Rearview: Unrealized Hype

Photo by Anna Scipione

By: E.J. Freeman | MCLA.us    (NOTE: An earlier version of this article had a miscalculation regarding the SELC Division I South tie breaker scenarios)

ATLANTA-  We came into this past weekend with a number of marquee games between top-15 teams.  Most of them ended up not living up to the hype unfortunately.

It started Friday evening when #10 Clemson went to Blacksburg to face #8  Virginia Tech.  The Hokies ran the Tigers off the field leading 11-2 at halftime en route to the 20-5 win.  The Tigers looked rusty after a month off and now must hope they can regain their form for the conference playoffs.  The Tigers looked more like themselves on Sunday when they defeated Liberty 17-12. 

The trend continued on Saturday as #6 Florida State jumped all over #7 Arizona with a 6-1 first quarter.  The Seminoles overcame a significant disadvantage at the faceoff dot to win 16-10.  The Seminoles learning to win without a faceoff advantage should set off alarm bells in the heads of every team remaining on their schedule.

#3 South Carolina took on #1 Utah Valley on Saturday as well.  The Gamecocks seemed like worthy challengers for the Wolverines on paper.  The fact that the Gamecocks played the night before against Utah while Utah Valley rested gave me some pause.  Utah Valley, as they are known to do, landed an early haymaker against South Carolina leading 10-2 at halftime.  Jacob Lundin continued his incredible season winning 18 of 22 faceoffs, grabbing 16 groundballs and adding an assist.  The Wolverine offense was balanced in their dissection of the Gamecocks with eight players recording multiple points.  The Gamecocks now have two losses and both of them came with a rest disadvantage,  luckily for them there should not be anymore games like that on the schedule.

On the Division II side the headline games played out a little closer to expectations.  #11 Florida Atlantic got what will likely prove to be a huge resume win over #10 Grand Valley State in overtime on Friday  night.  Grand Valley is still early in their schedule and will likely improve, but this was not a game I expected the Lakers to lose. 

In the Treasure State, Montana State proved they still run the 406 using a 5-2 fourth quarter to win 11-8 against Montana making it six straight wins in this series for the Bobcats.  The Bobcats and Grizzlies will probably flip spots in the poll, but both are still high quality teams that should expect to be in Richmond.

Two teams that have reached relatively new heights in the poll this season seemed to struggle handling the success they’ve had.

#11 Texas Christian traveled to Texas A&M and not only lost, but was not particularly competitive.  In their last two games the Horned Frogs have lost by nine to Oregon and now ten to the Aggies.  Credit to the Aggies for being ready to play, but those two losses with healthy margins might send Texas Christian to AQ or bust territory.

In Division II #7 Tampa got a Saturday morning win over #20 Florida Gulf Coast by a score of 17-7, but then turned around and lost 10-4 to Georgia Southern in their afternoon game.  Playing two full games in one day is something I will likely never understand, but if you schedule the game you do not get to make excuses about rest.  Georgia Southern now has wins over both Wake Forest and Tampa.  Tampa is already into the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference (SELC) playoffs, but this score was still a bit startling. 

Picker Results

Thanks to Andrew Golden for jumping into the hot seat and picking games. Andrew went 2-3 and saw his beloved Boilermakers take a defeat to Michigan State.  Is the guest picker jinx back?

Guest Picker Leaderboard:

Ryan Kerr, Brian Barnhill 5-0

Dylan Hess, Tim Haslam, Ethan Zwickey 4–1

Chris Marshall, Aidan Smith 3-2

J.J. Arminio, Andrew Golden 2–3

Fan Vote Upset of the Week

By the time the game started, 60% of the fan vote had landed on Montana to defeat Montana State.  The game was mostly back and forth, but Montana State got the win on their home turf.  Congratulations to the Bobcats for taking this week’s Fan Vote Upset of the Week.

Quick Sticks

Rocky Mountain rebound?  After both teams struggled to start the season, Colorado and Colorado State have swept Chapman and Cal Poly the last two weeks.  Things could be looking up for the two Colorado based blue bloods. 

It looks like Wake Forest locked up the top seed in Atlantic Lacrosse Conference North with their win over East Carolina.

The SELC South in Division I is setting up for a wild finish.  Assuming Central Florida beats Jacksonville in a game in which they will be heavy favorites, the Florida vs Florida State contest will effectively be a play-in game.  If Florida State wins, Auburn will be the one seed as Florida State and Auburn are both +2 in goal differential amongst the tied teams while Central Florida is -4, which eliminates the Knights.  Auburn holds the head to head victory over Florida State and therefore gets the top seed. If Florida wins, Central Florida takes the top spot, Auburn second, and Florida third with Florida State missing the playoffs entirely. 

Arizona Christian has played a brutal schedule and has losses to several ranked teams, but finally saw the payoff from the early season grind when they beat #18 San Diego for their first ranked win.

Chapman rebounded from a tough trip to Colorado with wins at home over Arizona State and Grand Canyon.

Texas Tech finished their regular season with two wins and claimed the top seed in the Lone Star Alliance in their first season after jumping up from Division III.

Liberty after their loss to Clemson finds themselves in danger of missing the ALC tournament and needs a win against Virginia Tech or James Madison to ensure their inclusion.

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

Also, send in your nominations for Lacrosse Specialties March Player of the Month by April 1.