Matt Brandau picked a good day to have his breakout game in a Yale men’s lacrosse uniform. The freshman from Maryland had quietly made an impact in the Bulldogs’ first four games, but he took his biggest step forward on Saturday afternoon against Ivy League rival Cornell.

Brandau, who had five goals season leading into the top 3 matchup, dropped six goals and added two assists to lead Yale past Cornell 16-11 for its fourth straight win. Almost as strong was sophomore Matt Gaudet, who chipped in five goals to the Yale effort, and TD Ierlan, who won 24 of 30 faceoffs.

The Bulldogs lost a season-opener to Villanova on Feb. 16, but has since taken down Penn State, UMass, Michigan and Cornell. Andy Shay’s program, fresh off a national championship in 2018, looks to be headed in the right direction.

Yale opened the game with three straight goals from Jackson Morrill, Gaudet and Brandau before Cornell chipped in its first goal to make it 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.

The Big Red cut the deficit to 4-3 before the Bulldogs scored three straight goals to take a 7-3 lead in the second quarter. Brandau and Brian Tevlin — playing in his final game before undergoing surgery to donate bone marrow — had two goals in the second quarter to allow Yale to take a 10-5 lead at halftime.

Gaudet and Brandau each had a pair of goals in the third quarter, and Ierlan won seven of eight faceoffs to hold off any Cornell rally. Clarke Petterson had three second-half goals for the Big Red, but they could not mount a comeback thanks to Ierlan’s dominance at the faceoff X.

In addition to 11 goals combined from Brandau and Gaudet, Tevlin and Morrill each had two goals and two assists. Jack Starr had nine saves for the Bulldogs. Petterson and John Piatelli had four goals each for Cornell.

Cavaliers Rally

After winning three straight overtime games, Virginia men’s lacrosse wasn’t necessarily looking for another one-goal game. But with ACC rival Notre Dame coming to Charlottesville on Saturday, anything but a close game was tough to foresee.

The Cavaliers got their wish — a 13-11 victory over the Irish at home — but it was just a thrilling as the previous three games. Down by five goals in the second half, Virginia scored eight of nine goals to surge past Notre Dame for its second ACC victory.

Comeback for the Cavaliers.

No luck for the Irish in the men’s game today, as @UVAMensLax scores eight of the final nine goals to shock @NDlacrosse 13-11. Ian Laviano with 5G. pic.twitter.com/VRPzxBJSFt

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 16, 2019

Ian Laviano scored five goals to fuel the furious comeback. Dox Aitken also added three goals for the Cavaliers.

Laviano had two goals in the opening quarter, helping Virginia take a 3-1 lead into the second period of play. However, Notre Dame found its groove in the second quarter to the tune of six goals.

Brian Willetts and Wheaton Jackoboice each had two goals in the quarter that saw the Irish score five straight goals to lead 7-4 at halftime. 

Ryan Conrad opened the half with a goal, but Notre Dame mounted a three-goal rally thanks to three different scorers to push its lead to 10-5. Laviano scored twice before the end of the third quarter, and Aitken added a goal, to cut the deficit to 10-8 entering the final quarter.

Aitken, Michael Kraus, Laviano and Matt Moore combined to score four straight goals over seven minutes to give Virginia the 12-10 lead with 5:12 left. Quinn McCahon cut the deficit to 12-11 with 2:54 left, but the Irish had four turnovers in the final minutes to spoil any hope of a comeback.

Syracuse Comes Back

For much of Rutgers’ trip to the Carrier Dome to face Syracuse, it looked like the Scarlet Knights were headed for a solid non-conference victory. Rutgers led throughout the first three quarters and Adam Charalambides was imposing his will on the game.

But the Orange caught fire in the fourth quarter. They peeled off eight fourth-quarter goals to claw back from a deficit and surge to an 18-14 victory over Rutgers for their second straight win over a ranked opponent.

Nate Solomon and Jamie Trimboli each had four goals to lead the Syracuse effort.

Four different scorers combined to give Rutgers the early 4-0 lead eight minutes into the game. Syracuse responded with three goals of its own, coming from Jamie Trimboli, Brendan Curry and Nate Solomon.

Charalambides scored three of the next four goals to give Rutgers the 7-4 lead. He had three goals in the second quarter, but Solomon had two himself to keep Syracuse within 9-7 at halftime.

The Orange tied the game at 9-9, before Rutgers scored four of five goals to take a 13-10 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining. Syracuse started its rally with three straight goals, culminated by this wild assist from Stephen Voigt to David Lipka.

Rally in the Dome! @CuseMLAX scores five straight goals to come back against @RUmlax and win 18-14. pic.twitter.com/cWnBEmQQdJ

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 16, 2019

After Charalambides made ti 14-13 with 8:41 left, Syracuse scored the final five goals to pull away from the Scarlet Knights.

Duke Gets By Towson

The Duke Blue Devils continued their hot streak with a gritty 12-10 victory over former No.1 Towson at Koskinen. Brad Smith had three goals and an assist to lead Duke to its seventh straight victory.

DUKE STAYS HOT @DukeMLAX outdoes @Towson_MLAX 12-10, overcoming a second-half deficit to improve to 8-1. Brad Smith with 3G, 1A. Woodall 19-for-24 on faceoffs. pic.twitter.com/RbM2G7TKb8

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 16, 2019

But it wasn’t an easy victory by any means. Towson took a 3-2 lead early in the second quarter of a defensive battle. Duke responded with four out of five goals to take a 6-4 lead.

The Tigers added two more goals before halftime to tie the game at 6-6 going into the break. Timmy Monahan (Towson) and Smith (Duke) each had two goals in the half.

