The Post-Week Tailgate: February 26, 2023

Let it snow, let it snow.

Is it really February lacrosse if Mother Nature doesn’t make her presence felt? Whether it was flurries in Ithaca, sideways snow in New Haven, a blanketed turf in Hamilton or a whiteout in Burlington, the weather was far from delightful this weekend.

OH YEAH SNOW GAME.

Lacrosse is a spring sport. Lacrosse is a spring sport. Lacrosse is a spring sport.

Beautiful scenes out of @ColgateMLax. pic.twitter.com/D5v7y4vWWj

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) February 25, 2023

Unless, of course, you happened to be playing in Naples, where Marquette, Michigan, Ohio State and Virginia enjoyed warm sunshine while playing in the Southwest Florida Shootout doubleheader.

Or perhaps in the always cozy JMA Wireless Dome — that’s still hard to say/write — where North Carolina won a shootout over Syracuse.

Random Observations

C.J. Kirst, he’s a handful. The family name made him a known quantity before he began his college career, but the Cornell attackman is carving his own path. 55 goals last year, a gold medal in the summer with the U.S. U21 team and now nine goals in his first two games this year. He had a hat trick in Cornell’s 12-5 win over Lehigh, the third goal starting a game-closing 7-0 run that stretched for over 40 minutes for the Big Red.

Raise your hand if you had this on your bingo card. Nine days into the Ivy League season, there are just two undefeated teams left in the league that sent six teams to the tournament a year ago — Cornell and … Dartmouth? The Big Green dominated Holy Cross 17-6 to improve to 2-0 to start the season for just the second time since 2012.

New year. Same Result. Different meaning. Penn State beat Yale last year, so another Nittany Lions win in the series isn’t shocking. But Saturday’s 13-11 win, fueled by an 8-1 first quarter and five goals from Matt Traynor, should be a major boost for the Nittany Lions. After back-to-back losing seasons and a disappointing early-season loss to Villanova this year, Penn State is suddenly 3-1 and riding high.

Four games, three goalies. John Tillman certainly didn’t expect this, but Maryland is adjusting on the fly. After losing All-American goalie Logan McNaney to injury, Tillman turned to Binghamton grad transfer Teddy Dolan for last week’s 15-12 victory against Syracuse.

On Saturday, true freshman Brian Ruppel made his first career start and finished with 14 saves in an 11-5 win over Princeton. Ruppel made eight saves in the opening half, allowing just one goal in those 30 minutes. It was the most saves in a first-career start for a Maryland goalie since a pretty fair player named Brian Dougherty made 23 back in 1994.

Brian Ruppel started his first game for @TerpsMLax.

He made  saves en route to an 11-5 win over @TigerLacrosse.

Terps pick up a BIG win. pic.twitter.com/YkU7D3lfUF

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) February 25, 2023

With Brett Makar leading a stout defense in front of him, or Dolan, Maryland certainly seems capable of banking on its defense in making a run to defend its national championship. 

How high can the Hawks fly? When we listed Saint Joseph’s at No. 20 in the preseason, some fans squawked that we had them too low. Some coaches felt they would take a step back following a 14-win in season in 2022 when they pushed Yale to the brink in the NCAA tournament.

Through three games, it’s been smooth sailing for the Hawks who seem to be proving the coaches wrong. St. Joe’s is a perfect 3-0 with 52 goals scored, fueled by Zach Cole’s faceoff dominance (77.2 percent). Up next are two big measuring sticks – games against Johns Hopkins (March 4) and Penn (March 8).

Is there a quieter star than Villanova’s Matt Campbell? He’s been a third team and second team USILA All-American the last two years, but do people really appreciate how good he is? On Sunday, he scored five goals, including the game-winner with 1:39 remaining in a 13-12 win over previously unbeaten Delaware.

Delaware had scored three straight goals to tie the game, but Villanova, and Campbell, never panicked as he ran down the right alley to score the winner. Delaware coach Ben DeLuca certainly won’t be sad to see the graduate student move on. In four career games against the Blue Hens, Campbell has scored 22 goals.

How do you stop Virginia’s offense? Ohio State defenseman Bobby Van Buren was simply spectacular on Saturday night, holding Connor Shellenberger to just two assists, and yet Virginia dominated the Buckeyes 17-6.

Van Buren neutralized Shellenberger’s dodging game and had a couple of caused turnovers, but

Shellenberger never pressed. He played within himself and let the other parts of the offense do their thing.

None bigger than Payton Cormier, who had seven goals in the win. Perhaps the best finisher in the college game, he has 15 goals in the first three games of the season.

Virginia had 11 assists on its goals, and two of the unassisted goals came from faceoff / goal scoring specialist Petey LaSalla in unsettled situations. More on him below.

By the Numbers

200 • Career wins for Albany’s Scott Marr after the Great Danes beat Drexel 11-7 on Saturday. Marr has coached at Albany since 2000, one of the longest-tenured coaches in the country at one school.

5 • Consecutive goals for Rutgers to open the third quarter, breaking a 4-4 tie, in its 10-6 win over Loyola. Harvard grad transfer Kyle Mullin made 16 saves for the Scarlet Knights. Loyola should have keep wearing its chrome green helmets.

4 • Consecutive wins for High Point after opening the season with a 12-goal loss to Duke. The Panthers swept Navy and Hampton this weekend. Yes, there is life after Asher Nolting.

16 • Combined national championships between North Carolina and Syracuse. For two teams trying to climb back to championship level, they put on a show Saturday that was downright fun. The Tar Heels outscored the Orange 19-13 behind eight points (4g, 4a) from Logan McGovern. They’ll meet again on April 15.

6-foot-5 • Listed height for Towson’s Joaquin Villagomez and he looks even bigger than that on the field. The freshman attackman has scored in each of his first three collegiate games and has eight goals for the season.

36 • Number of the 45 players on UMBC’s roster that are from the state of Maryland. The homegrown talent has the Retrievers off to a 2-0 start with comfortable wins over Drexel and Mount St. Mary’s. After hosting St. Bonaventure on Wednesday, UMBC faces two of its bigger regional rivals — Towson (March 4) and Delaware (March 7).

6 • Goals for Virginia faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla after just three games. LaSalla has scored twice in each of Virginia’s first three games. Think about that – the nation’s best offense and the faceoff specialist is tied for third on the team in goals.

4 • Number of teams that have made it to 3-0 this season and then lost in their fourth game after Delaware got beat by Villanova on Sunday, joining Merrimack, Navy and Syracuse in that club. Notre Dame, Saint Joseph’s and Virginia all head into this week at 3-0.