Game Essentials Utica 11, #9 Nazareth 9 – Wednesday, March 26 – Utica knocked Nazareth off the high that the Golden Flyers had been riding from their spring break trip to Florida which saw them beat two Top 10 teams (Wesleyan and WNEC), making it an opportune time for Utica’s first ever win over Nazareth in eight tries. Utica jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Nazareth would fight back and cut it to 7-6, but Utica goalies Travis Wright and Anthony Carnevale made sure they couldn’t climb all the way back, combining for 18 important saves. #3 Ithaca 9, #4 Cortland 8 (OT) – Saturday, March 22 – Ithaca hadn’t won this rivalry since 2002 and was able to get some revenge after a 15-4 shellacking at Cortland last year. This time both teams entered undefeated with #3 Cortland at 4-0 and #4 Ithaca at 6-0. Ithaca senior Matt Nelligan needed just one minute and 23 seconds of overtime for the win. Cortland dominated the faceoffs on the day winning 12-of-18, but was unable to get what would prove to be the most important one in overtime. Ithaca junior goalie Ben Connery had a solid effort with 16 saves in the overtime win. #19 Bowdoin 7, #15 Endicott 5-Wednesday, March 26 – Endicott jumped out to a 5-0 record with solid wins over Springfield, RPI, and Wesleyan. Now all of a sudden they’ve dropped two straight. The second at the hands of a Bowdoin team that didn’t have too much hype heading into the season, but that has people listening now. Bowdoin’s just two overtime losses (double overtime to Middlebury) away from 6-0. Bowdoin uses a rotation of seniors in goal with Alex Guck and Gordon Convery. This served them well as the duo combined for 16 saves, holding Endicott to just one second half goal. On the fly 27 – The number of saves by Tom Skartsiaris in Virginia Wesleyan’s upset of Roanoke, 15-12. 23.8 and 48.1 – The man-up and faceoff percentages, respectively, that the Gettysburg Bullets have posted so far. The Bullets have lived up to a lot of the preseason hype, despite some questions still remaining. They’ve managed to rise to 8-0 despite having a little goalie battle between juniors Charles Floeckher and Zachary Furshman. Despite all this, the Bullets are in a great position to be the team that knocks off Salisbury. 3 – The number of losses in a row for the Tufts Jumbos. After starting out the season ranked in the Top 5 and 3-0, they’ve dropped an away game to Roanoke by 12 goals, and two home NESCAC games, one to Wesleyan by eight and one to Connecticut College by four. They head to play Trinity on Saturday, another NESCAC team that started out 3-0 and has dropped their last three. 4 – The number of goals by Hamilton sophomore Franke Holiber in an 8-7 victory over the #10 Geneseo Blue Knights. The last time these two Upstate teams played each other was in 1975. It was also the first time that Hamilton was able to knock off Geneseo. Geneseo entered the game 4-0, but Holiber’s fourth goal of the day with just 1:46 left in the game changed all that. 46 – NCAA DIII leading point total as of press time by Lycoming Canadian senior Daniel Cannon. Cannon used a 5-and-5 day against Richard Stockton (his second 10-point day of the season) to propel him over Salisbury’s Matt Hickman and Villa Julie’s Steve Kazimer with 44 and 43 points respectively. .829 – The NCAA DIII leading save percentage by Clarkson senior goalie Greg Lamb. Lamb also had 18 saves in an overtime upset bid of Bowdoin. .757 – Faceoff win percentage for senior Ryan Brown of Salisbury, good for fifth nationally. Of those that have taken more than 100 draws, Brown sits third behind Bowdoin’s Max Key (.781) and St. John Fisher’s Dave Wood (.769). Sea Gull Perch 2 – The number of one-goal games that Salisbury has won so far this year. The Sea Gulls are 15-4 in one-goal games since 2000. Keep in mind Salisbury doesn’t make it a habit of playing tight games, eight of those 19 came in 2001. Their closest game last year was a three goal win over Gettysburg. 2002 – That was the last time that Gettysburg beat Salisbury, a feat that the Bullets did twice that year. They first dropped Salisbury at home 12-8 and then in the NCAA tournament 7-5. Since then Salisbury has not lost two games in an entire season. #1 and #2 – The match-up this weekend is the second time in a row that Salisbury and Gettysburg will meet as #1 and #2 in the country, respectively. 24 – The number of assists by do-it-all middie junior Kylor Berkman, good enough for tops in the country. 1.2 – The difference in goals per game that the NCAA-leading offense, Salisbury, is scoring over their nearest opponent, 17.9 goals per game to runner-up Lynchburg’s 16.7 per game. 6 – The win over York on Tuesday marked the sixth-straight year that Salisbury has started a season 10-0. 14 – The number of different scorers for the Sea Gulls in a 25-4 blowout over York. Senior Matt Hickman led all scorers with a ten-point performance (7g, 3a). 85.7 – The man-up percentage for the Sea Gulls against York as they converted 6-of-7 man-up opportunities. As if they needed the help. Games of the week

Saturday, March 29, 2008

#1 Salisbury @ #2 Gettysburg– This list could stop and start with this game. #1 vs. #2. Who knows what to expect from Salisbury…the team that needed five goals in third quarter to beat St. Lawrence by one or the team that scored seventeen first half goals against York?

