NCAA Lacrosse Week 5: The Ivy League Is Nothing Like It Was Last Year
Let’s start this week with a nice battle that went down to the wire between Villanova and The University of Pennsylvania.
Penn has massive amounts of talent up and down its lineup, but this season, the talent has struggled to find wins. Mike Murphy’s squad is a stunning 2-3 after five weeks of lacrosse and earned its third loss in a heartbreaking home loss against Villanova.
The Wildcats have solid players in every position, most notably, Matt Campbell. He has been the catalyst on the offensive side of the ball all season and against the Quakers, he contributed a pair of goals and an assist.
Matt Licata crossed over goal-line extended along the far side of the field and ripped a jump shot past goaltender Emmet Carroll to give Villanova the lead with under 30 seconds remaining.
His goal ended up being the game-winner.
Sticking with teams from Pennsylvania, the Traynor brothers lit the lamp five times for Penn State as they took down Ivy League opponent number three.
The talk throughout lacrosse media right now includes discourse focused on giving Penn State the Ivy League title after defeating three top teams in the conference.
Penn State is now ranked No. 5 in the nation after upsetting three straight Ivy League opponents and they are one of the scariest teams in the nation because of the stiff defensive game they play.
After bashing the Ivy schools, let’s now commend Yale for a gutsy victory over the Denver Pioneers.
Alec Stathakis dominated the faceoff x once again for the Pioneers but the team has struggled offensively all season and only managed to beat Jared Paquette nine times.
Matt Brandau had three goals during the contest and also had a pair of assists that helped catapult the Bulldogs to victory. The top dog amongst the Bulldogs has started to put together solid outing after solid outing and is looking scary.
The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays spoiled Mikey Powell’s jersey retirement game at the JMA Wireless Dome defeating Syracuse 11-9 on Saturday.
Russell Melendez lit the lamp not once, not twice, rather he lit it thrice giving the Blue Jays the juice they needed to get by the Orange. Jacob Angelus added a goal and also assisted three Hopkins goals.
Owen Hiltz produced three goals for the Orange and was on top of his game alongside Joey Spallina the Long Island Legend had three assists in the battle between the two legendary programs.
There’s not much to say about Notre Dame and Virginia except that they are both very good.
The upcoming week of games should be exciting and with conference play right around the corner, the college lacrosse scene will become even more exciting.
Hayden Lewis is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email lewis1818hayden@gmail.com.
