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FOLKS!
The games start to matter! For the second straight year, the Vermont Catamounts will leave their cold home to get a taste of warm weather to take on the Furman Paladins tonight. In a regular season college lacrosse game. Soak it in.
Me coming out of my cage (and doing just fine) because college lacrosse is back @College_Crosse pic.twitter.com/ktYmW8lsSS
— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) February 1, 2018
Below is today’s Big Board. Clicking on the team name will take you to that team’s homepage. Clicking on the Stream cell will take you to the broadcast of that game, while the Live Stats cell will take you to the live stats of that game. Let’s go to the Big Board!!
College Crosse Big Board for February 1, 2018
| Time | Away | Home | Stream | Live Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Away | Home | Stream | Live Stats |
| 6:00 PM | Vermont | Furman | SoCon Digital Network | Furman |
Game Preview
The only game of the day should be a good one, as it was last year!
Starting with the Catamounts, they return attackman Ian MacKay after missing all of last season with an injury. He was the America East’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2016 and was a USILA Third Team All-American. He’ll join Ben French and Dawes Milchling at attack. Both of them scored over 20 goals and 30 points a year ago.
Led by James Leary, the Catamounts ranked 13th in the country and first in the America East in caused turnovers per game at 8.08. Charlie Erdmann went 53.8% on face-offs a year ago, and goaltender Nick Washuta enters his sophomore season as the top goalie.
They finished 5-8 a year ago after starting the season 3-0, and lost all but one of their games by three goals or less.
For Furman, they’re coming off of a 7-8 season and 6-1 in the SoCon, sharing a part of the regular season conference title. A young group of players leads Richie Meade’s squad, including midfielders Lou Yovino and William Holcomb and senior attackman Jonah Moore, who led the team last year with 34 points.
They’ll need to replace their top FOGO in Hil Blaze as well as a handful of defensemen for this season. Brandon Bank and Parker Widhelm are two returnees the Paladins will need to rely on, but do return goaltender Alec Van de Bovenkamp, who posted an 8.50 goals against average a year ago.
Last year’s game ended in overtime. Here’s hoping it happens again this year.
And since we should honor every OT goal scored thus far, @UVMmlax and @cfeifs are lucky to have done it twice! #WhitneyInOT @SexyTimeLax pic.twitter.com/lZeKwlpLRW
— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) February 5, 2017
Attachments
Just to make it sink in a little more:
GAMEDAY! #VCats kick off the 2018 season in South Carolina against Furman tonight!#ThisIsVermont pic.twitter.com/LoKEiHeny5
— UVM Men's Lacrosse (@UVMmlax) February 1, 2018
It's here. It's #GAMEDAY. pic.twitter.com/NYqFcxdQnR
— Furman Lacrosse (@FURMANMLAX) February 1, 2018
Also this!
The first game of the year is a big deal!
— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) February 1, 2018
Follow @FURMANMLAX all day on the @NCAALAX Instagram Story as the Paladins prepare to host the season opener. pic.twitter.com/yJehPuPhDL
Catch up with my first power rankings of the 2018 season! Vermont is 45th and Furman is not that far behind at 47th.
If you want every Division I, II, and III teams roster and schedule, check out the men’s preseason matrix!
The latest episode of Across College Lacrosse is also out. We’ll be recording our final season preview College Crossecast later tonight. Catch up with part two here. And here’s our conference picks:
Song of the Day
Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends.
Game begins at six! I’ll see you out there!