Learnings from the Weekend

A big weekend of lacrosse has come and gone and we are one week closer to league tournaments and selection Sunday.

Big weekend for the Maryland Terrapins as they take care of business and win the ACC Tournament and add two huge wins to their 2011 resume.  Wins over North Carolina and Duke have now taken Maryland from a so-so season to a very impressive end of the year run that could translate into the tournament and make the Terps a dangerous team.

Also learned this weekend is the fact that Duke absolutely owns Virginia.  With a 19-10 win over the Wahoo's on Friday night, the Blue Devils have now outscored UVa 32-21. 

I caught majority of the Georgetown/Yale game Saturday afternoon and realized two things.  Yale is a very good team that is very under the radar but has a very low strength of schedule.  They will need the automatic qualifier of the Ivy League tournament to get into the tournament.  I also learned (or should I say finalized my decision) Georgetown doesn't bring anything, and I mean anything to the table. 

Despite their valiant effort against Syracuse, this team doesn't do much well.  Yes, they can score with a few weapons from the attack position, but their midfield was just ugly on Saturday.  The Hoya defense just left goalie Jack Davis out to dry and gave him no help.  Coach Dave Urick's squad is now 5-7 on the season and will miss the playoffs for yet another year. 

Brian Douglass and the Yale Bulldogs were very impressive and were all over the ball on Saturday.  Give credit to the Bulldog coaching staff for picking apart the Hoya defense.

Syracuse absolutely owned Rutgers on Saturday (as they should) in almost every aspect of the game.  The Orange held the Scarlet Knights scoreless for almost 54 minutes.  Huge performance by Hopkins transfer Tom Palasek who had three goals and three assists. 

One place the Orange again were beat was at the face off X.  Come tournament time, and even this Saturday against Notre Dame, going 6-18 just wont cut it and that part of their game will be exposed. 

The Orange forced 24 Scarlet Knights turnovers and the offense rode very well, forcing Rutgers to fail on seven clears, most noticeably when JoJo Marasco picked off a Rudy Butler outlet pass and fed Collin Donahue for Donahue's first goal of the season. 

Top Performers of the Weekend:

Tom Palasek A, SYR: 3 goals, 3 assists

Jordan Wolf A, DUKE: 4 g, 2 a

Brian Douglass A, YALE: 3 g, 1a

Tom Compitello and Jordan McBride A, STONY BROOK: 7 g, 4 a -- In a game that was very important and offensive leader Kevin Crowley was held to one goal and one assist, Compitello and McBride proved the Seawolve offense can operate when Crowley is slowed down.

Notre Dame's and Syracuse's Defenses: Goalies John Galloway and John Kemp had 7 saves and 8 saves respectively and anchored their defenses.

Zach Palmer A, HOPKINS: 1 g, 5 a

Matt Mackrides A, PENN ST: 4 g, 1a -- Big win for the Nittany Lions against Deleware.

Hofstra's senior and Freshmen duo of Jay Card (4g, 1a) and Lance Yapor (2g, 3a) who ran all over the Minutemen of UMass in Hartford on Saturday.