College Crosse Roundup: North Carolina, Loyola Win Conference Championships; Penn State Gets By Michigan

This college lacrosse season has been weird. UNC was under .500 by the start of the ACC Tournament and finished over .500 at the end of it. And they’ll probably be in the NCAA Tournament and look like a Championship Weekend team. There’s been a ton of other weird stuff too, but this is the latest weird thing to happen this season.

Meanwhile, some bubble teams (cough cough, Villanova) are probably not happy with today’s result.

Below is today’s Big Board with all of today’s results, box scores, and winning team recaps. Clicking on any box score will take you to that game’s box score. Clicking on the recap cell will take you to that team’s recap.

Game Recaps

North Carolina 14, Notre Dame 10: As mentioned above, although the ACC doesn’t have an automatic qualifier, UNC’s probably getting into the NCAA Tournament with the win over an injured Notre Dame squad. Luke Goldstock and Chris Cloutier had big games yet again, with Goldstock scoring a game-high four goals and Cloutier recording three goals and two assists. Andy Matthews had three assists, and the star on the second midfield was William Perry, who had two goals and one assist. Stephen Kelly went 14-of-26 from the face-off X, and Brian Balkam made 11 saves.

Brendan Gleason scored three times and Bryan Costabile had two goals and one assist as they led the way with Ryder Garnsey (1 G, 1 A) and Sergio Perkovic (No points on three shots) playing hurt. John Sexton was very aggressive with four caused turnovers, and Shane Doss made 12 stops, but the Irish committed nine uncaused turnovers. UNC is riding hot, but doesn’t play anyone next week. It’s the opposite for Notre Dame, who’d rather take the week off than play Army West Point at Michie Stadium. Should Kevin Corrigan rest Garnsey and Perkovic?

The ACC All-Tournament team is as follows:

A Jack Bruckner, Duke
A Chris Cloutier, North Carolina – Most Valuable Player
A Jordan Evans, Syracuse
A Brendan Gleason, Notre Dame
A Luke Goldstock, North Carolina
A Andy Matthews, North Carolina
M Bryan Costabile, Notre Dame
M Sergio Salcido, Syracuse
LSM Jack Lambert, North Carolina
LSM John Sexton, Notre Dame
G Shane Doss, Notre Dame

Loyola 13, Army West Point 4: Loyola’s dominance of the Patriot League continued with another big win over Army at Ridley. The game was tied at three after the first quarter, but the Greyhounds managed to score 10 of the game’s final 11 goals on two 5-0 runs. It was the second time Loyola managed to give up one goal to Army in the second half. Brian Sherlock and Jay Drapeau each had three goals, while Pat Spencer dished out three assists, including his 54th of the season, which broke Justin Ward’s school and Patriot League records. The Greyhound defense caused 11 of Army’s 17 turnovers, with four defenders recording two caused turnovers each.

David Symmes had two goals and one assist, while Gunnar Miller had a goal and two assists. Loyola is off next week, while Army wraps up their season with Notre Dame.

I mentioned this on last week’s College Crossecast, more of if UNC lost in the ACC championship game. The three ACC-Patriot League matchups next weekend are Syracuse-Colgate, Notre Dame-Army West Point, and Duke-Boston University. Assuming it doesn’t conflict with finals, what if North Carolina played Loyola? Had they not won the ACC today, it would’ve given them another chance of getting to .500. With the win now, they could stay active this weekend and play a top team in preparation for the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. Loyola could do the same. Maybe we could also have Virginia and Navy play each other too. Just a thought.

The Patriot League All-Tournament Team is as follows:

A Sean Kirkpatrick, Holy Cross
A Pat Spencer, Loyola Maryland
M Cal Dearth, Boston University
M Gunnar Miller, Army West Point
M Brian Sherlock, Loyola Maryland
D Jack Carrigan, Loyola Maryland
D Jack McGovern, Holy Cross
D Johnny Surdick, Army West Point
FO Dan Grabher, Army West Point
G Christian Carson-Banister, Boston University
G Jacob Stover, Loyola Maryland - MVP

Penn State 17, Michigan 13: The Wolverines were tied with the Nittany Lions at halftime, but Penn State pulled ahead late, thanks in part to a five goal, four assist performance from senior attackman Nick Aponte. His five goals and nine points are a single game record in Big Ten play for Penn State. Mac O’Keefe had four goals, and Grant Ament had three assists, while Dan Craig had a hat-trick to go along an assist.

The Wolverines were led by four goals from Mikie Schlosser and three goals and one assist from Brent Noseworthy. Mike McDonnell went 20-of-32 from the face-off X against Gerard Arceri and Billy Lombardi, while goaltender Tommy Heidt kept Michigan in the game for the most part with 13 saves. Penn State gets set to play Maryland, while Michigan’s season is done. Beginning next season, Michigan should be playing in their new 2,000 seat lacrosse stadium as part of the school’s Athletics South Competition and Performance Project.

Attachments

Highlights:

UNC’s women got in the ACC champion party.

The Big Ten Tournament schedule is set:

History was made last night.

The Golden Bear!

What’s Next?

No lacrosse until Thursday, when we have the semifinals for the America East, Big East, Big Ten, CAA, NEC, and SoCon. The Ivy League and MAAC semifinals will be held on Friday.