beating Holy Cross 17-11 on Saturday. It’s the most wins in a season for the Leopards since the 2010 team went 8-6.

11 • Points scored by Jacksonville’s Jacob Greiner (6g, 5a), tying the school’s single-game record. The Dolphins’ Nathan Kapp won 21 of 26 faceoffs in the game, going over the 600 career wins mark in the process.

9 • Points scored by Syracuse’s Joey Spallina (4g, 5a) in the Orange’s 16-13 win at Princeton – the first time the longtime rivals had played each other since 2013.

26 • School-record goals scored by Utah in a 26-16 win at Robert Morris. The Utes have won five straight games.

21 • Season-high goals scored by Yale, including 16 in the first half, in a 21-11 win over Dartmouth. It was the first Ivy League win of the season for the Bulldogs.

95.2 • Faceoff winning percent (20 of 21) for Lehigh’s Michael Sisselberger in the Mountain Hawks 11-8 win over Bucknell. The All-American and U.S. training team member is heating up, winning 39 of 43 in the last two games.

2007 • The last time Drexel was 4-0 in conference play. Max Semple’s overtime goal lifted the Dragons to a 15-14 win over Stony Brook, their fifth straight win this season.

9 • Consecutive wins for Army. It wasn’t easy, but Gunnar Fellows hat trick included the game-winner with 3:44 left in a 10-9 win over Colgate.