The Post-Week Tailgate: March 5, 2023

A top-five showdown between No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 4 Maryland was billed as the game of the week and boy did it deliver.

In a battle of All-Americans, Notre Dame’s Pat Kavanagh got half a step on Maryland’s Brett Makar and that was all he needed for a lefty finish as the Irish won 13-12 in triple overtime.

PAT KAVANAGH.

GAME-WINNER.@NDlacrosse wins a marathon game 13-12 over @TerpsMLax. pic.twitter.com/EJDdp1dN9n

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) March 4, 2023

Our editor Matt DaSilva was in College Park for the game and had more from the instant classic.

Meanwhile, an anticipated top-five showdown from the preseason – Georgetown at Princeton – instead featured a reeling Hoya team that started the season 0-3. The Hoyas bounced off the canvas and made some changes that helped result in a 13-10 victory over the No. 5 Tigers.

Closing out the weekend was a game that felt like a May game – Syracuse taking blow after blow from Duke before the Blue Devils eventually broke through for a 14-13 overtime win on Sunday afternoon.

Read on to find out more of what happened this weekend.

Random Observations

Is this the turning point? Georgetown opened the season with sky-high expectations, fueled by a strong returning cast and the addition of four grad transfers – Tucker Dordevic (Syracuse), Jacob Kelly (North Carolina), Brian Minicus (Colgate) and Nicky Solomon (North Carolina) – that combined for 485 points at their previous schools.

But opening against a brutal schedule – Johns Hopkins, Penn and Notre Dame – left the Hoyas at 0-3 before a road trip to top five Princeton. The new players made their mark in the Hoyas 13-10 win at Princeton on Saturday. Dordevic and Minicus each had hat tricks and Kelly and Solomon both scored.

A familiar face also played a big role. Sophomore goalie Michael Scharfenberger, who started and won three games last year, made his first start of the season and had a career-high 15 saves.

John Danowski’s ears are still ringing. A game in which Duke outshot Syracuse 65-32 and won 21 of 30 faceoffs, went to a nerve-wracking overtime. The reason? Outstanding goaltending from Syracuse’s Will Mark (27 saves) and a ridiculous number of pipes hit by Blue Devil shooters in Duke’s 14-13 win.

A quick review of the play-by-play from the official stats only showed Duke with five pipes hit, but it certainly seemed higher. Either way, the near misses helped create some serious drama.

Ending the drama was Duke freshman Charles Balsamo. Guarded by shortsticks all day, Balsamo ran down the right alley and buried his second goal of the game to give the Blue Devils the win.

FIRST EVER ROAD DUB AT CUSE SECURED

BALSAMO WITH THE GAMEWINNER!#GoDuke
ESPN pic.twitter.com/4D2m3YEfMI

— Duke Men's Lacrosse (@DukeMLAX) March 5, 2023

Why don’t school-produced web streams cut to commercials during breaks? We can only look at statues of Testudo so many times.

Almost doesn’t count when it comes to the NCAA tournament, so Denver’s 9-8 win at No. 9 North Carolina was huge as it attempts to send Bill Tierney off in style in his final season of coaching.

Denver, which lost in overtime to Duke on an earlier trip to Tobacco Road, didn’t trail until UNC went up 8-7 with 3:24 to play. The Pioneers answered the challenge, scoring the final two goals in regulation, winning it on J.J. Sillstop’s goal on the doorstep from Richie Connell with 1:23 to play.

In the battle of winged helmets, Michigan upset No. 17 Delaware 16-12, the Blue Hens second straight loss. Michigan scored seven times in the third quarter and held Delaware, playing without last year’s leading goal scorer Mike Robinson for the third straight game, to just three second-half goals.

Shane Carr, last year’s starter in goal for Michigan, struggled in the early going this year and the Wolverines turned to freshman Hunter Taylor. Carr came on at halftime against Delaware and made six saves while allowing just the three goals as the Wolverines rallied.

A defender’s dream. Johns Hopkins shortstick defensive midfielder Brett Martin got isolated behind the cage with the Blue Jays leading Saint Joseph’s by one with under 30 seconds to play. No worries. He stripped the ball to preserve the win and hand the Hawks their first loss of the season.

It seems like old times in Happy Valley. Back-to-back losing seasons didn’t cause Jeff Tambroni to adjust his scheduling. Penn State’s first six games include always tough Villanova and three of the best in the Ivy League – Yale, Penn and Cornell.

The Nittany Lions have now knocked off two of those three Ivy League teams heading into Saturday’s game at No. 3 Cornell. Yesterday, Penn State blanked Penn in the fourth quarter to win 15-9 and improve to 4-1.

Penn State has multiple weapons and on Saturday, grad transfer Kevin Winkoff emerged with a five-goal effort after scoring three combined goals in PSU’s first four games.

UMBC is playing with swagger. It’s not just that the Retrievers are 4-0 coming off an 8-4 win over Baltimore Beltway rival Towson on Sunday. When you watch them play, they look confident. Towson had taken nationally-ranked Loyola to overtime on Wednesday night, but UMBC looked in complete control against the Tigers.

Junior goalie Jayson Tingue has made 36 saves while allowing just 19 goals in the four wins, helping UMBC lead the country in scoring defense.

Sunday’s game came a day later than expected after an on-campus power outage caused a postponement. That gives the Retrievers a short turnaround before heading to Delaware on Tuesday night for an intriguing test.

By the Numbers

22 • Career-high saves for Yale’s Jared Paquette in the Bulldogs 18-9 victory at UMass on Friday. The previous high for the U.S. U21 gold medal winner was 20 against Princeton in last year’s NCAA tournament.

13 • Number of goals, combined, that Harvard has allowed in back-to-back wins over Bucknell and Vermont. The Crimson gave up that many in the first 17 minutes of the season against Virginia. Granted, the last two games haven’t been against the nation’s top offense, but Harvard’s defense is back to looking much more like a Gerry Byrne-coached team.

5 • Turnovers by Maryland in the overtime periods against Notre Dame, including one shot clock violation.

4 • Games this year in which Bryant has scored at least 15 goals. The only loss for the Bulldogs (3-1) this year was a 16-15 overtime loss to Boston University.

129 • Career goals for Villanova’s Matt Campbell, setting the Wildcats’ school record. He had a goal and two assists in a 15-8 win at Hofstra.

5 • Caused turnovers by Lehigh freshman Richard Checo in a 13-10 win at Navy. He has 18 in just four games to lead the country.

3-0 • Loyola’s record at home … and when wearing its chrome green helmets this season.

22 • Losing streak ended by NJIT with a 10-8 victory over Wagner. It was the Tigers first win since beating UMass-Lowell nearly two years ago on March 27, 2021.

44.9 • Virginia’s shooting percentage this season, tops in the nation. By comparison, Maryland led the country with a 39.1 percentage last year.

25 • Consecutive games won by Tampa, dating back to the 2021 NCAA tournament, before the reigning NCAA Division II champs were upset 14-12 by Frostburg State on Saturday.

17 • Saves by Georgia Tech freshman goalie Owen Armentrout as No. 2 Georgia Tech beat No. 1 Virginia Tech in a battle of the MCLA’s top two teams on Friday in Atlanta. Sam Eck had four goals, including the game-winner with 5:48 to play for the Yellow Jackets.

5 • Undefeated teams left in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse — Cornell, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, UMBC and Virginia.