Reverb: Head for the Mountains

by Jac Coyne | MCLA.us

LA CROSSE, Wis. – It only took three days for the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference (RMLC) to go from the most boring, staid league in Division I to the most compelling.

As I wrote briefly about in the Weekender on Friday, Brigham Young’s Thursday evening loss to Colorado was the end of an epic, 29-game winning streak, but it didn’t really reduce the Cougars from their favored status. It just brought in Liberty as a co-anchor of that spot.

The Buffaloes were obviously elevated from tagalongs to giant-killers. It’s a tremendous honor, but it also comes with its drawbacks, as they won’t be sneaking up on anyone from now until Round Rock.

Utah Valley has also transitioned from hunter to prey as they stand astride the conference with just a week left in the regular season. They still have a trip to Provo ahead of them in a rematch of last year’s championship game.

Should Brigham Young defeat Utah on Tuesday and then Utah Valley on Saturday – a scenario that seems far more likely than not – it would spring the conference tiebreaker procedure among the Cougs, Wolverines and Buffs.

On initial consultation with the RMLC office, unofficially the tiebreaker after head-to-head would be results against common non-conference opponents. A cursory glance provides just one – Boise State – and all three posted wins over the Broncos.

So we might be headed to a second tiebreaker. Stay tuned.

If UVU manages to avenge last year’s championship games and sets the Cougars back even further – BYU would be the three seed if they lose to the Wolverines – it will be in the driver’s seat for a top-four seed at nationals.

There are so many permutations, and we haven’t even talked about a Colorado State squad that has the ability to run with anyone on the right day. It’s going to be a wild ride to the finish in now one of the deepest conferences around.

My Top Fives

Division I

1. Liberty (12-1) – The Flames now have realistic designs on the tourney top seed.
2. Florida (11-2) – Gators have to be wary of an FSU squad playing with house money.
3. Cal Poly (10-2) – Don’t see it happening, but even a WCLL upset won’t keep SLO out.
4. Utah Valley (9-2) – A wrathful BYU outfit is the only thing standing betwixt UVU and top seed.
5. Brigham Young (11-1) – It’s cliché, but the CU loss might end up doing more good than harm.

Division II

1. UC San Diego (12-0) – The first of two meetings with San Marcos on tap Saturday.
2. Grand Valley State (10-0) – Friday trip to Mount Pleasant will conclude a perfect regular season.
3. UNC-Charlotte (11-1) – Despite the KSU loss, the transitive property buoys the Niners.
4. Florida Atlantic (11-2) – Boredom might be the Owls’ biggest issue in the next three weeks.
5. Northwest Nazarene (12-2) – The Nighthawks crushed a very talented USU outfit.

Slides & Rides

- The round robin between No. 2 UNC-Charlotte, No. 17 Wake Forest and No. 20 Kennesaw State turned into just that. The jamboree started with a stunner as the Owls took down the 49ers, 11-10, to give Charlotte its first loss of the campaign. The Demon Deacons turned around and outscored Kennesaw, 14-7, in the final three quarters for a 16-10 triumph. Later on Sunday, the Niners rolled on Wake, 16-11.

- There were plenty of sighs of relief after Northeastern took care of business against Boston College and New Hampshire as the Huskies are one of those bubble-popping teams if they don’t get the CLC auto bid. That’s obviously not set in stone and upsets happen, but these two comfortable wins over two of the Huskies’ biggest obstacles to the AQ seemingly frees up another at-large for the field.

- It took overtime, but Simon Fraser held off Boise State on Friday evening, 15-14. Combined with the Red Leafs rout of Oregon State on Sunday and Fraser has the top seed in the PNCLL. It’s an AQ-only conference, so the easiest path to the championship game is important. With the two wins, the Leafs will almost certainly get Oregon State in the semifinals while Oregon and the Broncos will beat each other up on the other side.

- Pittsburgh and West Virginia will clash on Wedneday with the winner grabbing the final spot out of the ALC North and earn a trip to James Madison…Texas A&M grabs the last spot out of the LSA South with a 9-3 grinder over LSU…Texas stayed on schedule with an overtime shootout win over SMU, but they know the conference tourney won’t be a warm bath…Virginia Tech managing just four goals against Tennessee is startling after opening the season with 16 against Liberty…congrats to Iowa State for wrapping up the UMLC West. Cyclones have a chip and a chair.

- The Glendive Invitational played out pretty much as expected. NDSU against Montana was the toss-up game and the Bison took it home…a win over San Jose State on Saturday and not only does UC Davis clinch the top seed in the WCLL, but if they do it convincingly, there’s not much standing between the Aggies and the AQ…St. John’s heads to Duluth on Thursday for an elimination game from the UMLC tourney.

- Happy trails to Stonehill’s Joe McDonough. Joe has been the head man for the Skyhawks for 20 years and you’ll never find a person who loves the MCLA more. Not sure what he’s up to next, but a hearty thank you, Joe, from me and the rest of our staff.

- Get those nominations for the Warrior Player of the Week and PEARL Goalie of the Week to info@mcla.us by noon on Monday. Not many weeks left.

- With the Easter holiday upcoming and my in-laws rolling into town en masse on Friday, expect a truncated Reverb next Monday. We’ll ramp up the content heading into championship weekend.