Professional PLL
06:00 PM
Jul 19
Phi
Den
Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Time is running out for teams looking to boost their at-large tournament chances.
Two things start happening in April — conference heavyweights emerge and a team’s postseason hopes live or die. On Friday afternoon, No. 5 Colorado and Stanford collide in a game that means an awful lot to the Cardinal.
Stanford has pedigree and is 7-3, but has just one win over a team with a winning record (Harvard) and two of its three losses have come to unranked teams (Duke and Yale). Stanford still has a game with USC and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation touranment coming up, but it has little margin for error. The Cardinal have ended Colorado’s season the last three years in the MPSF semifinals and are 6-0 all-time against the Buffs. On Senior Day in Boulder for the Buffs’ first recruiting class, Stanford will find an equally incentivized team.
2. Northwestern is 3-0 in the Big Ten, but the NCAA tournament is no sure thing.
Northwestern got six goals from Danita Stroup on just six shots in a 15-8 victory at Ohio State on Thursday night to improve to 3-0 in the Big Ten, but with a record just one game above .500, the Wildcats are dangerously close to being ineligible for NCAA tournament selection. Northwestern has played a brutal schedule with seven games against teams ranked in the Top 12 of the Nike/US Lacrosse rankings, but has lost six of those games. The lone win came against No. 12 Notre Dame in early February. With a 7-6 record and games against No. 1 Maryland and No. 6 Penn State among their four remaining regular season games, the Wildcats can't afford a slip up. Here are highlights from Thursday's win over Ohio State.
Highlights from the #B1GCats dominant 15-8 win at Ohio State. #B1GLax https://t.co/xVlPeLArzR
— Northwestern Lax (@NULax) April 7, 2017
3. Virginia may be without mourning Zed Williams for Sunday's showdown against UNC.
Virginia's Zed Williams had a goal, an assist and team-highs with six ground balls and three caused turnovers when the Cavaliers beat Richmond 8-7 last Saturday. That came the day after Williams' father, Daniel, died. Williams left from the game to be with his family in New York and missed Tuesday's win over Cleveland State. Virginia coach Lars Tiffany is not sure if Williams will be back for Sunday's big game against North Carolina.
"We recognize we will only see Zed when Zed and his family are done with the grieving process," said Tiffany.
4. Johns Hopkins does not want to play "musical goalies."
Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala has turned to junior Brock Turnbaugh in goal after Michigan transfer Gerald Logan started the year between the pipes. The two are roommates and Pietramala praised Logan for his support of Turnbaugh. Patrick Stevens also checks in on Yale's turnaround and Maryland's balance in his weekly notebook.
PHOTO BY KEVIN P. TUCKER
Junior faceoff specialist Conor Mackie has won 71 percent of his draws during Yale's five-game winning streak. After being ranked in the Top 10 in the preseason and then starting the season 1-3, Yale is 6-3 and unbeaten in the Ivy League at 3-0.
5. Duke's Kerstin Kimel kicked cancer and has inspired a generation of Blue Devils.
Faced with one of the most trying challenges of her life, Duke coach Kerstin Kimel led the Blue Devils to the 2015 NCAA semifinals while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Megan Schneider chronicles her inspirational story.
6. The Tewaaraton race is shaping up.
The Tewaaraton Foundation added five more players to its "watch list" on Thursday. We checked in with our top five women's candidates, and we'll be looking at the men's favorites today.