Lacrosse: Syracuse & Duke win, “Traitorpins” Lose
A great day for ACC lacrosse yesterday, as Syracuse and Duke both won… while the traitorous Maryland Terrapins Traitorpins were upset by Cornell. As you can see from the official NCAA bracket, this means that four teams with ACC ties are still alive in the NCAA elite-eight: Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, and Syracuse.
It was not easy for Syracuse, who trailed Bryant, 4-0, before rallying to a 12-7 win. Syracuse also had to overcome losing 22 of 23 faceoffs to Bryant’s Kevin Massa. As Syracuse’s official press release noted, “Sophomore attackman Kevin Rice led the Orange with four points (two goals, two assists) and redshirt freshman Dylan Donahue scored a team-high three goals.” Picking up the win in the crease was Dominic Lamolinara. Syracuse will play Yale in Maryland next weekend.
Duke had it even tougher, as the #7 seeded Blue Devils needed two overtimes to dispatch reigning national champion, Loyola Maryland, 12-11. The hero was freshman attackman Case Matheis, who scored with only 1:40 remaining in the second overtime. But there were many heroes:
Brendan Fowler spearheaded the Blue Devil effort by winning 19 of 26 faceoffs and securing nine ground balls. Josh Dionne and Wolf added two goals apiece, while David Lawson chipped in one goal and three assists as the Blue Devils took 61 shots compared to Loyola’s total of 37. Kyle Turri posted 13 saves between the pipes.
Duke will move on to play Notre Dame in Indianapolis next weekend.
And let’s tall take a moment to laugh at the loss suffered by #6 seeded Maryland. The traitors were not only upset by unseeded Cornell, they were thoroughly demolished–16-8. At home. Given Maryland’s inability to manage an athletic department, it is probably a good thing that they do not need to play any more games. It costs a lot to keep the lights on, etc. Oh well. Those Big 10 partial revenue sharing checks will be coming soon enough.
The Confidential 
Duke’s win almost never happened when you consider that Loyola scored with less than 1 minute left in regulation to take the lead, but the score was negated because the Loyola coach called a Time Out before the shot.
Playing “Blue Devils’ Advocate” (did I just coin a new phrase?) it is very likely that the Duke goalie and defense heard the Time Out call, and didn’t make the play to stop the ball. Whereas, had there not been a TO called, then perhaps the goalie makes the save.
Maryland’s loss paves the way for Ohio State, which is worse IMO. I was hoping for an all-ACC final four. Of course, we can still have an all-ACC championship game…
Bah. Ohio State is Ohio State–no shame in losing to the Buckeyes in anything. If they win it all, so be it. If a slew of ACC schools cannot topple Ohio State, so be it.
Regardless, it will be more fun rooting for Cornell to beat Ohio State. The opposite ends of the spectrum in sports revenue. Go Cornell!