Brendan Sunday and Nick Delbene scored out of halftime to give Towson the 8-6 lead midway through the third quarter. Duke answered with a four-goal rally, sparked by a transition pole goal from Cade Van Raaphorst, who also had four ground balls and a caused turnover.

Alex Woodall was dominant for Towson, winning 19 of 24 faceoffs and giving the Tigers a chance to come back. Sunday cut it to 10-9 with 5:59 left, but would get no closer.

Smith and John Prendergast added goals to put the game out of touch and clinch another big victory for Duke.

Spencer Sets Loyola Mark

Pat Spencer was up to his old tricks Saturday against Patriot League rival Navy, dropping four goals and four assists to lead Loyola to the 18-5 victory at Ridley.

In the process, Spencer set the school’s all-time points record, passing Gary Hanley shortly before halftime of the blowout victory. 

Not to mention, we got a glimpse at Air Spencer Part 2.

Another at Air Spencer

(: @MikeyWallin) pic.twitter.com/bGPjwJQB0Y

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 16, 2019

Also notable, Kevin Lindley continues to find the back of the cage. He scored five more goals to move his season total to 30.

Maryland Dominates 'Nova

Maryland felt right at home at Capital One Field on Saturday, dropping a season-high in goals en route to a 17-7 victory over Villanova. Bubba Fairman (4) and Jared Bernhardt (3) combined for seven goals to fuel the Terps’ explosive day.

Bubba's throwing darts!

The sophomore finds the top corner for his fourth goal!

Q3 3:44 | #Terps 14, Villanova 4 pic.twitter.com/pmcxYsawq7

— Maryland Lacrosse (@TerpsMLax) March 16, 2019

Four different players had multiple goals for Maryland in a first half that saw the home team lead 11-2 at halftime despite being outshot 20-18.

Fairman added two goals in the second half to stifle any type of Villanova rally. Goalie Danny Dolan had 16 total saves to keep the Wildcats offense at bay. 

Hopkins Survives

Johns Hopkins was away from suffering an upset loss to Delaware, but Kyle Marr led a comeback to salvage the Blue Jays nonconference slate with a 12-10 victory. Marr paced the Blue Jays with three goals.

Cole Williams scored twice in a first quarter that saw Johns Hopkins take a 5-2 lead. The teams traded goals in the second quarter, giving the Blue Jays take a 7-4 lead at the break.

Delaware started the second half with six out of seven goals, led by two from Joe Eisele, to take a 10-8 lead with 8:38 remaining. In need of a rally, Alex Concannon and Kyle Marr scored within three minutes of one another to tie the game at 10-10 with 4:01 left.

Forry Smith and Marr continued the run with two tallies with less than three minutes left. Johns Hopkins won the ensuing faceoff and ran out the clock to avoid the upset. Kyle Prouty won 17 of 23 faceoffs for the Blue Jays.

Canisius Upsets Colgate

Canisius held Colgate to three goals in the final three quarters to come away with the 8-6 upset victory on Saturday afternoon. Brad Nordstrom had 16 saves and Mathi Boissonneault scored four goals to lead the way for the Golden Griffins.

Three different scorers helped give Colgate the 3-2 lead after the first quarter. Duncan Hoskinson added another to start the second quarter with the two-goal lead. 

Canisius followed with a four-goal run that spanned over halftime, with Mario Caito added his two goals to give his team a 6-4 lead in the third quarter. Nicky Petkevich cut the deficit to 6-5 briefly, but Boissonneault scored two straight for put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.

Vermont Shocks UMBC

On the one year anniversary of UMBC shocking first-seeded Virginia in the NCAA basketball tournament, it was the Retrievers that got shocked. Vermont scored the final five goals of regulation to send the matchup to overtime, where Dawes Milchling scored the game-winning goal in the second period to seal the 12-11 result.

UMCB started the game on a 7-1 run and led 10-4 late in the third quarter. Milchling had three goals in the fourth quarter and overtime to fuel the comeback.

Notable

• No. 16 Georgetown scored four of six goals in the second half to pull away from Drexel for the 13-10 victory. Daniel Bucaro scored fives goals to lead the Hoyas to the victory, which included 14 saves from Owen McElroy.

• No. 20 Army survived a 7-6 defensive battle with Holy Cross, getting the game-winning goal from Nate Jones with 42 seconds remaining. Holy Cross scored four straight third-quarter goals to take a 5-4 lead. The Black Knights responded with a three-goal run, highlighted by Jones’ winner in the last minute.

• Adam Goldner had five goals and Reed Junkin made 18 saves to lead Penn to the 19-10 victory over Princeton. Michael Sowers became the quickest Princeton player to 200 points in the loss.

• Tanner Thomson had five goals and Marquette held off a late rally from Michigan to down the Wolverines 16-13. The Golden Eagles won 24 of 33 faceoffs to fuel the victory.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 1 Yale, 16, No. 3 Cornell
No. 6 Maryland 17, Villanova 7
No. 8 Duke 12, No. 5 Towson 10
No. 9 Loyola 18, Navy 5
No. 11 High Point 18, VMI 9
​No. 12 Virginia 13, No. 4 Notre Dame 11
No. 14 Syracuse 18, No. 15 Rutgers 14
No. 16 Georgetown 13, Drexel 10
No. 17 Johns Hopkins 12, Delaware 10
No. 20 Army 7, Holy Cross 6
Canisius 8, No. 19 Colgate 6

Other Scores

Penn 19, Princeton 10
Marquette 16, Michigan 13
Vermont 12, UMBC 11 (2OT)
Providence 11, Hofstra 10
Jacksonville 11, Bellarmine 8
Richmond 13, Furman 8
Hartford 12, Stony Brook 11
Boston U 13, Bucknell 9
Brown 16, Harvard 14
Albany 17, UMass Lowell 11