US Lacrosse College Notebook
April 18, 2003
Patriot Games
Last year's men's lacrosse championship in the Patriot League came down to a three-way tie between Army, Bucknell and Hobart that was decided by each school's RPI ranking. Hobart received the league's bid to the NCAA tournament. This year, the championship will come down to head-to-head tie-breakers, but the race is no less interesting.
Four teams have one loss each in the league and they'll all be in action against each other this weekend. Hobart has the best record at 4-1 and hosts Army (3-1) on Saturday. Bucknell (3-1) travels to Colgate (3-1) on Saturday in another big game. The loser of each game is likely out of the race, but everything else remains wide open. None of the four teams controls its own destiny.
The only team that could clinch this weekend is Hobart, which would need to beat Army and have Colgate beat Bucknell. The Statesmen's league loss came to Bucknell (8-7 on March 29), but they already own a head-to-head win over Colgate (10-8 on April 2).
Who Wants to be No. 1?
The women's Division II rankings are sure to be interesting after the events of the last week. UC-Davis went into last weekend ranked No. 1, but the Aggies were upset by defending national champion West Chester 9-7. Two days later Stonehill knocked off West Chester 9-6, allowing 2001 national champion C.W. Post to move into the top spot. C.W. Post's time at the top may have been short as Stonehill continued its hot play with a 12-8 win over the Pioneers on Thursday to improve to 9-2 this season.
Next week's ranking might see Longwood return to the top spot. The Lancers are 10-1 with just a 13-12 overtime loss to UC-Davis on March 27. Longwood, which was ranked No. 1 before that loss, plays at Millersville on Saturday.
From the Penthouse to the Doghouse
UMBC has been on a roller coaster ride as it enters the stretch run of the season. The Retrievers last week soared to new heights with back-to-back upsets of Top 10 foes Towson on the road and North Carolina at home, the latter of which drew 2,360 fans to UMBC Stadium, its third-largest regular season crowd ever. Tuesday, coach Don Zimmerman and his team fell back to earth with a 13-10 loss at Navy. The Retrievers, nicked up for much of the year without veterans defenseman Matt P. Hall and midfielder Travis Tomczak and promising freshman Andy Gallagher, have battled teams all season, but need to finish strong if they hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. UMBC closes at Delaware, Maryland, and Ohio State.
While UMBC has completed its slate of ECAC Lacrosse League games, league rivals Georgetown and UMass will collide for the fourth straight year with league champion implications on the line. The Hoyas are unbeaten in league play, while Minutemen suffered an earlier loss to Penn State. The winner of this game the last three years (UMass ended the Hoyas' two-game win streak in the series last year in Washington) has captured the conference championship, though Rutgers may have something to say about that this season. Rutgers has games remaining with both Georgetown and UMass.
Milestone Watch
Roanoke junior Kris Davis broke a 20-year-old school single season scoring record in the Maroons' 23-6 win over Greensboro Tuesday. Davis scored nine points (5g-4a) in the victory to up his season point total to 83, eclipsing the mark of 81 set by Paul Goldsmith in 1982. Roanoke, 11-3 and ranked No. 10, is within one win of tying the program record for wins in a season. The Maroons travel to ODAC rival Lynchburg Saturday.
Scranton senior attacker Liz Baumbach, the all-time leading scorer in University of Scranton history, went over the 300-point mark for her career Saturday. She now has 235 goals and 83 assists for 318 points in 59 career games.
Colby senior attacker Ally King notched a goal and three assists in a 12-9 win over Bowdoin Wednesday to move closer to the 200 career point mark. She scored here 101st goal to go along with 98 assists for 199 career points. The White Mules host Connecticut College on Saturday.
Florida, Texas A&M Punch Tickets to St. Louis
Two US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates teams claimed conference championships last week and the accompanying automatic bids to the WDIA National Championship in St. Louis May 7-10. Florida (11-0) raced through the Southeast Women's Lacrosse League tournament last weekend, beating Auburn 14-7 and Georgia 14-5 to earn its first-ever berth in the eight-team national tournament. Erin Hogan scored five of her weekend-high seven goals in the final against the Bulldogs. Mills Wallace added five goals in the two games, and Sara Bauder saved a total of 26 shots for Florida, which was challenged only once in the regular season by Florida State, a 9-7 Gator victory. Texas A&M (13-0) had a similar easy go of it in the Texas Women's Lacrosse League tournament, coasting by Southwest Texas 18-4 and Texas 17-5 to win the championship. The Aggies qualified for the 2001 IA tournament but dropped two games.
