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US Lacrosse College Notebook
April 11, 2003
Rivalries Take Center Stage
Maryland hosts Johns Hopkins at 8 p.m. Saturday at Byrd Stadium in the 99th meeting of the longest-running rivalry in college lacrosse. The matchup, featuring the No. 5 and No. 1 ranked teams in the USILA coaches poll, respectively, will be the first live sports event televised nationally by the new College Sports Television network (CSTV).
The network couldn't pick a better game to broadcast in its debut. The rivalry transcends in-state bragging rights that highlight a number of other long-running series in college lacrosse. Maryland and Hopkins almost always has national implications, as on 16 of the last 33 occasions both teams entered ranked in the top five. Thirteen times one team has been ranked No. 1. The teams have played in the most (JHU 31) and third-most (UM 107) NCAA tournaments since the event began in 1971, and they have produced the most first-team All-Americans in the sport's history.
The equally national talent level has held true to form and produced thrilling games the last two years. Last year, Blue Jay freshman Kyle Barrie scored with 1:45 remaining in overtime to lift Hopkins to a 9-8 win before an overflow crowd of 8,642 at Homewood Field. In 2001, it was brothers Mike and Dan LaMonica scoring within minutes of each other late in the fourth quarter to give the Terps a 10-9 win at Byrd before 7,219. Interestingly enough, the team with the lesser ranking has won seven of the last 10 matchups.
Hopkins-Maryland concludes a week that featured two in-state rivalry games pitting top-20 combatants against each other. Tuesday, Syracuse hosted Cornell in the 87th meeting between the upstate New York rivals located roughly an hour apart. A crowd of 3,047 at the Carrier Dome saw the Orangemen post a 13-8 win, their third straight in the series. The Big Red have not beaten Syracuse since a 13-12 game in Ithaca that proved to be the Orange's only loss of their 2000 championship season.
Wednesday, UMBC hopped on the Baltimore Beltway to visit Towson for an under-the-lights matchup in dismal weather at newly renovated Towson Stadium. While not nearly as well-attended with only 728 braving the cold rain, the game was as intense as any in the 34-year history of the series. The underdog Retrievers used a patient offense, a physical defense and plenty of Tiger turnovers to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Towson eventually rallied to tie the game at 9, but Josh Gerber scored on a pass from Joey Kestermann with 2:40 to play to give UMBC a 10-9 lead. Goalie Tim Flanagan, solid all game, staved off a final Towson shot, and Retriever coach Don Zimmerman led a full-field sprint to the defensive end as UMBC celebrated the upset. Afterwards Zimmerman called his team “an inspiration to coach” and directed media to “talk to the players, it was their win.”
It was UMBC's first win over Towson since 2000 and 11th in 34 meetings.
Around the Country
Times Four
There are some interesting conference races shaping up in men's Division III lacrosse, none more so that the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association. Four teams in the UCAA are ranked within seven spots in the latest USILA Top 20 poll.
The UCAA has gotten very tight with 20th-ranked Hamilton (7-2, 2-1 UCAA) handing 14th-ranked St. Lawrence (7-1, 1-1) its first loss last weekend and then coming back with a 7-6 win over 17th-ranked Clarkson (6-2, 1-1) on Wednesday. No. 16 RPI, which beat Hamilton in overtime on March 29, leads the league with a 2-0 mark and plays at Clarkson on Sunday. Also lurking in the wings is Skidmore with a 2-1 record and games remaining against Clarkson, Hamilton and St. Lawrence.
“The top five teams, and even Union, are all very close,” said Hamilton coach Gene McCabe. “They're all deep with experience, have solid defenses and really good goalies.”
Making matters more interesting is the fact that this is the first year the league will have a season-ending tournament. The tournament will be played from May 2-4 at the highest seed, but only four teams will qualify for the tournament.
“There's going to be a good team in our league that's not going to get a chance to compete for an AQ,” said McCabe. “That makes every game that much more important.”
CSTV Announces Lacrosse Package
College Sports Television (www.cstv.com) will launch its lacrosse schedule in primetime Saturday (8 p.m. ET) with a live telecast of top-ranked Johns Hopkins at fifth-ranked Maryland. That's the first of six live telecasts scheduled for CSTV this year. The other game are Syracuse at Hofstra (April 17, 7 p.m.), Navy at Johns Hopkins (April 19, 1 p.m.), UMBC at Maryland (April 25, 7:30 p.m.), Army at Navy (April 28, 12 noon) and Loyola at Johns Hopkins (May 3, 3 p.m.).
In addition, the network will air taped coverage of games featuring the 11th-ranked Cornell men, as well as the #5 Princeton, #6 Georgetown, #7 Cornell and #14 Yale women. The schedule is subject to change; for updated CSTV programming information, log on to www.cstv.com. The network will also show CSTV LAX, a weekly review of men's and women's college lacrosse action. The next show is scheduled for April 16 at 6:30 p.m.
CSTV is currently available only through the DIRECTV SPORTS Pack, but the network is launching a grass roots marketing effort to assist with getting major cable carriers to add CSTV to their lineup. You may visit the CSTV web site for a direct link to send an e-mail to your local cable carrier encouraging them to add CSTV.
Did You Know?
Loyola is ranked first in the latest IWLCA Division I poll, but the Greyhounds at 10-0 are not the only undefeated team at that level. St. Bonaventure is a perfect 7-0 with a 3-0 record in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies host Ohio University in a non-league game on Sunday and will heat the meat of the A-10 schedule with league games against Temple, Massachusetts and Richmond over the next two weeks.
One More Trip
UC-Davis has climbed to No. 1 in the women's Division II ranks and the Aggies have one more road trip to help cement that position. UC-Davis plays at fourth-ranked West Chester, at Millersville, and at Indiana (Pa.) over the weekend. The Aggies are currently 7-3 with all three losses coming to Division I teams. They own wins over second-ranked Longwood, sixth-ranked Limestone and seventh-ranked Stonehill.
Knocking Off One
The unbeaten ranks in women's Division III lacrosse will fall by at least one this weekend as the second-ranked College of New Jersey (6-0) travels to fifth-ranked Gettysburg (10-0) on Saturday. Gettysburg ended one other team's undefeated season last weekend with an 18-9 victory over Washington College after the Shorewomen had opened the season 9-0.
Milestone
Liz Baumbach, the all-time leading scorer in University of Scranton history, enters this Saturday's game at Messiah needing two points to reach 300 for her career. She has 223 goals and 75 assists in her career.
Sonoma Still on Top
Despite losing to Colorado State, Sonoma State remained on top of the latest US Lacrosse MDIA poll due to Colorado's State's upset loss to Utah. The Utes climbed into the poll at No. 22. Sonoma bounced back from the loss to Colorado State by beating NCAA Division III Colorado College 9-8 on Thursday. No. 3 Michigan has a big weekend with games at fourth-ranked Colorado State and sixth-ranked Colorado. The biggest climber in the poll was Chapman, which rose six spots to No. 13.
Early Championship
The Texas Women's Lacrosse League will holds its championship tournament this weekend at Southwest Texas State. Texas A&M, ranked ninth in the latest US Lacrosse WDIA poll, will be the favorite. The Aggies are 11-0 and have won every game by at least seven goals this season. Texas Tech is also in the Top 20 at No. 17. Other contenders figure to include defending champion Texas, Baylor and the host Bobcats.
US Lacrosse College Notebook is a weekly feature on the US Lacrosse web site. For information about supporting the sport through membership in US Lacrosse, visit our membership page.
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