What a weekend of lacrosse.
After a first round that saw zero upsets, three of the four games this weekend were won by lower seeds. Maryland pulled a big upset on Duke and stifled the Blue Devils in the second half. Denver led the way the whole game on Syracuse. Virginia relied on their stars in a comeback win for the Cavaliers.
Replay once again became the focus of the lacrosse world.
With several teams vying for a long-awaited return to Championship Weekend, it was the experienced groups that won the day.
Only four teams remain, and the storylines going into next weekend are as compelling as any other tournament I can remember. Let’s get into my takeaways.
Notre Dame is Cruising
In what was otherwise a very competitive weekend, the Irish rolled once again. Notre Dame had 13 different players register a point as they defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 16-11. They has no major question marks, and unlike some of the other remaining teams, they have no confusion about how they want to play.
Since escaping with a one goal victory over Cornell, the Irish have won by margins of 8, 2, 9, 10, 5, and 5 goals. Keep in mind that two of those games were over final four bound UVA, and two were in the NCAA tournament. This game was 11-4 after three quarters, and without a late explosion by Graham Bundy could have looked a lot worse. The Irish have to be considered heavy favorites going into memorial day.
They lost one early season contest to Georgetown but are undefeated since. How would their season be talked about differently without that loss?
Playoff Mud
If there was one major trend of the weekend, it’s that teams really don’t want to slide in the playoffs. Denver barely slid against Syracuse, and in fact they barely even played the ball outside of 15 yards. They suffocated Syracuse’s off-ball actions by just not following players too far away from the goal, and playing sticky off-ball defence on the cutters.
While some on lacrosse twitter discussed the athleticism of the Syracuse offence, I think it was their lack of stretch shooting that made a bigger difference. Even if they could run by their man, the off-ball defence was so tight. They needed someone to stretch the defence from the exterior.
The same was true for the Virginia defence, who hardly gave up anything at 6v6. Hopkins scored multiple fast break goals, and multiple man-up goals. In settled scenarios, Virginia trusted their matchups and got great play from their SSDM’s.
Maryland slid more than the other teams, especially to Brennan O’Neill. I wondered last week if they might put Ajax Zappitello on someone other than O’Neill and I was right. Zappitello continued his ridiculous run this season by holding Josh Zawada to just one assist. O’Neill still had 3 goals, but Maryland was quick to support his matchups while Will Schaller and Colin Burlace battled on ball. Similar to the other two winners, Maryland got very solid play from their SSDM’s in other situations. They held Duke to just three second half goals.
Notre Dame is as talented on-ball as any team in the country. They make you earn slides as well.
There is a potential for an abnormally low-scoring Final Four. We have four elite defences. Can we say the same about the offences? SSDM play is better than ever and drawing slides will be at an all-time premium this weekend.
I wrote about this theme at the beginning of the season. It becomes more exaggerated in the playoffs. Find that story here.
Theme for the weekend: Who can beat their man?
Replay Was the Story
What a weird weekend for the replay system. First of all, how many excruciatingly close calls did we see? In the Maryland game, there were multiple shot-clock goals that were razor thin. Syracuse lost two challenges to inconclusive evidence and coach Gait commented after the game that had the call been different on the field, they would have won the challenge (meaning that the footage didn’t solve anything).
I agree.
The same was true in the Virginia game, when McCabe Millon’s controversial goal was upheld due to inconclusive evidence. I was ok with the call, but understand others won’t be. Without better cameras and camera angles though, there isn’t much you can do.
These reviews get pretty existential. Is this green you see under his foot? Or is it just the outline of his foot against the white of the crease? You be the judge.
But at the same time, replay proved its value. Danny Maltz’s late goal against Duke would have been an egregious no-call had it stood how it was called on the field.
I understand there was some disagreement on how the challenge was administered and how the process went down. As a player in both pro-leagues, nobody has quite figured this out yet. And pro-tip, the ipads aren’t always the cheat code that fans might think. Things happen very quickly after the goals.
So what is the lacrosse world supposed to do now? Replay saved some obvious goals, and didn’t make a difference on several others. Your answer probably depends on who you cheer for and how the calls impacted your club. I think we all had higher aspirations for the replay system.
Denver Defence is Huge, Mean, and Elite
Many fans probably have not watched as many Denver games this year as the rest of the field (Big East needs to get on ESPN+ ASAP) but what a performance they laid down on Sunday.
This defence is big, mean, and really really talented. Jack DiBenedetto was outstanding on Joey Spallina and the rope unit crushed their matchup. Casey Wilson is the all-american, but it was Dan Anderson who made some incredible plays. He caused two turnovers by just taking the ball from his matchup, something you don’t often see from short sticks. One of them led to a JJ Sillstrop goal.
There is no question that the Pioneers benefitted from a more reluctant whistle than we saw in game two. They beat up on the Orange and probably could have seen the penalty box more often. But they didn’t, and the Pios toed the line very well.
The Pioneers did not score in the fourth quarter and still won by 2 goals. How often does that happen?
Depth vs Star Power
Hopkins and UVA presented an interesting dichotomy in offensive philosophy. The Blue Jays regularly play 10 offensive players in a game, and their second line played significantly more than Virginia’s did. It was referenced on the broadcast several times, and with good reason. Down the stretch, Virginia looked tired. It seemed the depth would be their achilles heel.
But then the game was tied. Both teams had chances to win. Hopkins seemed slightly unsure about who was going to take the last shot. After causing a turnover at the end of the first overtime, they pulled the ball out to set up an offensive set rather than press into the chaos of the caused turnover. Russel Melendez eventually scrambled for a decent shot, but it was a missed chance to seize the moment.
For Virginia, there was no question who was going to take the shot. Connor Shellenberger summoned the energy for one more magic moment. He dodged on Scott Smith (Smith was excellent in this game) and got back topside to finish.
Now, obviously it’s nice to have the best player on your team. But it’s not just about Shellenberger being as great as he is. It’s about the difference between being a by-committee offence vs one with a go-to player. It eliminates the confusion in late-game possessions for better or worse. If you’re a Cavalier, it’s for the better.
Wierman, Mcnaney Slant the Math for Maryland
Luke Wierman is having a remarkable tournament so far. He’s a combined 40-55(!) at the faceoff X, and has 3 points in the two games. That’s good for 73% of faceoffs.
Meanwhile, Logan McNaney has been rock solid, saving 53% of his shots in the tournament.
In the Duke matchup, Maryland had a significant advantage between the specialists. Wierman obviously dominated Jake Naso and McNaney outplayed Duke netminder Pat Jamieson who finished at 36%.
Meanwhile, Virginia officially has a question mark in the cage. I would strongly expect Kyle Morris to start on Saturday. Starting a new goalie for the first time going into the final four is not exactly ideal. At the X, Will Colucci and Anthony Ghobriel scrapped their way to a nice day against Hopkins, but they don’t have a dominant answer there either.
It will be a fascinating battle between some new players for the Cavaliers, and two of the most battle tested players in the country.
Ajax vs Shelly
I’ll end with this one, as we get to see arguably the best player at their positions in college lacrosse duke it out one more time.
In my opinion, neither has anything to prove from a legacy point of view. Both have already won national championships. They are both All-Americans, award winners, and school legends.
They also have significant history. This will be their fifth matchup. Ajax famously won their matchup in the 2022 NCAA tournament by holding Shellenberger to zero points. Shellenberger had 3 points in their regular season matchup this year and 3 more last season.
After Shelly’s game winning goal and another remarkable performance from Zapitello this weekend, both of them are reaching their peak. It’s going to be a clash of titans for a trip to the national championship game.
I can’t wait to watch.