Philly Phour Phocus: At Least Nova Won In Hoops

Let's start this week's post with a bang:

And just like that, welcome to this week's edition of the Philly Phour Phocus, which is properly spelled for the occasion. In case you're just hopping on the bandwagon (we saved plenty of seats, though they're not heated seats), we're following all four Philly teams as the season goes on and updating their chances of repping the great city in this year's Final Four. Did I mentioned that it's going to be in Philly? Well guess what, the Final Four is in Philly this year. Not on the Main Line, not in Harleysville, it's in Philly.

Last time we left you, our teams had a pretty good week, with all four teams recording at least a win in the process. How did they fare last week? Any buzzer beaters (spoiler alert: no)? To the Big Board we go! This week's Philly Phour Phocus Big Board is sponsored by the Crying Jord-I'M ONLY KIDDING. It's really sponsored by Fishtown. Fishtown: What a lame name for an alright neighborhood:

Drexel:

The Dragons hung in with the Towson Tigers in Maryland on Saturday, as they were tied at five entering the 4th quarter. But a six goal final frame by the Tigers helped them pull away from the Dragons late. Matthew Varian and Will Manganiello (a Penncrest grad!) each had a pair of goals in the loss. The FOGO tandem of Nabil Akl, David Byrne, Julian Espina, and Kyle Paul went 5-of-21 from the faceoff X. Meanwhile, Jimmy Joe Granito made 16 saves in the game. The Dragons are on the road this week as they take on Fairfield, who defeated Hofstra last week on the road.

Current Big Dance Chance: 4%. It's down from 5% last week, but that loss didn't help their chances. The CAA is a tough conference for the Dragons to compete in, and they'll need to beat either Fairfield or Hofstra in their next two games to have a chance in making the CAA Tournament at the least. Saturday showed that the Dragons can hang with the best, but they'll need to finish in order to really compete.

Penn:

The Quakers had a 9-4 lead over top-ranked Yale on the road in the third quarter, before the Bulldogs came back to tie it in the 4th. After Reilly Hupfeldt scored to give Penn the lead, the Bulldogs tied it on a Michael Keasey man-up goal with 17 seconds left in regulation, before Ben Reeves scored the game-winner in overtime to give the Quakers the loss. Simon Matheis had a hat-trick in the loss, while Hupfeldt and Doktor Nick Nick Doktor each had a pair of goals. Freshman keeper Reed Junkin made eight saves in the cage. Penn hosts the high-powered Brown offense this Saturday. Brown also lost to Bryant in overtime on Tuesday.

Current Big Dance Chance: 12%. Because of the overtime loss, the percentage is down from 15% last week. Penn opened up many eyes over the weekend, and would have opened up a ton of eyes if they hung on to win. Odds are, they would have been in the top 20 this week in the polls if they did win. A victory over Brown would be HUGE for the Quakers, who currently sit in 3rd in the Ivy League.

St. Joe's:

The Hawks breezed by Wagner 15-6 in NEC play and took over 1st place in the conference after Robert Morris lost to Bryant. Kevin Forster (who graduated from La Salle College High School, where I went!) had a career-high five points with a goal and four assists. Hayes McGinley, Mike Rastivo, Pat Swanick (ugh, he went to St. Joe's Prep, we don't like them), Jack Lombardo, and Kevin Reidinger each had two goals in the blowout win, while Mike Lanham went 16-of-18 on faceoffs. T.J. Jones made eight saves. The Hawks host Sacred Heart next week.

Current Big Dance Chance: 65%. Stays the same from last week, but HO BOY LOOK OUT FOR BRYANT! Not only did they win their NEC opener over Robert Morris 13-12, but they upset BROWN ON THE ROAD 11-10 in overtime yesterday! They've had some good wins and some bad losses this year, but the Brown win could boost their confidence a lot heading into the rest of the NEC schedule.

Villanova:

The Wildcats defeated UNC on Monday in a thrilling neutral site game in Houston. Unless you live under a rock or you're this guy (side note, if he was my neighbor, I'd punch him straight in the face), I was talking about the college basketball championship. In lacrosse news, the Wildcats were the complete opposite of their hoop counterparts, as they lost on the road to Marquette 11-3! WHAT!? That's so unlike the Nova team that we've seen this year. The Golden Eagles scored the game's first seven goals and their defense, ranked 2nd in the nation, held leading scorer Jake Froccaro scoreless (he had just one assist on the day)! Nova also won only five faceoffs the entire game. Devin McNamara and Ryan Arcidiacono's cousin Jack Curran each had a goal and an assist, while Johnny Gallaway had a goal. Nova hopes to rebound as they host Denver on Saturday, and good luck with that.

Current Big Dance Chance: 35%. A knockdown punch from Brown and Marquette has stunned the Wildcats and their chance of making the big dance as an at-large team. A loss to Denver would more than likely put the Wildcats out of the polls and now forcing them to win the Big East championship. Did Nova peak too early, like some kids who have peaked in high school? It's too early to tell, but it might look like it.

A bad week for our lacrosse teams means that we should show you other people being sad:

And now to bring you back up, let's dance: