Two last-second goals happened during the conference tournaments in Men’s Division I lacrosse.
The fastest sport on two feet received a couple of special treats yesterday during the race for conference championships. The CAA semifinal between the University of Massachusetts and Hofstra would earn the top superlative of the day in terms of highlights. Before that match-up got underway, the Big East semifinal between Villanova and Provide had set the benchmark for shots on goal just before halftime.
10 Providence 7 Villanova
Let’s start with the shot by Hofstra midfielder Tim Hinrichs. But first, let’s recap the season of both programs. Villanova, who has been on the edge of the rankings from Inside Lacrosse, needed a morale boost. As a team, they have surrendered an almost equal amount of goals during their home games, but with some help from jack Curran and Christian Cuccinello, the Wildcats doubled the ‘goals for’ category when they played away games.
Providence, on the other hand, has had a handful of contributors to their offense. Six players on their roster have registered 10 or more goals during the season. In addition to that distribution, Providence has a fairly good goalie in Tate Boyce, who defends over 50-percent of his opponent’s shots. In fact, Providence allows a ratio of 82:50 goals during home and away games, respectively. They even shut down one of the better offenses in college lacrosse, silencing Villanova to seven goals.
https://twitter.com/CBSSportsNet/status/860287581698662404
After winning 10-7 against Villanova in the semifinals, Providence will advance and play a rather quiet Marquette team this Saturday, May 6. Unlike Providence, Marquette (7-7) hasn’t had much to be happy about, despite a two-goal win against Denver yesterday. And the lack of rest won’t help much either, but their attackmen Joe Dunn and Ryan McNamara better come alive for their underdog of an opponent.
Next: Each State's Sports Mt Rushmore
13 Massachusetts 12 Hofstra
Then there was the shot clock cheese in one seems to be an upset during the CAA semifinals. Lead assist man for the Minutemen, Dan Muller had the shot of the century for UMass, qualifying his team for an opportunity to upset their next opponent, Towson. And UMass’s goalie, D.J. Smith better be ready because Towson has two threatening weapons in their arsenal. Both attackmen for Towson, Ryan Drenner and Joe Seider lead their team with 23 goals each. If UMass wants to stay alive in playoff contention, they’ll also have to apply some weight to Tyler Bogart, who leads UMass in goals scored (25).
Unfortunately for Hofstra, who had plenty of potential heading into this game, their hopes of a championship run were cut short. Earlier in the season, they defeated one of the nation’s premier lacrosse programs in the North Carolina Tar Heels. With a resume like that, it’s sad to see them exit like this, but nevertheless, they put up a good fight and they have a young enough roster to redeem themselves next year.
The next stop for UMass is the pesky offense of Towson. Like Providence, Towson has no issue spreading the ball around and they have some wins to brag about, as well. Earlier in the season, Towson would win against Johns Hopkins (13-8) and their upcoming opponents in UMass (11-8). Joe Seider and Dan Muller would represent their squads well, both posting three points, but Muller got the better end of the deal with a hat trick. Of course, redemption is heavy on UMass’s heart as they left that game with a three-goal deficit.
Add us as a preferred source on Google