Sun May 16 2021 | Matt DaSilva | College
PHOTO BY JACK DEMPSEY
Loyola goalie Sam Shafer makes a save on Denver s Alex Simmons with five seconds left to preserve the Greyhounds 14-13 NCAA tournament first-round win Sunday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
Sam Shafer is 6-foot-3, 235 pounds. Loyola’s senior goalie needed all his big body frame to make the last-second save that will go down as one of the most clutch plays in recent NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament memory.
Shafer denied Denver’s Alex Simmons on the doorstep before time expired to preserve Loyola’s 14-13 win Sunday over the seventh-seeded Pioneers, exasperating the sold-out 40-percent capacity crowd at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium and sending the Greyhounds to the NCAA quarterfinals. It was Shafer’s 16th save of the game.
Mon May 17 2021 | Patrick Stevens | College
PHOTO BY NAT LeDONNE / DUKE ATHLETICS
Nakeie Montgomery (left) had one goal and one assist against High Point on Sunday, and JP Basile (right) had one goal.
The Division I men’s quarterfinals are set.
There are four teams from the ACC, two from the Big Ten and the Big East champion.
And then there’s Loyola, riding a five-game winning streak and continuing its rise from oblivion after a fairly forgettable two months to begin the season.
The Greyhounds’ 14-13 victory at Denver was how the eight-game opening weekend schedule ended, but it’s the right place to begin rewinding how the quarterfinals were set up.
Arkansas' streak as the consensus No. 1 team in college baseball reached six weeks Monday, and there appears to be no stopping the Razorbacks as they close in on their first SEC regular-season title since 2004. The Razorbacks (39-10, 19-8) are 9-0 in conference series, including 6-0 in deciding third games, after winning two of three at Tennessee over the weekend. “They show up every day and they play hard and they think they can win,” coach Dave Van Horn said.
Sat May 15 2021 | Nelson Rice | College
PHOTO COURTESY OF JORDAN OZER/RUTGERS ATHLETICS (@JOZER7)
Colin Kirst is interviewed on the field after making 17 saves in Rutgers 12-5 win Saturday over eighth-seeded Lehigh in Charlottesville, Va.
While most of the focus was on Rutgers’ 17-year NCAA tournament drought when the Scarlet Knights’ name was called on Selection Sunday for the first time since 2004, the program’s most recent, and only, NCAA tournament victory dated back 14 more years.
In 1990, Rutgers topped Virginia 7-6 in Charlottesville to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals.
Kyle Kirst was the Scarlet Knights’ goalie.
Almost 31 years later to the day on the same campus, Colin Kirst starred in between the pipes at Klöckner Stadium and fulfilled his family’s legacy. The Big Ten Goalie of the Year made 17 saves, many of the spectacular variety, against his former team to lift Rutgers to a 12-5 first-round win Saturday over eighth-seeded Lehigh and claim a spo