Spring Ball: Revised

Spring Ball

I chose to revise this post because as my last lacrosse post I wanted to inform everyone the current rankings as we move into the final week before the championship games. I would also like to give my two cents on a few of the teams and how they might do come May 12th, first round of playoffs.

Original post can be found here

Notre Dame Irish

Regarding the Loyola Maryland vs Johns Hopkins game, if any of you couldn’t watch the game, Loyola had one of the worst starts they have had all year. However, they managed to tie up the game in the last 5 seconds of the game. During overtime Johns Hopkins scored the winning goal giving them the first win over Loyola this year. And as I predicted in my previous Spring Ball post, Johns Hopkins is starting to click with some impressive wins lately. However, with Loyola taking its first lost a few things happened in the current rankings. Notre Dame took the number one seed above Massachusetts at number 2. Loyola was bumped down to number 3 and Duke down to number 4 as well. 

Notre Dame is a very strong team that has always been seeded in the top five for past handful of years. I predict that they well have a good shot during the final four. Massachusetts is as well, dominating this season as they remain the last team undefeated. I would put money on Massachusetts losing at least one game before the playoffs due to the remaining tough games they have. That leaves Duke, Loyola and Johns Hopkins (number 5 seed) all with, in my eye, an equal shot for the playoffs and the final four showdown.

Massachusetts

Duke

The Untouchable Greyhounds

Loyola University Maryland (Greyhounds) men's lacrosse team has recently been ranked number one by both the NCAA and USILA coaches rankings. Loyola's record is currently 13-0, and so far this season they have been an unstoppable beast. It is a feat within itself to be ranked the number one college lacrosse team but Loyola has claimed another astonishing statistic beyond this. First it is important to know that the Greyhounds have not held the number one position since 1999. It is also important to know that in the beginning of this season, for the first polling, Loyola was not ranked. For a team to enter unranked and rise to the number one seed is not common at all, in fact its only happened once before. The last team to accomplish this was Duke in 2007. Since 1973, when the first polls were taken, only these two teams have been able to pull this off.

Loyola Maryland has always been a fairly decent team, however recently their play has been phenomenal. Watching them move the ball up the field with such ease is a slight to see. And not to mention the teamwork and camaraderie that the Greyhounds have been showing ever so prominently lately. Loyola Maryland will be playing Johns Hopkins this Saturday, April 28th at 1:00 pm. Both of these teams are having strong season and I highly recommend any lacrosse fans watch the game. I am unsure if it will be broadcasted on TV however, it can be streamed live from Loyola Maryland's website.

Duke Reigns Again

Before I get started, if anyone is looking for gear, drills or 'how-to' videos on lacrosse, head over to Lax Lessons Blog and get started today.

In 2010 Duke took the title as the Division 1 Men's Lacrosse Champions. Last year Duke fell in the ranks and played an awful game against Maryland in the Semifinals. However, they must have learned something because Duke just took the ACC mens lacrosse title for the season. Duke is No. 7 seed and they beat the No. 3 seed North Carolina. The ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) is possibly the toughest conference to win. In the ACC are some of the best teams like Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and of course Duke.

No other conference title have been played for yet, most will be played in the first week of May. Then shortly after the NCAA Championship will start. 16 teams compete, and as of right now the top 8 seeded teams are as follows, from 1st to 8th; Loyola Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Notre Dame, Duke, and Cornell. Then again in lacrosse it really is anyones game, if a teams is playing its best all season there is a very good chance that they could take the title.

So far this season there are two undefeated teams, Loyola and Massachusetts. As a few more games play out I will post about the success' behind these teams.

The Story Behind Duke Lacrosse

        When I was a sophomore in high school playing lacrosse everyone was talking about the Duke lacrosse team. Duke was already a rough and fairly dirty team, but no-one every raised an eyebrow until 2007, it was just how they played. In 2007 three players on Duke's lacrosse team were accused of raping and beating a stripper at a post-game party. These three players were headlined everywhere, from local newspapers to sports & lacrosse magazines and websites. Needless to say their careers were ruined, the entire college turned against them, the coach was fired and the season was terminated. It was the greatest 'drama', if you will, in lacrosse history and Duke athletics took a extremely large blow. So, as a lacrosse player growing up with this story happening mid-high school, I was more or less taught to hate Duke.

        In 2010, three years later, the same stripper was found trying to stab her boyfriend to death, and further more all alleged accusations against the lacrosse players were false. So Duke, mostly the  lacrosse program, took a falsely accused blow, a few kids live's were ruined for three years and the coach lost his job all due to false charges. The moral of the story is try not to believe the media, or at least to keep some skepticism towards it. I mean we all saw what happened with the whole Kony 2012 video that everyone seemed so fond of for a few weeks.
        Getting back on track, Duke lacrosse has been doing very well this season, with 11 wins and three losses. In fact they just beat my favorite team, Virginia, 13-5 last friday. With the storm cleared over the team's head, I believe we will continue to see grand things come from Duke. They have been powerhouses in the past and I foresee it continuing in the near future, possibly this season.