The College Crosse All-Decade Awards and Podcast: Men’s Game of the Decade

The 2nd edition of the College Crosse All-Decade Awards has been released, this one covering the best games of the decade that was from 2010-2019. There are a host of contenders for this award, with some great regular season games that were personal favorites of our site’s, to great NCAA Tournament games, and some all time classics on the sport’s biggest stage. We ended up whittling it down to a few final contenders, but were not able to come to a final conclusive decision. So we’re going to leave that up to you! If you prefer to read, here’s the written portion with the choices you’ll get to decide on, and if you prefer to listen, the podcast with Ryan and I discussing it all is embedded below. And make sure to stay tuned for more Decade in Review content.

Game of the Decade: Notre Dame vs Albany, 2014 NCAA Quarterfinal or Maryland vs Brown, 2016 NCAA Semifinal

• We’re going to leave this up to you to decide. Ryan picked Notre Dame vs Albany from the 2014 NCAA Quarterfinals, while I picked Maryland vs Brown from the 2016 NCAA Semifinals. Since that’s one vote a piece for each game, we figure we’d break the tie by letting you guys vote, which you can do so below. Here’s a brief synopsis of each game.
• Notre Dame vs Albany, 2014 NCAA Quarterfinal: A classic played in front of one of the all time most electric crowds in the sport’s history in Hempstead, New York. The Albany Great Danes led by the captivating Thompson Twins against a red hot Notre Dame team. Notre Dame got out to a 4-0 lead in a flash before Albany pulled it back courtesy of several amazing Thompson goals. Eventually the Great Danes would pull ahead with a commanding 12-7 lead before Notre Dame dragged back our goals in two minutes to pull within one. An incredible sequence that saw the Irish hit the goal post twice leading to a fastbreak Albany goal appeared to send the Danes to Baltimore, but the Irish would tie it up at 13 late before winning in OT on a Matt Kavanagh goal. A crazy all time fourth quarter in front of an all time crowd.
• Maryland vs Brown, 2016 NCAA Semifinal: Some of the most high level offense ever featured in an NCAA Semifinal, the two best teams in the nation in 2016 squared off in a tilt for the ages. Two polar opposite teams squared off and decided to just let it all rip and go toe to toe for 60 minutes. The methodical, precise Terps matched Brown’s frenetic, hyper speed offense pace for pace early, Dylan Molloy helped try to keep the Bears within touching distance on one leg, but Maryland looked set to run-away up 4 with seven minutes left until Brown pulled off an incredible, dizzying comeback to tie the game up and send it to OT, where the famous Maryland duo of Rambo to Heacock connected to win it for the Terps. A game full of skill and talent on the sport’s biggest stage.

Honorable Mentions

• Maryland vs North Carolina, 2016 NCAA Final: Perhaps the greatest title game ever, featuring some amazing twists and turns of momentum, one of the most frenetic and incredible final minutes and overtime in lacrosse history, with remarkable drama between two programs who were at the time more thirsty for a national title win than any other teams in the sport.
• Yale vs Penn, 2019 NCAA Quarterfinal: The greatest Ivy League game of all time. Two high powered offenses engaged in an all out goalscoring assault, featuring a litany of goals, momentum switches, an incredible late game comeback by the Quakers, and one of the craziest overtime periods you’ll ever see. A game for the ages in a weekend for one.

2:45- Ryan and Jake’s personal favorites from Syracuse, Towson, and Maryland
14:00- General rundown of great games
39:23- Inside look at the 2016 NCAA Final Four
48:30- Inside look at the 2019 NCAA Quarterfinal Weekend
1:03:50- Inside look at the 2014 Notre Dame-Albany NCAA Quarterfinal