We have 4 games on the docket today. All of them will either be streamed or shown on tv. Directly below is the Big Board for May 3, 2019. Clicking on the team name will take you to that team’s Game Day preview for today, while clicking on the Stream/TV cell will take you to the broadcast of that game. Additionally, clicking on the Live Stats cell will take you to the live stats of that particular game. All times Eastern Standard Time.

College Crossecast Conference Tournament Preview

Jake, Ryan, & I previewed all of the games today in a special old school episode of the College Crossecast.

If you can believe it, we’re in the final buildup to the 2019 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. It’s Conference Championship week, as all ten conferences decide their champs and yield 9 invites to the Big Barbeque. And what better way to get you prepped for it than a new episode of COLLEGE CROSSECAST?

I’m joined by Safe and Jake as we first take stock in the bracketology situation (1:00) and then go over this week’s top 20 (28:15). Then it’s time to bring the fun of the conference tournaments, and you can catch them at the following times:

29:20- MAAC

33:50- America East

38:00- NEC

45:00- SOCON

51:20- Big East

55:15- Patriot League

58:15- Colonial

1:05:24- ACC

1:06:00- Big Ten

1:13:10- Ivy League

We make our predictions (1:15:30) and then answer a hefty Mailbag (1:22:30; keep sending your questions to us @College_Crosse or in the comments) before wrapping up with Game of Thrones and Avengers: Endgame talk (1:42:00). I won’t have anything to contribute to that final segment, but the other two definitely do. I’m also including that fact for that sweet, sweet page optimization.

Conference Tournament Previews

Make sure you check out these conference tournament previews before today’s games.

2019 Conference Tournament Primer: Patriot League.

No. 1: Loyola Greyhounds

Loyola has one the best players in the game in Pat Spencer. He might win the Tewaaraton with his ability to be a quarterback of the Greyhound offense. Kevin Lindley is a scoring machine with 56 goals, many of them assisted from Spencer. Chase Scanlan has become a a threat at midfield with 51 points, third on the team. Ryan McNulty and Cam Wyers are studs on defense, and Jacob Stover is one of the best goalies in the nation.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER TO WATCH: When you have a probable Tewaaraton finalist, he automatically becomes the guy to watch. But if defenses can shut him off or perhaps players he feeds to like Lindley and Aidan Olmstead, it could mean problems.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER TO WATCH: In a freshman class filled with other big-time players, notably on offense, one of the best defensive freshmen is close defenseman Cam Wyers. Instantly covering the top guy on offense, the 6-4 Canadian will get some postseason experience right off the bat.

LOYOLA WINS IF: Pat Spencer does Pat Spencer things and Jacob Stover locks down the net like he has for most of the season.

Bracketology

Chris blessed us with part 7 of his College Crosse Bracketology series earlier this week. Make sure you check it out.

All 503 regular games are done. We’ve completed the entire regular season. Now it’s time to crown conference champions and hand out automatic qualifiers. On Sunday, we’ll find out who’s in and who’s out in the NCAA Tournament with Selection Sunday (9 PM, ESPNU). And with that, it’s once again time to dissect what we might see when the 17-team field is announced. This season has been fun, exciting, weird, crazy, unusual, different, you name it. The field is wide open and the title is up for anyone to take. There might be some well-known teams missing out once again. If you need a refresher from last week, check out what the projected field looked like.

Attachments

Breaking news by Chris: Sources - Navy, Harvard parting ways with Sowell, Wojcik.

While conference tournaments were going on Thursday afternoon and evening, a couple of programs sitting at home decided to go in different directions. In a surprise, the Navy Midshipmen fired head coach Rick Sowell on Thursday afternoon, sources confirmed to College Crosse. Sowell later confirmed his departure to Edward Lee of The Baltimore Sun. The former head coach sent a message to his supporters, which was obtained by College Crosse and later published in full by the Sun.

Hopkins defeats Maryland to advance to the Big Ten title game.

Mount St. Mary’s men’s lacrosse coughs up 5-goal lead, loses to Robert Morris in NEC semifinals.

The Robert Morris men’s lacrosse team’s philosophy of living dangerously is still strong. For the second time in as many games, the Colonials rallied in the fourth quarter, this time scoring the final six goals to upend host Mount St. Mary’s, 13-12, in overtime in the first semifinal of the Northeast Conference tournament at Waldron Family Stadium on Thursday evening. Robert Morris (8-7), the No. 4 seed, advanced to Saturday’s tournament final at 4 p.m., marking its second consecutive appearance in the league’s title game. After a 1-7 start, the team has won seven straight games.

Maryland men’s lacrosse crashes out of Big Ten tournament in 12-7 loss to Johns Hopkins.

For the second time in six days, Maryland men’s lacrosse built a four-goal lead over Johns Hopkins in the first half. And for the second consecutive game, the Terps were helpless in their attempts to stop the Blue Jays’ subsequent rally. Maryland entered halftime with a 6-2 lead following a dominant defensive display in the second quarter. But when the teams returned to the field for the second half, the game began to resemble the one-sided affair of last Saturday’s Johns Hopkins win.

Richmond reaches sixth straight conference title game.

2019 marks the sixth season that Richmond has recognized men’s lacrosse as a varsity sport, and all six have featured the Spiders playing in a conference title game. Tate Gallagher fired home the eventual game-winning goal from long range with 3:20 remaining, giving Richmond a 7-6 win over Air Force in the Southern Conference semifinals on Thursday night. Tied at five entering the fourth quarter, Air Force took the 6-5 lead. Trey Lervick worked his way in front of the net, endured contact and fired home the goal on an off-balance shot to put the Falcons in front with 13:56 remaining.

Early turnovers, penalties plague men’s lacrosse in 15-12 loss to Drexel.

A sloppy first quarter plunged the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team into an early 5-1 hole in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, and UMass went on to fall 15-12 to Drexel on Thursday night. UMass (10-5, 4-2 CAA) had several opportunities in the second half to mount a comeback, but poor execution and penalties hindered the Minutemen, and Drexel (7-7, 3-3 CAA) emerged victorious. Head coach Greg Cannella said that the game was lost early on, with the Minutemen committing seven turnovers in the first quarter.

Rutgers’ NCAA Tournament hopes dashed as No. 1 Penn State romps in Big Ten men’s lacrosse semifinal

Rutgers suffered a near-miss loss at No. 1 Penn State to end the regular season. There was nothing close about the second meeting between the programs in six days to open the postseason. The Scarlet Knights’ hopes to win the Big Ten Tournament on their home field and grab the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament were ruthlessly dashed by the top-ranked Nittany Lions in an 18-6 loss in the tournament’s semifinal round Thursday at HighPoint.com Stadium in Piscataway.

Big win by Drexel over UMass last night.

Great job by Robert Morris in their overtime win over Mount St. Mary’s.

Woof. High Point wasn’t messing around yesterday versus Jacksonville.