The Crease Dive's College Lacrosse Weekend Preview Featuring Grant Ament From Penn State

Jordie 3/1/2019 1:35 PM

Grant Ament has been leading Penn State’s offense since the moment he got on campus. He led the team in scoring as a freshman and as a sophomore, but then he missed all of last season with a foot injury. So after missing an entire year of playing lacrosse, how did the kid come out to start his redshirt junior season? Oh I don’t know, just a casual 10 point game in his first game back, 31 points in 4 games and this ankle slaying on Chris Fake from last weekend. And I’m starting to get a little worried that Grant Ament has an addiction to snatching ankles at X.

So we were fortunate enough to catch Grant Ament taking a quick break from the Shake Factory this week, and he came on the podcast to talk about the ridiculous start to the 2019 season for the Nittany Lions. We also get into some Saquon talk, break the news that Chris Hogan actually used to play lacrosse for Penn State, and we try to get to the bottom of whether or not Coach Tambroni is a Terminator.

Download/Subscribe/Listen to this week’s episode featuring Grant Ament right here on iTunes

And for you Android lunatics in the building, you can listen to this week’s episode right here on SoundCloud

As for the rest of the episode, @callmeshitto joined me again and we broke down this week’s biggest game–Loyola vs Towson. This game had everything you could have ever asked for. A mid-week top 10 matchup with zero other games on the schedule that night. The best player in the nation in Pat Spencer. The #1 team in the country getting knocked off. And some absolutely absurd highlights like these ones right here.

Tigers are buzzin’, baby. As for the rest of the week…

Weekend Preview

#6 Duke @ #14 Richmond | Friday, 7pm | ESPN+ | Duke -3

There are certain things that you can definitely sleep on. Things like a Leesa mattress would be a perfect example. But if there’s one thing you should definitely not under any circumstances sleep on? It’s the Richmond Spiders. They started off the season with a 1-goal loss to Maryland. Since then, they’ve won 3 straight over Bucknell, UMBC, and then a big time upset over Notre Dame last week. Now they get to host Duke for a little Friday Night Lights action to try to knock off their 2nd top 10 team in a row.

Now Duke absolutely shit pumped Richmond last year 14-4. But it was a 1-goal game the year before and Richmond actually knocked off Duke before in 2016. So you take last year out of the equation and this is a damn good matchup. Two upset wins for a SoCon team over a couple of top 10 ACC schools is a tough task, no doubt. But High Point already did it this year. So fuck it. Let’s get crazy and let’s get weird. Let’s get the SoCon dummying the ACC all season long.

#8 Denver @ #20 North Carolina | Saturday, 10am | ESPN+ | Denver -1.5

There’s no team in the nation who should be pissed off more right now than the Denver Pios. They constantly have to travel out East and they’re constantly getting scheduled for these early ass starts. The other week they had to play Duke at 11am EST and they came away with a 1-goal loss. Now they have to do it all over again and play UNC at 10 in the goddamn morning. UNC will also be playing in their fancy new stadium for the first time.

So yeah. If I’m Denver, I’m furious at this shit. 10am EST is a tough go for a team who had to travel halfway across the country to get to the game. So I’m projecting that Denver takes that frustration out on the Tar Heels tomorrow morning. As long as Ethan Walker gets his morning cup of coffee, I’d expect a big game out of that Lefty Laser. UNC got to beat up on some weak programs to start the year. Then they lost by 1 to Hopkins in a mudfest last week. I just don’t think they’ve had to hit that gear it takes to beat a team like Denver yet this year.

#13 Virginia @ #12 Syracuse | Saturday, 12pm | ESPNU | Cuse -1

These teams played twice last year (once in the regular season, and once in the ACC Tournament). Both games were decided by 1-goal. Syracuse won that regular season matchup and I’m pretty sure it was freshman Tucker Dordevic who had the game winner. Then Virginia won the game in the ACC tournament before getting waxed by Notre Dame in the final.

Last week Virginia got a 1-goal win over Princeton after their freshman goalie made TWENTY-FOUR damn saves on the day. That’s just absolutely preposterous. But playing in the Dome is a different beast and I really hope the kid didn’t waste all of his saves last weekend. I think the fact that Syracuse got upset by Colgate in their home opener has them playing with a little more of an edge right now. They smacked Albany in their 2nd game of the season. Outlasted the Troops in a goalie battle with Army last weekend. And now they’re home again for the 4th straight week. So I see this one being another 1-goal game but I think the Dome Gods are going to stay on Cuse’s side this week.

#18 Hopkins @ Princeton | Saturday, 12pm | ESPN+ | Hopkins – 1

This is hands down one of the better uniform matchups that Division I college lacrosse has to offer. Hopkins vs Princeton is always a beautiful display of swag. So regardless of what actually happens on the field, this is going to be a great game for your eyes. Something about the way the Princeton’s orange and black goes with Hopkins’ blue is just a match made in heaven.

Now the last two times that these teams played, they were both blowouts. But they were blowouts on both ends. Last year Hopkins beat up on the Tigers 16-9, but the year before that Princeton ended up winning 18-7. I think what that shows is that both of these teams are consistently inconsistent. You never really know which team you’re going to get out of either of them. Both teams have the abilities to play like a legitimate top 10 team. And both teams have the ability to play like an “other schools receiving votes” team. So I honestly have no idea what to expect out of this game other than the fact that highlights will be coming at a rapid pace from guys like Michael Sowers, Kyle Marr and Joey Epstein. So just sit back and enjoy.

#2 Maryland @ #17 Notre Dame | Sunday, 12pm | ESPNU | Maryland -1

Picture this–it’s Sunday morning. You wake up pretty hungover from the night before. You go out to grab some coffee, maybe some brunch with the fellas around 11. You’re finally starting to feel a little more like yourself around noon but you still need to just take it easy. You turn on the tv, you flip the channel over to ESPNU, and right there you have a top 20 matchup just waiting for you. It’s a glorious thing.

And the best part about it? I think there’s a solid chance that you could end up taking a nap at some point during this game because I think that Maryland rolls here. I think the fact that Notre Dame is playing without Ryder Garnsey this year has left their offense without a legitimate playmaker. They’ve got guys that can shoot the shit out of the ball, for sure. But as far as setting other players up and creating space for their teammates? I just don’t think they have it, and it shows by the fact that only one player on their roster has more than 2 assists right now. Going up against a team like Maryland who has been the most consistently dominant team this decade? Relying on unassisted goals is a tough way to try to win a lacrosse game. So I think Maryland stays in the win column here for the 6th game in a row, but it might be a little close just considering the fact that Maryland has to travel out to South Bend.

Jordie’s Picks (Last Week’s Record: 0-4-1, Overall Record: 7-11-1)

Yeah so I’m just gonna go fuck myself. My picks last week were…

Virginia -1 over Princeton. This ended up being a push with Virginia winning 12-11 in overtime.
Penn State -1 over Yale. Penn State ended up losing by 1.
Rutgers +4 against Loyola. The Greyhounds won by 13-7.
Utah +8 against Denver. The Utes ended up losing by 9.
And my Lock of the Week was OVER 22.5 in Hopkins v UNC. The final total of that game was 21 (11-10 win for Hopkins)
.

So for this week I’m rolling with…

LOL. Just kidding. Not a goddamn chance do I deserve to make any picks this week. I’m gonna give myself a little break here to let the cold streak break and then I’ll get back after it in another week or so. But if you go 0-4-1, you don’t get to make picks the next week. That’s just a fact.