Dialed In: Your Lacrosse Fix for Monday, March 20

Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:

1. No. 1 teams went down in more than just basketball.

Fitting than on the opening weekend of March Madness both of the No. 1 ranked teams in NCAA lacrosse went down. Maryland beat Virginia 14-13 in an epic overtime thriller in men’s lacrosse while Northwestern beat North Carolina 13-9 in women’s action on Sunday, the Tar Heels first regular season loss since 2019.

Matt Hamilton checks in with the weekly Post-Game Tailgate for a look at men’s lacrosse and Kenny DeJohn looks at women’s lacrosse in The Sunday Slide.

2. Maryland had another big win

A slow start for the Maryland women’s team is beginning to turn it around. The Terps offense was clicking in a 16-8 road victory against Rutgers on Saturday.

3. Marquette cooled off Penn State.

After three straight wins over nationally-ranked Ivy League teams, Penn State was one of the hottest men’s lacrosse teams in the country. Marquette cooled off the Nittany Lions, beating their second Big Ten team this month.

4. Regional powers take down two of Maryland’s best.

The FCA Invitational provided some great action at USA Lacrosse headquarters, including a pair of high school games on Friday night that saw Lawrenceville (N.J.) come back against Calvert Hall (Md.) and Academy of the New Church (Pa.) hold off St. Paul’s (Md.).

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Athletes Unlimited pro Lauren Gilbert gets a chance to reflect back on her youth lacrosse career in Oregon in our Take Me Back series.

• Virginia’s Ricky Miezan starred on the football field at Standford, but says lacrosse has always been his foundation.

• Who better to learn from than 2022 Tewaaraton winner Logan Wisnauskas, now an assistant coach at High Point.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

How often is the guy who scores the game-winner in a victory over the No. 1 team in the country? That’s the case for Maryland’s Daniel Kelly because everyone was talking about this wild three-save sequence from freshman goalie Brian Ruppel.

RUPPEL THREE STOPS. UNBELIEVABLE.

He’s a @TerpsMLax FRESHMAN. pic.twitter.com/dyFlWI9xqU

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) March 18, 2023

Izzy Scane was the star, but how about this BTB from Erin Coykendall in Northwestern’s win over North Carolina.

ERIN COYKENDALL WITH AUTHORITY.

Is there anyone that BTBs as hard as Erin Coykendall and @NULax? pic.twitter.com/4wD5KkSNYh

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) March 19, 2023

WHAT’S ON TAP

• How will the Nike / USA Lacrosse rankings shake out after a week of upsets? The reveal starts this morning.

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