Rearview: The End is Nigh

Photo by Anna Scipione

By: E.J. Freeman | MCLA.us

ATLANTA- With this weekend’s games we have our first conference tournament set in the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference Division I, which will have four teams that in last week’s poll’s  top fifteen among the six participants.  Every week teams are getting eliminated from playoff contention and some of those teams are seeing their season end already.   The end of the season always comes both slowly and suddenly at the same time and is always a shock to the system.

On Friday night we had what was our most hyped game in Division I so far this season when Utah Valley and Brigham Young tangled.  The Cougars had a 6-5 lead after the first quarter, but the Wolverines dominated the second quarter and really took over from there winning 17-11. Jake Lundin put in another sterling performance at the faceoff dot.  Jackson Rehrer led the way for Utah Valley with six points.  I thought both teams found some things that would work for them if they were to meet again.

We asked which Grand Valley State team we’d see against Central Michigan and the Lakers wasted no time answering that question on their way to a 31-6 win. 

Montana and College of Idaho treated fans to great game on Saturday as College of Idaho took the win 10-9 in overtime.  As we discussed on Friday, Joey Cortner is going to rack up big save totals in net for Montana and he did so again with 24 saves.   The Yotes built a 5-1 lead in the first quarter and Montana was able to tie the game with a 3-0 fourth quarter, but in overtime the Yotes pulled it out.  Expect this to just be round one between these two and both teams will likely enter the next game with confidence.

Florida Gulf Coast beat Miami 19-18 in overtime in an all time shootout.  Grant Faber paced the Eagles with eight points.  The Eagles are now in prime position to lock up a playoff spot with a win over South Florida in a game in which they’ll be heavy favorites.

Florida State let Florida take an early lead before storming back and getting the 17-14 win.  The win for the Seminoles locked up the number two seed in the SELC South.  The Gators season is now over.

Arizona welcomed Chapman to the desert and were unkind hosts.  The Wildcats lead 8-1 after the first quarter and cruised to a 17-4 win.  Chapman who looked to have rebounded from their dismal trip to Colorado now has to regroup against UCLA and USC before closing out the regular season against San Diego State.  Arizona has a week off before playing Arizona State.

Our guest picker Justin Straker had the right idea picking the Arizona State over Grand Canyon as the Sun Devils won 17-2 on Saturday night. 

Way out west California solved the Sonoma State zone defense.  It took a little while as the Bears trailed 11-9 after three quarters, but a 7-2 fourth quarter lifted the Bears past the Sea Wolves.  Western Collegiate Lacrosse League coaches will be studying that film as the 16 goals doubles the previous high output against Sonoma by a conference team. 

Georgia traveled to Georgia Tech to see who would win the #2 seed in the SELC North and after the Jackets scored the opening goal, the Bulldogs scored seven straight goals to take a 7-1 lead after the first quarter.  The Jackets never got closer than four goals as they chased the Bulldogs all afternoon.  Georgia wins the second seed and will host Central Florida while the Jackets will travel to Florida State. 

Oregon traveled north to Simon Fraser and won 15-10.  The Ducks led the whole way and take what is likely round one in this series for the season. 

Texas and Texas Christian resumed their game from earlier in the season and the Longhorns finished off the win 18-8.  The Horned Frogs who were once in the top ten now find themselves in danger of missing the Lone Star Alliance playoffs.

Last Thursday Virginia Tech defeated Liberty 17-5 to retain the Blue Ridge Belt and Clemson beat South Carolina 12-8 to pick up a high quality win for the Tigers,

Picker Results

Thanks to Jusin Straker for jumping into the hot seat and picking games. Justin went 3-2 and saw his Sun Devils beat Grand Canyon.

Guest Picker Leaderboard:

Ryan Kerr, Brian Barnhill 5-0

Dylan Hess, Tim Haslam, Ethan Zwickey 4–1

Chris Marshall, Aidan Smith, Justin Straker 3-2

J.J. Arminio, Andrew Golden 2–3

Fan Vote Upset of the Week

81% of voting fans picked Sonoma State to defeat California.  The Bears' big fourth quarter made sure those fans were wrong.  The win for California is our Fan Vote Upset of the Week,  Congratulations to coach Ned Webster and the Bears for proving the fans wrong.

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.