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 Work Horses

I am slightly bias on this topic but my favorite college lacrosse team is the Syracuse Orangemen. I could be bias because my coach once played for them and they were one of the first teams I had ever watched live. Also the first time I watched the was one of the greatest championship games in the past decade.

In 2009 I traveled down to Boston, MA, to the Gillette Stadium to watch the college lacrosse Final Four. The Final Four is similar to any other sport, the final two teams of both division one and two play for the champion title within their division. The game I need to tell you about is the Syracuse vs Cornell d1 Championship game. The first three quarters were consistent back and forth play, until cornell got ahead three goals in the 4th quarter. With 5 and a half minutes left the consensus was that Cornell would be able to hold the ball and take the title. I think the rest of the game is best described by the actual footage. This clip plays out the clips better than I can retell the gameplay.

Again the Loyola Maryland vs Johns Hopkins game is being played out right now, Saturday 1:00 pm. The game has been talked up for the last week as both coaches are brothers. The game can be streamed from the Loyola website. 

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.