Two of the last three undefeated NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse teams ran into their own forms of Kryptonite on Saturday, leaving Fairfield (9-0) as the last one standing.
Unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Maryland fell to Michigan 11-10 in triple overtime, the Terps fourth consecutive loss to the Wolverines over the last three seasons.
Unbeaten and No. 5 ranked Army fell to Boston University 10-9 in overtime. It was the fifth straight loss for Army in the series and the second year in a row that the Terriers gave the Black Knights their first loss of the season.
Where to begin?
How about with Michigan’s defense? After giving up seven first-half goals to Maryland, the Wolverines surrendered just three goals over the final 41 minutes of action. Uncharacteristically, Maryland committed 21 turnovers with Kees Van Wees forcing four turnovers. Hunter Taylor made 13 saves, including four in the fourth quarter and two in overtime.
Earlier this year, Duke rallied for an 8-7 overtime win against Michigan with many of the key plays coming from X. Michigan shut down any of those late moves from behind the goal this time around, including some rock solid 1-on-1 D from Pace Billings to set the stage for Nick Roode’s game-winner.
Former Terp assistant coach Kevin Conry has used victories over Maryland to help turn things around the last two seasons and is hoping the third time is also a charm as Michigan goes for its third straight Big Ten title.
At West Point, Boston University goalie Will Barnes (22) and Army’s Sean Byrne (18) combined for 40 saves in a back-and-forth game where no one could take control. The game featured four lead changes and seven ties – high numbers for a relatively low-scoring game.
Army looked like it was going to pull out some magic when freshman star Brayden Fountain picked up a loose ball on a scrum in front of the net and scored with 31 seconds left – a goal that was upheld after replay review.
Army won the faceoff to start overtime, but the Black Knights settled for an outside shot that was gobbled up by Barnes for his 22nd save. Army took 57 shots in the game, but many from outside off the dodge and they finished with just four assists on nine goals.
After Barnes' save, BU used some quick ball movement and the “one-more” feed from Tyler Fox set up Jimmy Kohr’s game-winner.
Meanwhile, “America’s Team,” a moniker Fairfield has proudly embraced, pulled out a 12-11 victory over Drexel to stay unbeaten. It was the third one-goal victory of the season for the Stags and they rallied from a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter.
Rob Moore had five assists in the game and Luke Okupski’s second goal of the game, coming with 4:13 left, proved to be the game-winner.
Random Observations
This is how you help generate interest in the sport. Boston University, fresh off its big upset win over Army, and Harvard will play on Tuesday night in the first named edition of “The Charles River Rivalry.” Midweek games when the weather, hopefully, has turned better is far superior to the glut of early February games. The world will not end if college programs schedule two games per week.
𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈... 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐲 🥍
The only two DI men's lacrosse teams in the city will go head-to-head next week in a battle for Boston bragging rights!
📰 | https://t.co/dWAORhq2q1#HLX1881 // #UndefeatedExperience pic.twitter.com/UtOZUUkaxh— Harvard Men's Lacrosse (@HarvardMLax) March 19, 2025
Maryland wasn’t the only Big Ten team to get upset. Rutgers opened Big Ten play with an 11-8 victory over No. 11 Johns Hopkins – a team that Patrick Stevens had surprisingly as the first team out of the NCAA tournament in his first bracketology of the season. There’s plenty of season left for the Blue Jays to right the ship, something this win did for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights defense held Hopkins to a season-low eight goals.
The Big Ten will be back in the spotlight on Sunday night when No. 3 Penn State hosts No. 7 Ohio State on in a nationally-televised game on the Big Ten Network.
Princeton has played an incredibly challenging slate to date – including Cornell, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina and Penn State – and has risen to the occasion more times than not. Saturday’s challenge was Harvard’s dynamic offense and the Tigers held the Crimson to a season low 11 goals in a 13-11 win. Princeton senior Colin Mulshine helped hold the dangerous Sam King to just a goal and an assist with Ryan Croddick making 17 saves.
