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"The Weekend in Stick": It's exactly what it sounds like -- a recapitulation of this weekend's most notable. No doink.
Ohio State Beats Denver in Jacksonville, 10-9; None of That Makes Sense
Ohio State's Logan Schuss is a beast. In fact, he's so beastly that when he clubs baby seals for sport, the feds don't arrest him or anything because that's exactly what heartless beasts do: They kill baby seals; it's part of their DNA. I swear to God, guys. Look it up in National Geographic or something.
Ohio State trailed by two goals on Sunday three separate times, including a two-goal deficit with about 2:30 left on the clock in the third quarter. A four-goal run over that span and into the fourth period pushed: (1) the Buckeyes to their third victory of the season; (2) gave Ohio State a leg up in the ECAC; and (3) put the fifth-ranked team in the country on a plane back to Colorado with a some work to do. Schuss lead the charge with five tallies, which he'll proudly display next to his baby seal pelts.
Mark Matthews and Alex Demopoulos paced the Pioneers with three goals each, but getting only four saves out of Jamie Faus didn't help Denver's cause. Six turnovers between Matthews and Jeremy Noble didn't help the situation either, especially with their big, baby seal eyes and Schuss' desire to smack them out of their head.
Notre Dame Bullies Duke Like a Big Old Nasty Bully
Raise your hand if you thought that Notre Dame would totally dominate Duke in South Bend on Saturday? (Are you raising your hand? Yes? Then you're a dirty liar and you should immediately leave this Internet computing page as it is a strict "No liars" zone.)
The Irish, in the end, took home a 7-3 victory, but the final outcome does not even register the amount of dominance that Notre Dame exhibited over Duke. After falling behind 2-0 -- and with Duke controlling possession despite some sloppiness -- the Irish went on a 7-0 run to drop the second-ranked Devils. Senior midfielder Max Pfeifer was out front for the Irish, registering four points and generally making Duke's Dan Wigrizer's day an endless break-up with his best gal.
While this game says a lot about Notre Dame's defense -- It's really good again, duh! -- it also says a lot about Duke. Gone was the midfield that obliterated Rutgers, along with Jordan Wolf who suffered a hip injury in the second half and spent the remainder of the game on the pine. The Devils won't have a lot of time to get their act together with Pennsylvania -- another defense-first, crush-the-living team -- heading down to Durham on Friday. It's only mid-February, but Duke has to get its act together before its Maryland-Loyola-Harvard-North Carolina gauntlet that starts the first weekend of March.
Lusby Leads Loyola Last Lelaware
Sometimes alliteration doesn't work. Oh, well. I tried.
Delaware's Grant Kaleikau may swing the boom stick, but it was Loyola's Eric Lusby that did all the decimation on Saturday afternoon. Behind four goals from the fifth-year senior -- and four other points from Mike Sawyer -- the Greyhounds fell behind 3-0 and rallied for a 13-8 victory over the 19th-ranked Blue Hens. Loyola used a five-goal run in the second quarter to push itself out in front of Delaware and the Greyhounds never looked back.
This game should teach us all an important lesson: Dogs hate domesticated birds that are imaginary.
Other notables after the jump.
ELSEWHERE
Virginia survived Drexel, 9-8, in Philadelphia; Cavaliers attack Steele Stanwick -- who should totally play in an ascot -- did not register a point . . . Sacred Heart hung around with Hofstra at Shuart Stadium, but ultimately the Pride escaped with an 11-9 victory . . . It looked a little rough early in the Carrier Dome, but a 10-0 scoring run sent the Orange faithful home happy with a 12-7 victory over Albany; I'm now dubbing this game the "No, It's Harder to Live in My City" Classic . . . Bucknell continues to play THUNDERDOME! opponents and continues to lose; the latest setback came against Massachusetts, an 11-9 victory for the Minutemen . . . Lafayette beat Providence and nobody cares.
PUMMELING AND PUMMELING AND PUMMELING
Your best individual performances from the weekend:
- Backstop Circus: Robert Morris' Matt Buckovac turned away 16 shots on Saturday to give the Colonials a 10-8 victory over UMBC (Robert Morris is a school that has two first names); Siena's Tom Morr registered 20 saves against Hobart to help the Saints to a 13-11 victory. VMI's McMinn made 22 stops against Army, but also let 14 past him. So, Buckovac and Moor are your super goalie guys for the weekend.
- Five Goal Club: Snow (Fairfield), Roper (PSU), Hayes (Army), Cunningham (Villanova), Schuss (OSU). Please pick up your victory set of steak knives from the nice ladies at the door.
- Will Manny Award for Being Will Manny: The Massachusetts attack had seven points against Bucknell. By my math, that gives him 78 points on the season. (I think I may have carried the one wrong somewhere. Oh, well. Too late to fix it.)
- Rock 'n Roll Band: Jack's Mannequin. They're neat.
Do you have anything else to add from this weekend? The comments, they are yours.