Momentum is everything in college lacrosse, especially when fighting for positioning in its league postseason tournament and angling for a way to reach the national lacrosse tournament.
Brayden Fountain, Army’s attackman who scored four goals in a crucial 15-9 Patriot League victory over host Loyola Saturday, said that right now the Black Knights, winners of four straight, have that momentum clearly moving in the right direction.
In fact, the Army men’s lacrosse team seems to be peaking at just the right time, with one game left in the regular season plus the upcoming Patriot League tournament with an automatic NCAA bid going to the winner.
“Our coaches tell us over and over again how important it is to be playing well at this point,” said Fountain, a sophomore who has scored 30 goals so far this season after notching 35 goals in his freshman campaign. “We want to play well all season, but the early and middle part is where we also focus on fixing mistakes and to get us in the best possible position for the end of the year.
“Right now, we are all super fired up and it is really awesome to be a part of this. This is a selfless team that waits for the best shots possible and really enjoys playing with each other. But, we realize that we have a huge game against a very good Colgate team on Friday and we are all focused only on that game right now.”
As almost always happens, the final standings and placement for the league title will come down to the last games of the regular season, all played on Friday. If Army, ranked 14th in the nation with a 10-3 overall record, beats Colgate, the Black Knights are guaranteed at least second place in the league and a bye into the semifinals of the six-team league tournament.
More interesting, an Army victory, coupled with a Loyola victory over Navy and a Boston University win over Holy Cross on Friday would create a three-way tie atop the final league standings, in which case Army would be awarded the league crown and the right to host the semifinal and final rounds based on goal differential in games between Loyola, BU and the Black Knights.
If Army wins on Friday and BU losses to Holy Cross, Army is the outright league champion and if Loyola losses to Navy, BU is the outright league champion.
Loyola, ranked 18th in the nation, came into the game riding a four-game winning streak. But Army jumped out to a 4-0 lead and outscored the Greyhounds 5-1 in the second quarter to take a 9-5 edge into halftime. Army scored the first two goals of the third quarter to jump ahead, 11-5.
Besides Fountain, eight Black Knights scored goals, including two goals each from Hill Plunkett, Aiden Weisenborn and Gunnar Fellows. Senior midfielder Evan Plunkett had one goal and four assists. Faceoff specialist Robert Simone scored a goal on a breakaway for the Black Knights.
“I am just very proud of how this team played today, especially coming off that emotional victory over Navy last weekend,” said Army coach Joe Alberici. “There was no question about the energy we had today. We were ready to play and it showed all game. Our defense played great and we took 18 more shots than they did, with goals coming against a zone defense, man-to-man defense, on transitions and the faceoff goal by Simone.
Alberici also noticed the maturity of his team and how they have turned the season around after a mid-season three-game losing streak.
“We are playing good lacrosse and shooting the ball well,” Alberici said. “Offensively, we are turning our game up to another level with new guys stepping up and our veterans staying consistent. Defensively, we are committing less and less self-inflicted wounds.”
Alberici added that the timing could not be better.
“We have a huge game this weekend against a red-hot Colgate team that has won four in a row. As I keep telling our players, if we win on Friday it is like winning two games because we get that first-round bye and, with this league being so competitive and balanced, that is extremely important.”
