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Welcome to this week's edition of Unsettled, a weekly look at big stories, random observations and the numbers from the NCAA men's lacrosse scene. Check back each Sunday for the latest.
“We just turned our season around.”
Virginia head coach Lars Tiffany didn’t say that after the Cavaliers handed unbeaten No. 1 Notre Dame its first loss of the season on Saturday. He said it two weeks ago, after Virginia lost a triple-overtime heartbreaker to Maryland that sent the Cavs record to 3-4.
Tiffany is well known for finding the silver lining in tough losses, but after that Maryland game? When Virginia had rallied to take the lead, only to give up a goal in the final minute of regulation and then lose in overtime? With the loss coming two weeks after Virginia blew a big second half lead to Johns Hopkins and one week after being throttled by Towson? With the 2026 season coming on the heels of a disappointing 6-8 season in 2025?
It looks like Tiffany might have been right.
Since his quote, Virginia pulled away from Utah for a 16-11 victory, looked razor sharp in an 18-7 domination of Dartmouth and then gutted out Saturday’s 11-9 win over Notre Dame to snap a string of 11 straight defeats to ranked teams.
A team that just a few days ago was an afterthought in Patrick Stevens’ NCAA projections, is suddenly back in the mix.
Virginia was far from perfect on Saturday. The Cavaliers failed on seven clears – three of them in the fourth quarter – and committed 17 turnovers overall. They shot under 30 percent for the game, but there was also plenty they did right.
Jake Marek made saves on Notre Dame’s first two shots of the game to set the early tone and finished with 11 stops, his third straight game with double-digit saves. Since the Maryland loss, the Air Force grad transfer has made 38 saves while allowing 26 goals (59.4 save percentage) in a trio of wins.
Notre Dame shot just 22 percent against the Virginia defense on Saturday and went scoreless for the final 19 minutes of the game. Virginia defenders caused nine turnovers, including freshman Robby Hopper’s over the head check with under a minute to play when Notre Dame was going for the game-tying goal.
He wasn’t the only freshman to come up big. Brendan Millon continued his monster season, scoring the game-winning goal with 3:29 to play after both teams had gone scoreless for the first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter.
BRENDAN. MILLON.
HOOS ON 🔝#GoHoos🔸⚔️🔹 pic.twitter.com/nYZR0qKmnf— Virginia Men's Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 28, 2026
Millon’s older brother, McCabe, also came up clutch in a game in which he was mostly blanketed by Notre Dame All-American Shawn Lyght. McCabe Millon didn’t force things against the nation's top cover man, but still posted a four-point effort on one goal and three assists, including a clutch feed to Joey Terenzi that led to a game-tying goal with one second left in the third quarter.
With the Millon brothers drawing the top poles, Truitt Sunderland is continuing to take advantage with outstanding play. He had two goals and two assists and now has 38 points on the season. Combined with McCabe (54 points) and Brendan (48 points), that’s a match-up nightmare and we haven’t even mentioned Ryan Colsey. Colsey has been a consistent force with at least one goal in every game, including nine in the current winning streak.
Virginia’s offense has always been good enough. If the defense keeps stepping up, then Tiffany’s quote might have been right on the mark.
Owen Duffy was held without a goal in last week’s 12-11 victory over Army. He made that a distant memory with a career-high seven goals as North Carolina handled previously unbeaten Harvard 17-7 on Sunday in a neutral site game in Maryland. The Tar Heel offense is pretty lethal in normal circumstances, but with Brady Wambach (22 of 25 faceoffs) it's almost unfair. Patrick Stevens with more from the game.
Jimmy McCool’s stats may not lead the country, but he’s been one of the most reliable goalies this season. He had just 11 saves in Syracuse’s big 16-15 victory over Duke on Saturday, but you never have to worry about him if you’re Gary Gait. When McCool gives up a couple, he doesn’t hang his head, he’s just focused on the next shot. His numbers have been plenty solid – 55.4 save percentage – but the way he carries himself is a goalie built for May.
Penn State is starting to string together some consistency after an up-and-down start to the season. The Nittany Lions have now won four of their last five after shutting down Ohio State 13-6 on Saturday. Ohio native Preston Hawkins made 10 saves as he continues to improve in goal in his rookie campaign and the Nittany Lions continue to do it on offense with their best offensive player, Hunter Aquino, still sidelined with an injury.
