NCAA Lacrosse: Week 6

Story posted March 25, 2023 in

After a huge action-packed week in the world of college lacrosse, the tides have turned within the top 5 of the Inside Lacrosse Men’s Division I Media Poll.

We start in Charlottesville, Va., for the Maryland-Virginia Rivalry where about every statistic in this game was nearly identical.

Very fitting that the last two teams to win the National Championship would deliver a very dramatic game here at the midpoint of the season.

Both teams registered a four-goal scorer as Virginia’s Thomas McConvey notched four goals and an assist for five points. On the Maryland side, Jack Koras also had a four-goal game but also completed a hat-trick in his second consecutive game.

While Terp's faceoff man Luke Wierman thought to score a game-winner with just under a minute and a half to go, Maryland head coach John Tillman managed horribly and called a timeout prior.

Luckily for Tillman, freshman goalie Brian Ruppel made three straight unreal saves in overtime off a quick onslaught of chances from the Cavaliers' offense to keep Maryland in the game.

Daniel Kelly potted the overtime winner for the No. 3 Terrapins to lift them past No. 1 Virginia on the road. Maryland improves to 5-2, while the Cavaliers suffer their first loss all season falling to 6-1. Maryland moves to No. 2 in the polls while Virginia drops down to No. 3.

We move on to Ann Arbor where Notre Dame’s win over then No. 20 Michigan on the road, powers them through to sole possession of No. 1 at the top of Inside Lacrosse’s poll.

The Fighting Irish senior attack Pat Kavanagh had a stellar performance as he tied his own program record of 10 points in a game. The attack from Rockville Centre, New York tallied a four-goal game, along with six helpers to tie the record that he has set twice in his career.

Kavanagh’s younger brother Chris was also involved in the dominant showcase of offense shown in the win over the Wolverines. The sophomore attack notched a hat-trick of his own scoring three goals on 10 shots attempted.

Notre Dame moves to an undefeated record of 6-0 and moves from the No. 2 spot to the top, as they get set for ACC conference play against No. 3 Virginia in South Bend. Michigan sank to a 4-3 record and fell out of the top 20 on the Inside Lacrosse Poll.

Coming into the week at No. 3 from last week’s poll, Duke had two wins in three days and still managed to drop a spot down to No. 4 on the Inside Lacrosse poll.

The Blue Devils earned their pair of home wins over No. 13 at the time North Carolina 15-8, and an 18-6 win over Air Force. The loss for the Tar Heels drops them one spot to No. 14 on the poll. Duke increases their record to 8-1 on the season.

Penn State fell out of the No. 5 spot and moved down the ladder to No. 10 after the 12-11 defeat by Marquette at a Neutral Site at Douglas MacArthur High School in Levittown, New York.

Although the graduate student attack for the Nittany Lions T.J. Malone corralled a seven-point game, three different attacks for the Golden Eagles had a combined 10-point performance.

Sophomore Will Foster had a goal and three assists, while freshman Andrew Bowman and senior Devon Cowan both completed hat-tricks of their own.

While the Blue and White had a late surge to get the game to within one goal, it wasn’t enough as Devon Cowan’s hat-trick goal with a man-up was credited as the game-winner with 1:18 left in the game.

The Nittany Lions fell to 5-2 while the Golden Eagles improved to 4-3.

Cornell moved to 5-1 and slid into the No. 5 spot on the poll coming up from No. 7.

Matt Cabram is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mwc5817@psu.edu