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STORIES
Dixon: Fantastic Notre Dame-UNC Game, Marist Rolling in MAAC and More
An entertaining weekend as top teams battled for conference positioning with a few upsets along the way. This is the time of year when scratching out wins is paramount. Scores don’t particularly matter. Rather, finding ways to win, meeting challenges, and handling adversity become the difference between teams that are on the rise and teams going in the opposite direction. Let’s see who fits each category with another edition of Takeaways.
Quint's Top 20: AQ System Gives Teams Late Hope
Big winners last week were Notre Dame, Maryland, Albany, Brown and Colgate. Sixty-nine teams play Division I lacrosse, and only about 17 have been eliminated from the dream of the NCAA Tournament. I love the AQ system and the hope it provides. Now is the time to play your best. ACC and Patriot League automatic qualifiers will be earned this week.
Tuesdays with Corey: Bracketology, Second Edition
In an effort to be the best Bracketologist I can be, I caught up last week with NCAA Division I men's lacrosse committee chair Heather Lyke, the athletic director at Eastern Michigan University, who will be in charge of heading this year's selection in two weeks.
Nike/LM Division I Men's Top 20
The top seven teams in the rankings remain the same and Albany cracks the top-eight for the first time this year. Notre Dame's dramatic one-goal win over North Carolina didn't drop the Tar Heels at all and the rest of the nation's elite held serve, so to speak, with the exception of Cornell, which lost big to Brown.
McAnaney: One-Goal Games and Plenty of Talking Points
Mother Nature and the lacrosse lords were on the same page this weekend as great weather pushed fans to venues of all sizes to see critical games all across the country, and they were not disappointed.
ICYMI: UNC-UND Controversy and April Madness
How quickly we forget.
Michigan 9, Johns Hopkins 16
Michigan has the talent to run with a team like Hopkins (which, if you look at the record, might not be saying much, but that’s one of the country’s most talented squads, at the very least), but not the depth. They also have a few key failings – that have recurred all year – that prevent them from reaching their potential.
Detroit 14, Siena 13
Detroit is living on the edge, winning seemingly every game by a single goal. At the very least, the MAAC standings see a win as a win, nothing more or less (though the advanced metrics probably wouldn’t look too kindly on the resume).
Comparing The Lacrosse Polls... Seriously
Comparing the lacrosse polls is always fun, and I actually love seeing how different groups and people rank their teams. Are these lacrosse polls serious? I certainly think so, but just in case you don’t love my analysis, I’ve included the results from some of the other lacrosse polls out there, so we can compare it all head to head!
UAlbany lax can score, but it plays exceptional defense, too
Blaze Riorden doesn’t get much of the No. 7 University at Albany men’s lacrosse spotlight.
Struggling Saints look to upset seventh-ranked Albany
Siena men’s lacrosse coach John Svec blew his whistle on Monday afternoon and signaled the end of yet another practice.
Jordan Evans feels fully healthy, flourishes for Syracuse after early-season injury
Jordan Evans picked up a ground ball and ran away from the crease. He came to a halt in three hard steps and swiveled his body around and through the two Albany defenders chasing him from behind.
Patriot League Power Rankings: Mea Culpa Lehigh
Every week we will highlight various storylines from the Patriot League in our Power Rankings. Everything will be ranked from worst to best – starting with the unranked items that couldn’t quite crack the big board, but are still worth mentioning.
Q&A with ESPN men's lacrosse analyst Mark Dixon
ESPN’s Mark Dixon called play-by-play for the No. 1 Maryland women’s lacrosse team’s 17-9 victory at No. 18 Johns Hopkins on Wednesday night. The former Johns Hopkins midfielder will provide analysis for the Big Ten Network’s coverage of No. 11 Ohio State at Rutgers on Saturday and then rush down to help cover Johns Hopkins at No. 2 Maryland later that night. Dixon, who can be followed on Twitter at @DixonLacrosse, opined on the controversial end to No. 1 Notre Dame’s 15-14 win against No. 2 North Carolina, Maryland’s comeback 10-9 overtime win at Ohio State, and the favorites in a pair of conference tournaments this week.
Lindsey and John Svec find success coaching at Siena
It is Saturday night in the Svec household.
Loyola Maryland men's lacrosse in predicament coach Charley Toomey was hoping to avoid
Loyola Maryland’s inaugural season in the Patriot League in 2014 included capturing the top seed, homefield advantage and a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which that squad claimed after a pair of victories.
Syracuse lacrosse will be fine if it can prevent the late deficits
The Syracuse men’s lacrosse team can beat any team in the country. It just needs to stop falling into big deficits.
College lacrosse: Syracuse still slotted at No. 3 in projected bracket
One of the great tasks facing the NCAA lacrosse committee next week could very well be figuring out who the last seeded team will be.
BEATS
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