Speaking of challenges, look no further than Richmond. The Spiders have played their own murderer’s row – Cornell, Duke, Maryland and Virginia – and on Saturday picked up a huge 13-12 victory over Georgetown. Richmond led by as many as seven goals midway through the third quarter before the Hoyas made things interesting down the stretch. Junior Aidan O’Neil had a season-high six points (2g, 4a) in the win.
Duke's close calls came to an end as Denver dominated the Blue Devils in Texas on Saturday night. Duke went more than 42 minutes without a goal as Denver snapped a two-game losing streak, posting a 13-6 victory. Noah Manning had six goals and two assists, topping 100 career points in the process. Malcolm Kleban made 11 saves.
By the Numbers
6 • Overtime games on Saturday, capped off by Dartmouth upsetting No. 16 Penn, 9-8, on Saturday night. It was the biggest win of second-year head coach Sean Kirwan’s career and gets the Big Green off to a 1-0 start in the Ivy. Dartmouth is now 7-1, its most wins since going 7-7 in the 2008 season. Senior Mason Morel made 14 saves and freshman Alex Jessey scored the game-winner.
20 • Combined points for C.J. Kirst and Ryan Goldstein in Cornell’s 19-14 win at Yale. Kirst had nine goals and an assist and Goldstein had two goals and eight assists. Kirst’s nine goals was one off of Cornell’s school record and Goldstein’s eight assists was one off the school mark his dad, Tim, set in 1987 and matched in 1988.
2 • Consecutive one-goal wins for Bucknell, both in Patriot League play, as the Bison have gotten back into the league playoff mix. Goalie Luke Renaud made two saves in the final minute to highlight an 11-10 win over Lehigh.
4 • One-goal games in the Patriot League on Saturday. In addition to the Boston U-Army and Bucknell-Lehigh games mentioned early, Navy came back to beat Holy Cross 9-8 in overtime and Lafayette beat Loyola 11-10, its first win ever against the Greyhounds.
200 • Career point milestone that Syracuse stars Owen Hiltz and Joey Spallina both hit on Saturday in a 16-12 win over Colgate. Spallina had a career-high 11 points (5g, 6a) and now has 210 career points. He is the second-fastest in Syracuse to hit 200 points, doing it in just 42 games. Hiltz had three goals and two assists and now has 203 career points. A Spallina pass to Hiltz allowed both players to reach the milestone on the same play.
602 • Career saves for Virginia goalie Matthew Nunes. Nunes had 11 saves in the Virginia’s 11-9 win over Utah, the first time the Cavaliers have posted back-to-back wins this year, and passed Alex Rode (598) for second all-time at UVa. Tillman Johnson has the school record of 700.
6 • Goals by Saint Joseph’s Ben Dutton, a freshman record at the school, in the Hawks 16-8 win over Providence. Dutton has 28 goals in nine games this season.
3 • Consecutive goals scored by Canisius sophomore Jordan Reed to close the game in the Golden Griffins’ 10-9 comeback win over Quinnipiac. All three goals came in the final five minutes.
17 • Career-high saves for Hofstra redshirt freshman goalie Shea Kennedy in the Pride’s 15-9 victory over Monmouth.
7 • Division I wins this season for VMI after an 18-12 win over Mercyhurst. That ties the school record set in 1995 and matched last year.
13 • Saves for Brown goalie Connor Foley as the Bears picked up the biggest win of the Jon Torpey era, upsetting No. 17 Massachusetts, 8-7.
2 • Consecutive overtime wins for Towson to open CAA play. The Tigers rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat Stony Brook 13-12 on Josh Webber’s goal.
6 • Goals that UMBC trailed UAlbany by in the second half before coming back for a 13-12 overtime win. The Retrievers scored the final six goals of the game, including Tyler Barnett’s game-winner.
7 • Consecutive wins for LIU following a 14-9 win over Detroit Mercy. Mark Regan had four goals and three assists as the Sharks set a record for consecutive wins in the Division I era.
