Last weekend was another exciting one that resulted in the 4th team being crowned #1 in the rankings this past Monday (in only six weeks). Penn State took home the #1 ranking after handily defeating Cornell on Friday, while Cornell took down previous #1 Towson on Sunday afternoon. The full poll can be found here. In statistics news, Grant Ament is having one of the better years lacrosse fans have seen in a long time. Through 7 games, he has 56 points (46 assists, 6.57 assists per game). In their six remaining games (plus the possible Big Ten and NCAA Tournament games), he will most likely break the single season assists record held by Lyle Thompson (2014) and Steve Marohl (1992) at 77 assists. In other news, Pat Spencer is just 38 assists away from breaking the career assists record of 225 held by Lyle Thompson.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

This week some of the top teams were in action on Tuesday. Hopkins hosted Mt. St. Marys in a game I thought would be much closer. The Mount played Towson tough early in the season, but didn’t have a response to Hopkins’ offense, as the Jays pulled away early on and never looked back. Down in Durham, first year program Utah battled with the Blue Devils in the first half, and took a 7-6 lead into halftime, but that was squandered quickly as John Danowski must have had something important to say in the locker room. Duke ran away from the game in the second half en route to a 17-11 weekday win at home. Rutgers and Lehigh went back and forth until the Mountain Hawks pulled away late in the fourth quarter. James Spence (Lehigh) walked away with 17 saves in a 13-10 win over Rutgers, who might fall out of the top 20 unless they take a game from Syracuse in the dome. Here are some of the games to watch (from the stands or the couch) this weekend

Top games to watch this weekend:

#4 Yale vs #3 Cornell

This top-10 matchup gives us two solid offenses, so the fireworks and highlight plays shouldn’t be a problem from New Haven on Saturday. Cornell is coming off a solid win over Towson, and if TD Ierlan doesn’t dominate the X, the Big Red should be in business. 16-14 Cornell.

#2 Duke vs #5 Towson

The other top-10 matchup of the week gives us two lockdown defenses. Towson has shown its offensive prowess early but I think Duke will be too much for the Tigers to handle. Although they don’t want to lose two-straight, these big games are just gearing them up for CAA play. 11-10 Duke.

#13 Syracuse vs #15 Rutgers

In the dome, Rutgers looks to overcome a weekday loss on a short week. Syracuse is coming off a win over Hopkins and has a lot of momentum going into this one. They are finding themselves offensively, and Saturday shouldn’t be their biggest problem. 15-9 Syracuse.

#12 Virginia vs #7 Notre Dame

This is a huge one for both teams. The Irish traveled coast to coast from last weekend’s win over Denver in California, and Virginia beat a tough Brown team out for revenge over former coach Lars Tiffany in OT. Young offensive talent will be on display, but I think the Irish have the upper hand despite the travel. 12-11 (OT) Notre Dame.

Maryland teams in action:

#6 Maryland vs Villanova

This might be a trap game for the Terps. Villanova is streaky, and beat Yale earlier this season. The game could be closer than many expect but the Terps will find a way to pull this one out. 13-8 Terps.

#8 Loyola vs Navy

The Pat Spencer show will show fans why he has been the Patriot League offensive player of the year the past three years. Loyola will bounce back from being losers of 2 out of 3 in their conference debut. 17-9 Loyola.

#17 Hopkins vs Delaware

I think Hopkins is better than many expect, they are just very young. After playing together for a month now, they should have no problem with Delaware, especially at home. 16-9 Hopkins.

Mt. St. Marys vs Bryant

The Mount has been trending up this season, although Mike Pressler always has Bryant prepared and playing tough. After losing three in a row by a goal each, the Bulldogs will take this one by 1. 13-12 Bryant.

UMBC vs Vermont

America East action begins. The Cats and Retrievers have both had slow starts to their year at 3-3 and 1-4, respectively. But here begins a new season, the battle twoards the conference championship. Vermont remains one of the frontrunners in the AE. 16-12 Vermont.

D3 Lacrosse News

Stevenson University hosts their annual Mustang Classic this weekend in one of the biggest Division 3 lacrosse events of the season. The event brings some of the top D3 teams together each year as each play two games throughout the weekend. This year, the field expanded to ten teams, eight of which are ranked in the top-20. This year’s field includes #4 Amherst, #11 Denison, #8 Dickinson, #13 Franklin and Marshall, #19 Lynchburg, Middlebury, #2 RIT, Stevenson, #5 York and #7 Wesleyan. The schedule for the games (all played at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills) can be found below (courtesy of Inside Lacrosse):

Friday, March 15
Middlebury vs. Wesleyan, 11:30 a.m.
Dickinson vs. Denison, 1:45 p.m.
F&M vs. Amherst, 4 p.m.
RIT vs. York, 6:15 p.m.
Stevenson vs. Lynchburg, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 16
Middlebury vs. Dickinson, 11:30 a.m.
Denison vs. F&M, 1:45 p.m.
Amherst vs. RIT, 4 p.m.
Wesleyan vs. Lynchburg, 6:15 p.m.
Stevenson vs. York, 8:30 p.m.

There isn’t a better place to be than Baltimore during college lacrosse season. With five Division 1 games and an additional ten Division 3 games, there is plenty of lacrosse to go around for all of the fans in the area. And no worries, if you are booked this weekend, there is always the next two months to get out to some live action and see the best players in the country go head to head.

Sam Kuhn
Sam Kuhn

Lacrosse Analyst

Sam Kuhn currently is the graduate assistant for the men’s lacrosse program at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio and is working to complete his Masters of Business Administration in 2020. Sam graduated from the College of Wooster in 2018, where he received his Bachelors Degree in English and played lacrosse as well. In his four years, Sam was a two time All-NCAC selection, a first team All-Region selection in 2018, and surpassed 100 goals for his career, one of seven members in program history to do so. Sam has interned with Inside Lacrosse, and wrote for the sports section of The Wooster Voice.

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