#1 Albany vs #2 Maryland Most Certainly Did Not Disappoint
I don’t care who you are or what your thoughts are on lacrosse. Any time you have the #1 vs #2 team in the nation go against each other in any sport, it’s a must watch. So today we had the #1 Albany Great Danes take a trip down to College Park, Maryland to take on the #2 Terps. This was a rematch of the NCAA quarterfinals last year when Maryland rolled past Albany on their way to winning the National Championship. And early on in this game today, it looked like we could have had some deja-vu with the Terps getting up early in the 1st half. Plenty of people out there might have even turned this game off for Hopkins vs Syracuse because they thought it was over.
Connor Kelly–who had 10 points against Notre Dame last week–was in “same shit, different day” mode. He showed today why he’s undoubtedly one of the best players in the nation. But unfortunately for Maryland and unfortunately for Connor Kelly, he wasn’t even the best Connor on the field today. Because that distinct honor goes to #5 in purple, Connor Fields.
Just an unreal day for Fields as he puts up 4 goals on the day, including the game winner late in the 4th quarter.
Albany outscored Maryland 5-0 in the 4th quarter and finally got a bit of revenge against one of the only three teams that have beat them since 2015. Here’s the final scoresheet on the day for those of you keeping track between the two Tewaaraton candidates.
Fields took over that game, especially in the 2nd half. Which was huge because Maryland was able to make Tehoka Nanticoke into a non-factor all game. So without Albany having their fancy new toy to put up numbers all day, they needed Fields to have a monster game and they also needed some more production from the supporting cast. They got what they needed and more out of Jakob Patterson and Kyle McClancy.
Like I said, the only teams to have beaten Albany since 2015 are Maryland (3 times), Syracuse (3 times) and Hartford. So finally getting over that hump is huge for the Danes. Incredible back and forth game that lived up to every expectation of a #1 vs #2 matchup.
Meanwhile, Hopkins is up big on Syracuse. Hofstra upset UNC just like I predicted on this week’s episode of The Crease Dive. And Notre Dame is up on Denver. This might be the best slate of games today that we’ll see in college lacrosse until Memorial Day Weekend. Soak it all in.