Rearview: Idle Hands

 Photo by Anna Scipione

By: E.J. Freeman | MCLA.us   

ATLANTA-  As I mentioned on Friday, we had a relatively light schedule over this week.  We did, however, have some interesting games.  Eight of the top ten teams in Division I were idle this week, but we did have top-five matchups in both Division I and Division II.

In Division I, the top ranked Utah Valley Wolverines swept their trip to California starting with a win over fourth-ranked  UC Santa Barbara in a game that got within one goal in the second half as the Wolverines gave the Gauchos ten extra man opportunities.  The Wolverines will need to be mindful of giving their opponents that many extra chances going forward as that could certainly come back to bite them.  Against Cal Poly on Friday the Wolverines started a little slow, but used a 10-3 run across the second and third quarters to break the game open and won 18-9. 

On the Division II side  St. Thomas dominated Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday and Montana handled their business against St. John’s setting up a huge game Sunday morning between the two top five teams.  The Tommies blitzed the Grizzlies right off the bat leading 6-0 after the first quarter.  The Tommies won 77% of the faceoffs in the game and dominated possession.  Montana goalie did an admirable job holding the Tommies at bay making 29 saves while allowing 12 goals, but the possession advantage and the pressure of the St. Thomas offense was just too much for the Grizzlies in this game.  So far the Tommies have been dominant all season and they have an experienced bunch so it would be surprising to see them not handle a close game well, but we will not know until we see it happen. The Tommies face North Dakota State team next week and then are off for two weeks until they play Grand Valley State who is still in hibernation mode.

Cal State San Marcos traveled to UC San Diego for a crucial SLC game and got the win with a seven goal outburst in the fourth quarter.  The Cougars now look to have the inside track to the top seed in the SLC playoffs.

Picker Results

Thanks to Brian Barnhill for stepping into the hot seat this week. Coach Barnhill went 5-0 matching Ryan Kerr’s perfect weekend. 

Guest Picker Leaderboard:

Ryan Kerr, Brian Barnhill 5-0

Dylan Hess, Tim Haslam, Ethan Zwickey 4–1

Chris Marshall 3-2

J.J. Arminio 2–3

Fan Vote Upset of the Week

79% of fan voters picked UConn to beat Georgia Tech in Boston on Sunday.  The Yellow Jackets jumped out early on the Huskies leading 6-1 at halftime and led 9-2 after three quarters on their to a 12-6 win.  The win gave the Jackets a sweep of their trip to New England after they defeated Northeastern in New Hampshire the day before when 73% of the voters had picked that pack of Huskies to defeat the Jackets. 

Quick Sticks

Florida got their Spring Break trip to the Rockies off to a good start with a win over Colorado State Sunday.

Sonoma State beat Santa Clara  on Sunday, which likely puts them in a good position to host a quarterfinal game in the WCLL.  The Seawolves have been getting done on defense having held every opponent except Arizona to single digits.  They hit the road to face Oregon this weekend which will be another test of their defense as the Ducks can score in bunches. 

North Carolina got their second win of the season over the weekend defeating New Hampshire after their only win a year ago came against now Division II High Point.  The Tar Heels look to be much improved.

Southern Methodist traveled to the Research Triangle as well and got the sweep with wins over North Carolina, North Carolina State, and New Hampshire.  The Mustangs have already played 11 games and only have games against Texas A&M and Texas Christian remaining. 

San Diego State once again overcame a massive faceoff disadvantage and got the win against Cal despite winning 17% of faceoffs.  The Aztecs won 12-11 in the Friday night tilt behind four points from freshman Davis Reardon.

Tampa and South Florida played to see who would be the kings of Cigar City and Tampa won 25-9.  Tampa now looks primed to take the top seed in the SELC South.

Dayton got a mid-week win over Minnesota-Duluth as the Flyers get their schedule into full-swing. 

As always, head coaches get your nominations for Warrior Player of the Week and PEARL Goalie of the Week to info@mcla.us by noon local time Monday.