RIT @ #3 Ithaca –Ithaca feels good after knocking off Cortland in OT. RIT has looked pretty mediocre this year. But with both teams sitting at 2-0 in the Empire Eight, the winner would tie Stevens Tech (whom RIT plays next weekend) for the top spot in the league.

#6 Cabrini @ #4 Cortland – Little bearing on NCAA tournament rankings, but don’t think that Cortland doesn’t remember the 11-10 Cabrini win in ’07. With both recently dropping important overtime losses, Cabrini to Gettysburg on 3/19 and Cortland to Ithaca on 3/22, expect both teams to be playing with chips on their shoulders.

#5 Washington College @ #8 Haverford – Washington is 8-0, but their only quality wins are against W&L and Virginia Wesleyan. Haverford is 6-1 and ranked higher than the program ever has been before. All that being said, Haverford has still never beaten Washington. Last year WAC survived a four overtime affair, expect nothing less this year.

Colby @ #7 Middlebury – Both are 5-0. Colby is holding teams to just 4.4 goals a game while both are scoring 11.2 goals per game. Colby won at home last year against Middlebury by one, but that was one of two games they won all year. Don’t expect Middlebury to be looking past this game.

Bowdoin @ Wesleyan – The last time Bowdoin beat Wesleyan was when their seniors were freshmen in 2005. Both teams have two losses, Bowdoin with two one-goal losses, and Wesleyan with two losses to ranked teams. Wesleyan had a dominating win at Tufts, and Bowdoin has been impressive in wins over Endicott and St. Lawrence.

Dickinson @ Franklin & Marshall – Expect coach Dave Webster to have the Red Devils back on track after a 17-3 romp at the hands of Gettysburg. They didn’t get to 6-2 without having some talent there. Coach Todd Cavallaro has F&M going in the right direction with wins over W&L and the USMMA. This was a 6-5 game a year ago.

#19 Keene State @ UMass-Dartmouth – UMass-Dartmouth is 5-0 and winning by an average of nine goals a game. Keene State is ranked #19 and only played two games with solid wins over Bates and Whittier. They also have one of the best goalies around in senior Matt Johnson with a .705 save percentage. Don’t look now but UMass-Dartmouth’s senior goalie Steve Chase has a .729 save percentage so far, good for third nationally.

Virginia Wesleyan @ W&L – Who knows what to expect? Will be an important game for deciding one of the last ODAC playoff spots.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Whittier @ Roanoke – Both are still good teams, but Roanoke has been so up-and-down as of late, that it’s impossible to tell what team will show up. They haven’t scored less than nine goals this year though, as they’ve been averaging 13.3 goals per game. Whittier is 3-2 and looking for legitimacy. Should be a high scoring affair.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Wheaton @ Keene State –Wheaton might only be 2-3 with three bad losses, but they did beat #15 Endicott and Trinity. If Keene State looks past this game, it has the potential to come back and bite them.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Williams @ Middlebury – Last year Williams beat Middlebury for the first time in the 2000s. Don’t think Middlebury wants it to happen again.

Nazareth @ Cortland – Expect a high-flying affair here as these offensively minded teams are both averaging more than 12 goals a game. We didn’t expect the Golden Flyers to jump out to 4-1 with wins over Wesleyan and Western New England, then go and lose to Utica?

Tufts @ Western New England – Before March 18th, this was a Top 10 showdown, featuring two teams that would be legit contenders for the Final Four. Now, Tufts has lost three straight, and WNEC dropped a five-goal loss to Nazareth and a three-goal loss to Cortland. WNEC is still in fine position to compete for the Pilgrim League, but Tufts is going to have to right the ship quickly if they want to compete in the NESCAC.

Whittier @ #10 Lynchburg – Could be an exciting game. Could also be a 10-goal Lynchburg win.

Roanoke @ Washington & Lee – Both of these teams went from highly ranked in preseason to off the radar now. Don’t forget that Roanoke was 5-4 heading into a March 27th game against Colby last year. They rattled off 10-straight wins to an ODAC Championship and an NCAA tournament first round win. Can they do it again?

Connecticut College @ Wesleyan – Important NESCAC game, last year Wesleyan left Conn. College with a one-goal win.