Editor’s Note: Guest post by Hayden King
The Big Red are back. Besides losing to Penn State, they never really went anywhere. Cornell has 3 Top 20 wins and the nation’s leading scorer per game in CJ Kirst. They were one of my favorite wins picked for Week 7, as they beat #15 Penn 18-12.
Total for the week was 12-5 again, bringing the season total to 93-45 (~67%). Wins came from Duke, Georgetown, Boston, UNC, Bucknell, Syracuse, Princeton, Air Force, Delaware, Hopkins, Marlynd, and Cornell.
As for losses, we have a few worth breaking down. I’ll break down the Notre Dame loss in the Games of the Week review. Let’s talk about Army though.
Army beat Loyola 10-5 on Saturday, and their team was humming. Loyola looked scared throughout most of the second half, and although Army got some lucky bounces, Army played like the better team.
Army has some stellar players though, Jacob Morin and Evan Plunkett are fun players to watch. Morin is a great outside shooter, and Plunkett is a slippery little dodger with highlight plays like these:
Won’t be betting against Army anytime soon.
UMass also pulled out a great win against the still suspended-senior Brown Bears. They won 10-9, and I was very impressed with some of their players. Still one of my favorite venues to watch a game too.
One player to highlight from this game was Shane O’Leary. This kid is automatic when running an invert and a joy to watch.
Brown pulled out a big win over UNC with their seniors back earlier this week, so I’m not taking much from this game.
Besides Notre Dame, my other two losses came from Dartmouth beating Harvard and Ohio State beating Rutgers. I haven’t watched the Dartmouth game, but bravo to them for pulling out an Ivy League win.
As for Rutgers, I honestly feel bad for their fans and alumni. They always seem to be able to beat most teams, and usually they’re the ones doing the upsetting.
If you watch Rutgers lacrosse consistently you know how good they are. They recruit well, they do a decent job in the transfer portal, and they have a good coaching staff.
With that: upsets like their loss to Ohio State are what I’ve come to expect from the Scarlet Knights. The Big Ten is a tough league, but Rutgers has the power to win it every year. Another loss like this, and I’m not liking their Tournament chances in 2023.
Games of the Week: Week 7 Review
It was my worst week yet for Games of the Week, going 1-2. Thank god for the Big Red showing up, because the Irish and Scarlet Knights were nowhere to be found.
I’ve already ragged on Rutgers enough, so I’ll be short on their recap. They have everything needed to be the best team in the Big Ten, and New Jersey is a hotbed. Plus: they have sick helmets, jerseys, gloves, and other gear every single year.
I don’t know what the future holds for Rutgers, but I do know they won’t want to be seeing Ohio State again any time soon. I will also say, Shane Knobloch has one of the filthiest windup’s I’ve ever seen.
I love Notre Dame this year, but something needs to be discussed. I said last week Notre Dame hasn’t beat Virginia since 2018, and guess what happened Saturday? The boys in green and gold were nowhere to be found.
Everyone knows Notre Dame is a top 3-4 team, but I have bad news. If they are playing Virginia in the tournament, this will not be the year of the Fighting Irish. They can beat every team in the country, except for the boys in blue and orange. History repeats itself and that’s just how it goes.
Ending on a happy note, the Big Red are back. I placed a BIG future on Cornell back in May of 2022, and was starting to regret it when I saw them lose to Penn State. I’m easily swayed but I kept that bet locked.
Happy I did, because the boys just beat Yale and Penn in back to back weeks. Not only that, they beat both of them by 5+. They will be in my Game of the Week again, but this time we’re looking for a spread.
Games of the Week: Week 8
This week, I’m basing my picks off a parlay that I think will hit. Hopefully there are some good premier games in the mix too.
Starting us off Friday: I’m taking Virginia over Duke, which is currently at -245 MoneyLine. Not the best odds on this game, but as a parlay I think it will work well.
Virginia has reclaimed its seat as #1. Duke has a very good team and is sitting at 9-1 on the season, which on paper looks fantastic. However, Virginia is Duke’s strongest opponent of the season so far, and it isn’t particularly close.
Duke’s best win is probably their 2 point win over Penn, who’s currently sitting at #19 in the rankings. Loyola is higher in the rankings, but I think they are fraudulent and lucked out wins over Hopkins and Maryland early in the season.
I still think Duke is a top 4 team in the nation, but I don’t see them winning this matchup.
I mentioned in the reviews from last week that I would be betting on a Cornell spread. Well, they’re facing Dartmouth this weekend who’s coming off a win over Harvard. Doesn’t matter if they won last week, I’d take Cornell +10 if need be.
Well luckily for us, the spread is set at 8 goals. That’s a -105 odd to hit, and will be my favorite bet of this parlay.
Finally, I’m taking Penn State over Ohio State on Sunday. They’ve both played Cornell and I think that’s a fantastic frame of reference for what to expect come Sunday.
What happened there? Well, Penn State won that game decidedly behind a beautiful zone defense. Ohio State on the other hand lost by 3 and gave up 16 goals. Odds for this one are at -120.
If you decide to bet the parlay, odds are currently at +404! Good luck to all!
Picks
- Virginia vs. Duke (Friday)–Virginia
- Navy vs. Boston (Friday)–Boston
- Utah vs. Jacksonville (Friday)–Jacksonville
- Army vs. Bucknell (Saturday)–Army
- Cornell vs. Dartmouth (Saturday)–Cornell
- Georgetown vs. Denver (Saturday)–Georgetown
- Penn vs. Yale (Saturday)–Penn
- Stony Brook vs. Towson (Saturday)–Stony Brook
- UMass vs. High Point (Saturday)–UMass
- Colgate vs. Harvard (Saturday)–Harvard
- Lehigh vs. Lafayette (Saturday)–Lehigh
- Maryland vs. Michigan (Saturday)–Maryland
- Princeton vs. Brown (Saturday)–Princeton
- Saint Joseph’s vs. Richmond (Saturday)–Saint Joseph’s
- Syracuse vs. Notre Dame (Saturday)–Notre Dame
- Johns Hopkins vs. Rutgers (Saturday)–Hopkins
- Penn State vs. Ohio State (Sunday)–Penn State
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