The Weekend in Stick: February Blood Storm (Part II)

Part I gave you all the big stories from the weekend; Part II is all about the little stories that are notable and adorable in easily digestible form.

ELSEWHERE

Yale opened its 2014 season with a 10-6 victory over a solid St. John's team; the Bulldogs pulled away over the second and third periods, building a four-goal lead that the Johnnies failed to erode . . . Rutgers challenged early but Virginia poured on the offense in the second half, earning a 19-12 victory over the Scarlet Knights; Rutgers was within three with over 10 minutes to play, but an unanswered four-goal run to close regulation from the Cavaliers sunk the Knights . . . Vermont was down five goals midway through the third period and closed that gap to two with under a minute to play in the period; the Catamounts, however, would come no closer to Providence, losing to the Friars in 6-8 fashion . . . The Hawks hung around but couldn't summit UMBC, falling 8-10 to the Retrievers; Monmouth was deadlocked with UMBC as late as the fourth quarter . . . Massachusetts remains unbeaten after an 8-4 victory over Harvard; the Minutemen have quietly earned three wins against pretty decent opposition . . . The Hoyas' good feelings came to a screeching halt following a 7-8 setback to Towson; the Tigers -- undermanned and bleeding from major arteries -- turned the corner following difficult defeats at the hands of Johns Hopkins and Loyola . . . St. Joseph's throttled VMI, 14-6; the Keydets were only down two at the half, so that's something . . . Lehigh groped their way to a 10-7 victory over Boston University; the Mountain Hawks are still looking for a complete offensive identity.

MORE ELSEWHERE

High Point used a seven-goal fourth quarter to earn a 12-10 victory over Sacred Heart; the Panthers took the lead with 1:04 remaining in regulation on a Dan Lomas blast . . . Brown surged in the second half and dropped Quinnipiac, 13-6; that's a quietly solid performance from the Bears in their first go of the season . . . Princeton got five-point efforts from three players -- Ryan Ambler, Mike MacDonald, and Tom Schreiber -- in a 12-10 win over Hofstra; Matt Kavanagh kept the Tigers in the game early with a bunch of big stops . . . Ohio State earned their first victory of the season in an 11-7 defeat of Marquette; Golden Eagles fans have to be ecstatic with the way the team has started 2014, especially since their basketball concern is a smoldering tire fire . . . North Carolina continued its early season tail-whippings, beating the snot out of Dartmouth, 18-5; Joey Sankey had seven points and apparently really hates the color green . . . Richmond almost grabbed its first victory of the season against Mercer, but the Bears prevailed, 11-7; the Atlantic Sun race is going to be some kind of wonderful this year . . . Johns Hopkins smoked Michigan, 14-5; the Wolverines have now yielded 56 goals through four games . . . Jacksonville has fallen back to reality after getting Duke in a knife fight; the Dolphins got nothing going in an 8-4 defeat at the hands of Bellarmine, putting up goose eggs in the first and fourth quarters . . . Siena blasted past Binghamton, 13-9; the Bearcats battled, but the Saints trailed just oncee -- at 2-3 early in the second quarter -- in the team's four-goal victory. . . . Robert Morris ran past Detroit, 11-7; the Colonials used a four-goal push over the final two periods to break open a one-goal game at the half . . . Denver pushed in Canisius' stuff to the tune of a 14-3 whipping; the Pioneers have rebounded well from their loss to Duke in Durham.

EVEN MORE ELSEWHERE

Loyola unloaded on Holy Cross, 16-4; the 'Hounds are acting like a team on a mission after falling to Virginia in overtime in their opener . . . Bryant never trailed in a 7-5 victory over Hartford; the Bulldogs survived 44 shots from Hartford and were only plus-four in face-offs against the Hawks . . . Furman continues to struggle against superior competition, putting up just two tallies against Army; the Black Knights' 12 goals were spread among five players and were somewhat evenly distributed over the four quarters . . . Fairfield continued its early-season rampage, beating Manhattan 18-4 and showing little mercy; the Stags have been an assaultive monster in their first two games of 2014 . . . Denver earned a nice win over Marist, 15-9; the Red Foxes were within three with about 10 minutes to go in regulation, but a three-goal run from the Pioneers over a four minute stretch put the game away . . . Mount St. Mary's continued its slow march to the chair in a 15-5 defeat to Delaware; the Blue Hens exploded for 10 goals in the second half, ruining the Mountaineers' day . . . In one of college lacrosse's oldest rivalries, Cornell earned a 12-8 victory over Hobart in Ithaca; the Red got six points out of Matt Donovan, an important offensive cog for Cornell this season in the absence of Rob Pannell and Steve Mock . . . Bucknell erased the memories of a stunning 12-7 loss to Bryant last week and beat Navy, 9-6; David Dickson recorded only one point against the Mids, a difficult situation for a Bison team that needs him to help make the scoreboard blink . . . Air Force lost to Canisius on Saturday, 7-6; the Falcons, though, followed up with a 17-9 thrashing of Marist on Sunday; I have no idea what kind of team Air Force is . . . Duke drubbed Stony Brook, 14-6; the Devils are unbeaten in February, which means that we're in alternate 1985 (thanks, Biff).

PUMMELING AND PUMMELING AND PUMMELING

Your best individual performances from the weekend:

• Backstop Circus: Kris Alleyne (21, Rutgers); Justin Rosenberg (18, Vermont); Austin Geisler (18, High Point); Jack Kelly (18, Brown); Mike Nugent (17, Mercer); Jake Hyatt (15, Lafayette); Eric Schneider (19, Johns Hopkins); Gunnar Waldt (17, Bryant); Peter Zonino (18, Hobart); Christian Carson (16, Boston University); Will Gabrielsen (16, Drexel); Blaze Riorden (17, Albany); and Chris Kelly (18, Detroit). High honors this week go to Hyatt for taking a hit from The Dumptruck -- Ryan Walsh -- and not having to go to the hospital.
• Five-Goal Club and More: Ryan Tucker (5, Virginia); Shane Sturgis (5, Penn State); Ryan Walsh (5, Colgate); Nikko Pontrello (6, Loyola); Shayne Adams (5, Detroit); Joseph Radin (5, Marist); Mike Crampton (5, Air Force); and Tommy McKee (5, Air Force).
• The Power Plant: Double-Digit Point Generation: None. Lazy bums.
• The Lyle Thompson Prism of Doom Award: Shane Sturgis wins the award this week with his five-goal, one-assist performance against Notre Dame's pain-leveraging defense. (Lyle Thompson went one-and-five against Drexel. He is worth 100-billion goalie embarrassing bucks, which is pretty valuable.)

Do you have anything else to add from this weekend? The comments, they are yours.