NCAA Lacrosse

The south seems to have the tougher of the teams this year.  Having said that, it’s not a cake walk for any north squad.  Now to business.

-NORTH-

Springfield @ #7 Cortland
Cortland should take this game pretty easily.  The common opponent was WNE who Cortland beat.  Springfield went 0-3 against playoff teams losing to Naz, Middlebury and WNE.  Cortland went 5-0 versus playoff teams beating WNE, Montclair St, Gettysburg, Nazareth and St Lawrence.

Prediction:  Cortland 16-4

#12 Western New England @ #13 Tufts
Tufts crushed WNE earlier in the season 13-4.  Both beat Bowdoin and Bates.  WNE has faced 4 playoff teams going 1-3 with a win over Springfield and losses to Tufts, Naz and Cortland.  Tufts played 6 playoff teams this season going 4-2 with losses to Wesleyan and Middlebury.  The Jumbos had wins over Haverford, Mount Ida, Wesleyan and WNE

Prediction: Tufts 13-6

#18 Saint Lawrence @ #2 Middlebury
Both teams beat Skidmore and RPI.  Middlebury was 2-2 versus playoff teams beating Springfield, and W&L while losing to Wesleyan twice.  St Lawrence was 1-2 against playoff teams beating only Naz while losing to Cortland and Haverford.

Prediction: Middlebury 14-8

Eastern Connecticut @ #17 Wesleyan
In common opponents, Wesleyan beat Trinity and Montclair who beat ECSU and both beat Western Conn and the US Merchant Marines.  ECSU was 1-2 against playoff teams losing to Montclair and Salisbury while beating Mount Ida.  Wesleyan was 5-1 against playoff teams this season with a loss to Tufts and wins over Middlbury (twice), US Merchant Marines and Montclair.

Prediction:  Wesleyan 13-3

-SOUTH-

#11 Denison @ #1 Roanoke
Common:  Both teams beat Lynchburg, St. Marys and Kenyon.  However Randolph Macon beat Denison.  Noke went 2-1 against playoff squads beating W&L and Cabrini while losing an ODAC final to W&L.  Denison was 1-1 against playoff teams losing to Stevenson and beating OWU.

Prediction:  Roanoke 16-12

#10 Washington And Lee @ #6 Gettysburg
Both squads beat Hamden-Sydney in common matchups.  W&L was 2-2 versus playoff teams beating US Merchant Marines and Roanoke while losing to Noke in the regular season and Middlebury.  Gettysburg was 3-3 against playoff teams beating Salisbury, OWU and Haverford while losing to Haverford, Stevenson and Cortland.

Prediction:  Gettysburg 12-10

#14 Cabrini @ #4 Stevenson
Cabrini lost to Lynchburg and Gettysburg and both teams beat Widener in common matchups.  Stevenson was 2-1 against playoff teams beating Salisbury and Gettysburg but lost in the CAC’s to Salisbury.  Cabrini was 2-2 versus playoff teams beating FDU and Haverford and losing to Gettysburg and Roanoke.

Prediction: Stevenson 15-10

#5 Salisbury @ #8 Haverford
Both squads lost to Gettysburg but the Fords beat the Bullets in the regular season and both teams beat WAC.  Against playoff teams, Haverford was 3-2; beating FDU, St Lawrence and Gettysburg while losing to Cabrini and Gettysburg.  Salisbury was 3-2 versus playoff teams by beating Stevenson, Eastern Conn and OWU.  The Gulls were defeated by Stevenson and Gettysburg.

Prediction:  Salisbury 14-7

Spring is here!  And now I’m confused.

Gettysburg lost to Haverford, who then lost to Tufts while the Bullets beat Cabrini.  All the while, St. Lawrence lost to Bowdoin then turns around to take down Nazareth.  Middlebury was taken down by a tough Wesleyan squad and Endicott took down Stevens Tech.  The rest of the top squads kept rolling.

What I’m getting at is that it’s anyone’s game this year.

Here are the barn burners for the week ahead.

The Game of the Week
“The Biggest Little Game”:  #5 Ithaca @ #2 Cortland State - 3/20
During my college road trip days, I took a visit to Ithaca for the Cortland v Ithaca football game or “The Biggest Little Game In America” as described by Sports Illustrated.  So this is a big time rivalry game.  I also made a trip to Cortland for a “Block Party”.  That was just an insane day!!

#4 Roanoke @ #8 Cabrini - 3/20
Cabrini is coming off a loss to the lowly Gettysburg Bullets but can rebound real fast if they can take down the high scoring Noke offense.

#15 Western New England @ #12 Nazareth - 3/20
I don’t know what to think of either squad.  Just last week, Naz lost to St Lawrence and Western New England lost to Bowdoin who beat St. Lawrence.  Either way, one of these teams will help things round out the north.

“The 2001 - Natty Champ Game” - #7 Washington And Lee @ #10 Middlebury - TUE 3/24
In 2001, W&L was by far the best D3 team in the South and probably the country. They failed to win the ODAC title which kept them out of the NCAA tournament!  Middlebury went on to win its second consecutive championship, this time over Gettysburg right off the Old Dirty Jersey Turnpike at Rutgers.

This season W&L is surprising everyone.  They’ll try to let the rest of D3 know that they’re back next Tuesday.