Georgetown’s tough early-season schedule likely paid dividends in its surprisingly dominating 17-5 win at Denver. Sophomore Kevin Miller had a career-high five goals as the Hoyas, who have four losses against Top 10-level teams, are now 4-4, but 1-0 in the Big East.
Close, but no cigar is no longer a thing for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights took advantage of several late Johns Hopkins turnovers and snuck out a 9-8 victory in double overtime on Sunday when Haydn Sommer snatched up a rebound of a Owen Gelinas save and stuck home the winner. Kasey Mongillo forced overtime on a goal with just one-tenth of a second in regulation after Hopkins turned it over while trying to run out the clock in the Rutgers’ offensive zone. Rutgers had previously lost a fourth-quarter lead against Army and lost to Ohio State 6-5 in overtime last week.
Mount St. Mary’s sent a box of equipment and apparel to former NFL coach Jon Gruden earlier this season. Gruden opening gear from various sports teams has been a bit of a viral social media hit over the last year and Gruden didn’t forget when the Mount posted an overtime win against Manhattan on Saturday.
Congratulations to Mount St. Mary’s for beating Manhattan in overtime!
Hell of a job!!! https://t.co/htt2GLsGJh pic.twitter.com/JWfg4e20hU— Jon Gruden (@BarstoolGruden) March 28, 2026
1 • Number of teams with 10 wins this season. Sacred Heart moved to a perfect 10-0 to start the season with a 15-13 win over Hofstra.
8 • Goals Penn trailed by in the third quarter before rallying for a wild 16-14 victory over Dartmouth. Penn scored 10 goals over the final 18+ minutes of the game, led by Davis Provost with four goals and an assist in the game.
9 • Number of Richmond players with at least two goals in a 24-8 blowout win against Hobart. Richmond won a school record 30 faceoffs, led by a 16 of 20 effort from Vincent Gaylord.
65 • Percent of Patriot League conference games that have been decided by two goals or less this season. That includes two overtime games this weekend – Colgate with a 16-15 win over Navy and Bucknell with a 14-13 win over Lafayette. Boston University (3-1) and Loyola (3-1) lead the always competitive league while everyone else has at least two losses. It’s going to be high drama just to make the six-team tournament.
20 • Saves for Yale goalie Ben Friedman as the Bulldogs upset Cornell 13-12 to keep its Ivy League tournament hopes alive.
Career points for Syracuse’s Joey Spallina after two goals and four assists against Duke on Saturday in a 16-15 victory. Spallina is just six points away from tying Michael Powell’s school record of 307 career points.
8 • Career-high goals for Eric Spanos as Maryland beat Michigan 14-8, its first win over the Wolverines since the 2022 season, ending a string of four straight losses in the series.
8 • Career-high points (5g, 3a) for Princeton senior John Dunphey in the Tigers 20-14 victory over Brown.
202 • Points for Towson’s Mikey Weisshaar in his career after he scored six goals in the Tigers big 14-10 CAA win over Drexel. The Tigers have now won 20 straight league games.
101 • Career goals for Monmouth’s Ty Caffarelli, setting a new school record. Caffarelli had three goals and three assists in a 20-10 win to break Bryce Wasserman’s mark of 99.
6 • Career-high goals for Colgate sophomore Casey Quinson in the Raiders 16-15 overtime win against Navy, including the game-winner.
78.9 • Faceoff winning percentage for Siena’s Logan Banek (15 of 19) in the Saints 13-5 win over Canisius. Siena is now 8-2 overall and 4-0 in the MAAC with a big showdown looming on April 11 against unbeaten Sacred Heart.
20 • Career-high saves for Wagner’s Angus Snow in the Seahawks 7-6 overtime victory against Mercyhurst.
7 • Career-high goals for Villanova’s Luke Raymond as the Wildcats opened Big East play with a 21-7 win over St. John’s.
Brian Logue has worked at USA Lacrosse since 2000 and is currently the senior director of communications. He saw his first lacrosse game in 1987 - Virginia at Delaware - and fell in love with the sport while working at Washington and Lee University.
