ESPN lacrosse analyst Paul Carcaterra will call the Feb. 28 game between No. 6 Johns Hopkins and Princeton in Baltimore, and a March 1 tilt between No. 9 Virginia and No. 4 Syracuse. The former Syracuse midfielder provided his thoughts on the past weekend of college lacrosse.
Was there one result that caught your attention more than any other?
Not really because I didn't feel like there were any major upsets. The one game that was a little alarming to me was Navy and Maryland after Navy having momentum in the offseason and putting up 21 goals in the first game against VMI.
Granted, VMI isn't an [Atlantic Coast Conference]-level school, but putting up 21 goals on the board tells you a little about your DNA and your ability to attack. And then the Maryland game was surprising to me, [with Navy] putting up one goal and 1-for-27 shooting. The Maryland goalie, [senior Kyle] Bernlohr, had a good game with 12 saves, but just from what I briefly saw and what I read on that game, Navy just wasn't in attack mode at all.
So I was a little surprised that they went from really getting after it offensively to being nonexistent. That's a program that everyone is waiting for to get back to the level that they were at in the 2000s when they were strong every single season.
Was there a team that surprised you with its performance?
I wouldn't say [No. 1] Denver surprised me because I've been following them and watching them for some time. But watching that Duke game in its entirety, I was blown away by how they moved the ball [in a 17-13 victory on Saturday].
I knew [associate head coach and offensive coordinator] Matt Brown's offense has always been predicated on ball movement and moving pieces around, but the synergy and the comfort level those players had with each other in Week 1 was insane.
[Sophomore midfielder] Connor Cannizzaro is obviously the missing piece there with three goals and five assists. His ability to break a defense down was outstanding. More importantly, they always took that one extra pass that made things just look beautiful on offense.
People kind of heckled me in the preseason a little bit because I had [senior attackman] Wesley Berg ranked 10th in terms of Player of the Year. I think Wesley Berg is a top three or five talent in the country. But I just think with this offense, there are so many pieces to the puzzle that I don't think one guy is necessarily going to stand out compared to if you were a superstar on another team. There are seven or eight guys on this team that are just terrific.
In a game where his team scored 17 goals, Wesley Berg had one assist [and zero goals]. I think Connor Cannizzaro is a big key there because everybody on that team is awfully skilled, but he brings a quickness to that offense that just makes him a guy triggering it.
For Week 1, that was just an outstanding performance. And it also shows you the ability to get into a groove offensively when you're winning faceoffs. Denver had struggled over the years with faceoff play. Their offense has always been super efficient, but this kid [freshman] Trevor [Baptiste] was awesome yesterday. I think he was 25-for-34. Giving Matt Brown's offense that many opportunities, good luck if you're playing them.
How much confidence can No. 3 and reigning NCAA champion Duke take from that loss?
Duke was a team that I thought lost just too much in the offseason with Jordan Wolf, Josh Dionne, Christian Walsh, and the entire defense to really re-load at that level. But it shows you what they do down in Durham in terms of recruiting with [head coach] John Danowski and [assistant coach] Ronnie Caputo and their ability to really find the right pieces.
These are guys that are stepping up that you really haven't heard too much that are ready to take that next step. [Midfielder] Jack Bruckner is a sophomore. I saw him play in high school and I think he's going to be a major fixture for Duke. And then you have [juniors] Myles Jones and Deemer Class, two of the best midfielders in the nation.
Duke is a team that recruits at the highest level year in and year out. They actually surprised me in their loss. I thought they hung really tight with Denver for three quarters, and I think things are really encouraging if you're a Duke fan because they have some star power.
Myles Jones has 23 points in four games. That's incredible for a midfielder with a monster X on his back. So I think Duke's stock will just continue to rise. What I thought was going to be a team on the outside looking in on championship weekend, it wouldn't completely shock me if they got down to championship weekend.
Is there a team that underwhelmed you with its performance?
[No. 8] Cornell. I watched that entire Syracuse game, and I'll give Cornell the benefit of the doubt because they just started practice on Feb. 1 because of Ivy League rules.
But I just thought that [No. 4] Syracuse was on a different level athletically [in Sunday's 14-6 thrashing]. Cornell's always been a team that has those great two-way midfielders, and I didn't see any of that. I didn't see any initiators offensively outside of [senior attackman] Matt Donovan and [senior midfielder] Connor Buczek. Right now, it looks like two guys that are getting all the weight on their shoulders to make plays. Just an underwhelming performance in terms of their team speed and the way they attacked.
Syracuse is a little better defensively than people thought. But Cornell struggled. Coming into the season, I thought Cornell was a team that – and it might still be the case because it's so early to write anyone off – I thought really highly of.
They're my favorite to win the Ivy and make a run deep into May and potentially into championship weekend. Now they could do that, but I think they're going to have to figure out who they are offensively and there's going to have to be some players outside of Donovan and Buczek who can really take the initiative to make plays.
Is there a game this week that you are eager to watch?
There's two games that stand out to me. [No. 17] Penn State-Villanova is I think going to be a good game. Penn State was really lethargic for about two-and-a-half quarters [in Saturday's 8-6 loss at No. 7 Loyola Maryland], and then their offense came alive.
They have some good midfield play and defensively, they scrapped. Their goalie is one of the most underrated goalies in the country in [redshirt sophomore] Connor Darcey. He had 14 saves and I thought he was really, really strong in the cage. The momentum late in the game was leaning toward them.
I think Villanova is probably the best young team in the nation. Their top three scorers against Hopkins were freshmen [in midfielder Sean Cerrone and attackmen Danny Seibel and Christian Cuccinello]. They looked comfortable in that game and are certainly able to make plays. Villanova always gives teams fits with their quickness and the way they move offensively.
I think these are both teams that want to get a W after a loss this past weekend, but I also think they're [NCAA] tournament-level teams and I think we're going to find out a lot about these teams after tough losses because both had opportunities against relative giants in this sport in Loyola and Hopkins deep into that game. So that's an interesting matchup.
I think the other one is Hopkins-Carolina. Carolina is putting up monster numbers offensively. They scored another 20 this past weekend against Massachusetts [in a 12-goal rout]. Putting 20 goals against UMass was a huge statement.
They have veterans on attack in [seniors Joey] Sankey and [Billy] Bitter, and I think [offensive coordinator] Dave Metzbower brings a different dimension offensively to that squad. So that's a game I'm really anxious to see against a top-quality team like Hopkins. And Dave Pietramala has always been able to focus on dodging attack teams, and they'll be tested big-time.
Hopkins is a squad that I thought would be a Final Four team, and I think you'll learn about them this weekend. They're very, very skilled, but they're going to have to find some initiators on offense, guys who can break defenses down to give these skill guys even more looks. But I think that will be a great game.