As the 2023 college lacrosse season kept moving along, one thing started to become very clear.
There were 3 truly great teams, and then there was everybody else.
Virginia started off the season as the #1 ranked team in the country.
The held that position until week 6 of the season when they lost to Maryland in overtime.
Then Notre Dame took over, but only for a few days until they were taken down by Virginia.
Then Notre Dame had the top spot for a few weeks until they lost to Virginia again.
Virginia, Notre Dame, Virginia again, Duke, Notre Dame again, Duke again.
The rest of the country were all playing to figure out who would be the fourth.
And after the quarterfinals this past weekend, we finally have that figured out.
Quarterfinals Recap
Virginia 17, Georgetown 14
Virginia and Georgetown met up in the quarterfinals back in 2021.
That was a complete and total shit pumping from start to finish.
It was a 14-3 final, and Connor Shellenberger ended the night with 6 goals.
Unfortunately for the Hoyas, that game plan was shattered just 7 seconds into the game.
The good news for Georgetown is that they had a little more offense this time around.
Graham Bundy Jr was quick on the trigger all day and took 12 shots.
He only scored on 2 of them, but shooters shoot.
Brian Minicus pitched in with 4 goals.
They got a huge juice goal from defenseman Wally Halpert.
Every time Virginia looked like they were about to pull away, Georgetown had an answer.
But at the end of the day, this game all came down to one crucial detail.
Virginia has Connor Shellenberger on their roster, and Georgetown did not.
Because #1 ended the day with 6 goals and 4 assists.
A Virginia postseason record performance from one of the best to ever put on a Cavs uniform.
He was 6-for-8 shooting on the day, and that jot down of production just shatters a defense mentally.
So that opened up more room for guys like Peter Garno and Griffin Schutz to chip in.
And before you knew it, Virginia was off to their third Final Four in the past four seasons.
Duke 15, Michigan 8
Basketball had Magic and Bird.
Hockey has Crosby and Ovechkin.
Golf had Tiger and Phil.
Football had Brady and Manning.
And college lacrosse currently has Connor Shellenberger and Brennan O’Neill.
But two transformative, generational talents whose careers have perfectly timed up with one another.
Brennan O’Neill will be the only college kid playing for Team USA at the World Championships this summer.
These two guys are both superstars, and they’ll always be linked together.
6 goals and 1 assist for O’Neill on the day.
And again, that’s the difference maker.
Penn State 10, Army 9
A tenth of a second.
That’s the difference maker right there.
And then who knows what would have happened from there.
They would have still been a man-up to start the overtime period.
Will Coletti won 14-out-of-23 faceoffs on the day.
And I don’t want to take anything away from this win for Penn State.
Penn State did everything you better do to win an extremely chaotic game against Army.
Also Penn State was up 9-4 at one point in this game.
The only issue is…well…it just seemed like they were playing defense all day.
Every time you looked up, Notre Dame had the ball.
And when your not getting the ball on offense, every possession seems to feel a little more important.
Desperation to make a play every time you touch the ball starts to creep in.
Don’t get me wrong, Liam Entenmann still had a great day in net for Notre Dame.
10 saves on 19 shots.
So there you have it.
They get a chance to prove it even further this upcoming weekend in Philly.
DI semifinals on Saturday.
DII and DIII National Championship on Sunday.
DI National Championship on Monday.
Get ready for the best 72 hours of the lacrosse year.
@thecreasedive
@JordieBarstool
