The Post-Week Tailgate: March 17, 2024

Last week I checked off a bucket list item – spending a day at Madison Square Garden watching the Big East men’s basketball tournament. The Garden was electric and it was everything I hoped it would be.

It was also a reminder of how lacrosse is set up so much better than many sports for dramatic finishes.

In hoops, you have endless timeouts and the inevitable fouling by the trailing team, hoping for missed free throws. It crushes the flow of the game. In football, you’ve got prevent defenses and kneel downs.

The combination of the shot clock, limited timeouts and the ability to string faceoff wins together to ignite a comeback positions lacrosse for way better end-games than other sports. Other than the leading team milking the clock some, the game doesn’t really change.

I hope coaches, that inevitably want to alter the faceoff rules, don’t forget about how valuable a role the faceoff plays in keeping the game alive. Can you imagine being down by two goals, getting a score and then not even get a chance to win the ball if something like alternating possessions were used?

College lacrosse’s end-game magic was on full display in Sunday’s 15-14 Cornell victory over Princeton. Both defenses came up big down the stretch during edge-of-your-seat watching and Cornell defenseman Matt Dooley scored his first career goal on a fast break with 1.9 seconds remaining to give the Big Red the win.

What a time to have your first career goal...

Sophomore defender Matt Dooley kicks it into overdrive and fires home the game winner with 1.9 seconds to go to clinch @CornellLacrosse's fourth straight dub over its @ivyleague foe. #YellCornell | #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/de2wDwQvZH

— Cornell Big Red (@CornellSports) March 17, 2024

Sometimes, change is not for the better.

Random Observations

The poise of two freshmen jumped out at me this weekend.

The first was Duke freshman goalie Patrick Jameision. Duke coach John Danowski, not known for throwing high praise towards freshmen, said in the preseason that Jameison was “as good as advertised.”

Through nine games, he might be better than advertised.

With Duke’s offense in a rare position of struggling to get going against Richmond on Saturday, Jameison was unfazed. The Devils scored just two goals in the first 25 minutes of the game, but found themselves still tied 2-2 thanks to eight first half saves by Jameison.

Duke eventually got the offense and track and picked up a 12-3 road victory.

The rookie from the Philadelphia suburbs has a 61.5 save percentage through his first nine games and last week made 17 saves while allowing just four goals in a pair of Duke wins.

The second performance came from Virginia’s McCabe Millon. Millon has put up points all season, but what matters most is what players do with the game on the line.

Maryland scored three straight goals, in a span of just 92 seconds, to cut Virginia’s lead to 12-10 early in the fourth quarter. The Terps had all of the momentum and a vocal crowd cheering them on.

Millon was running down the right alley and rubbed off a pick. Maryland made a half-hearted attempt to bump out from the pick, but Millon was able to easily get his hands free. He never hesitated and buried the shot that killed Maryland’s momentum.

Millon, the son of two Hall of Fame players – including Maryland alum Erin Brown Millon – ranks second for the Cavaliers with 21 goals and third with 30 points. He’s shooting a strong 42 percent and has hat tricks in five of his first seven games.

Is there anything sturdier than Oak? Not for Quinnipiac’s men’s lacrosse team. Quinnipiac is now one of just two undefeated teams remaining after a 14-8 victory over Wagner on Saturday. Quinnipiac starting goalie Mason Oak has played all 360 minutes in the Bobcats 6-0 start, making 98 saves while allowing 55 goals for a 64.1 save percentage. Oak’s 14 saves against Wagner was actually a season-low in his stellar campaign.

NJIT's undefeated season came to an end with a 12-9 loss to Vermont behind five goals from the Catamounts Charlie Pope. Battling one of the America East's perennial powers shows just how far the NJIT program has come. Goalie Liam Brown acknowledged NJIT has been a bit of meme this year, but they shouldn't be. They're playing great lacrosse.

By the Numbers

30 • Minutes the start of the Navy game at Johns Hopkins was delayed due to travel issues for Navy on Friday. Max Hewitt made the wait worth it as his overtime goal gave the Midshipmen a 10-9 win.

3 • One-goal losses for Johns Hopkins this season. The Blue Jays have now lost in overtime to Denver and Navy and lost by one to Syracuse.

1958 • The last time Army started a season 7-0. The Black Knights won the national championship that season, finishing 9-0, and this year’s team has matched that start following an 18-12 win over Lehigh on Saturday.

276 • Career points for Virginia’s Connor Shellenberger, just one away from the school record of 277 set by Matt Moore. Shellenberger will go for the record when the Cavaliers host Albany on Tuesday afternoon.

5 • Points for Cornell freshman Ryan Goldstein in his first collegiate game. Goldstein, the son of National Lacrosse Hall of Famer Tim Goldstein, had three goals and two assists in the Big Red’s 15-14 win over Princeton, including a game-tying goal with 5:20 to play. His father, a gold-medal winner on the 1990 U.S. team, set a then-NCAA record with 73 assists in 1987 when he became just the second men’s Division I player to notch 100 points in a season.

250 • Career wins for North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi after the Tar Heels beat Stony Brook 12-8 on Saturday.

8 • Goalies that made at least 19 saves on Saturday. Delaware’s Kevin Ellington made 20 in the Blue Hens 14-6 loss to Syracuse. Boston University’s Will Staudt made 19 in a 12-10 win over Loyola where Greyhounds’ goalie Luke Staudt also made 19. Rutgers’ Cardin Stoller made 19 in a 10-9 win over Massachusetts. The other 19-save efforts all came in losses: Detroit Mercy’s Ryan Richters, Harvard’s Christian Barnard, Lehigh’s Nick Pecora and Stony Brook’s Tommy Wilk.