Big Ten Lacrosse Season Preview with Matt Kinnear

This week Matt Kinnear of Inside Lacrosse joins the podcast to discuss Big Ten conference play starting this weekend.

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College Sports Scene Today is hosted by Pete Pistone and produced by Mia Pistone

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hi everybody, welcome in the college sports scene today. Pete Bistoni with you, and it's time to talk lacrosse. So we'll talk lacrosse here in the Big Ten. We've got non-conference play out of the way. Conference play starts this weekend. And to help us break it all down, let's bring in Matt Kinner from Inside Lacrosse to break down the 2026 season. Matt, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Pete, thanks for having me. It's uh deep into lacrosse season now, so always great feeling to be into conference play.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Well, let's uh before we get to conference play, I want you to bring our listeners and viewers up to speed. I know we had an issue over the weekend uh with the Penn State Virginia game and the Crown Classic. For those listeners who don't know what happened there, can you kind of fill everybody in on what happened this past weekend before we go into the Big Ten?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Yeah, that was the Penn State North Carolina game at the Crown Lacrosse.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

North Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

And um, yeah, just some confusion. Basically, the live feed that you know people were paying for to watch the stream of the broadcast, uh, the the host, Booker Corgan, who's a character in the sport. Uh, anyone who's followed the sport knows him and knows he's uh he's a goofball. His character is a great guy. Um, the way he was communicating with you know some of the folks in the booth made it sound like he was communicating with the referees on the field. Now, the referees on the field followed the normal process that they they do, you know, which is they have the the iPad there and they're watching and communicating with each other. Um but what the audio that the viewers got made it seem like Booker Corrigan uh was making the call. It turned out that was not the case, so it created a little bit of drama because that obviously uh would not be a good look for the sport if the broadcaster is the one making the calls on increase plays uh in high profile games. Of course, that was not the case. The refs did it. Um, but again, uh a whole lot of confusion um that you know the refs on the field had no idea that there was this confusion because they were doing business as usual.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

All right. So that that was this past weekend. So Penn State was involved in that game, as you mentioned, with North Carolina. So let's pull up big picture and let's talk about the Big Ten conference. And I'm kind of curious before we get into maybe some individual team thumbnails, Matt, the Big Ten conference on the men's side, how would you stack it up this year? What does it look like to you as we get into conference play here, starting out in a couple of days?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

It's funny. Maryland coach John Tillman just this week on a conference call summed it up perfectly. It's like the NFL's AFC North. You know, there is this aspect of there's a lot of great defenses. These are gritty teams, they battle each other, they respect each other, but they kind of hate each other as well. They're super well coached. Any given week, you're not sure who's gonna win. There's not like a very clear hierarchy of this is the great team in the league this year, this is the bad team in the league this year. You're gonna get physical matchups where defenses are gonna roll, there's gonna be hard hitting, and it's not gonna be, you know, kind of pretty boy lacrosse. It's gonna be hard-nosed, gritty lacrosse.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

All right. Well, let's dive in and get your take on some of the teams in the conference. Let's start uh with the Don Conference records. And Ohio State, I think, was seven and one in the non-conference record. Give me the insight from your perspective, Matt, on the buckeys and what we can expect in Columbus this year from them.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yeah, the buckeys always seem to be built on defense. You know, they're a team that has um a goalie who's arguably the best goalie in the country, Caleb Fayek, his nickname Big Tasty. Uh, he's a big guy, fills up the net, and just plays with a lot of personality. He's got all Americans in front of him. Um, Bobby Van Buren is a defender who unfortunately, beginning of this year, tore his ACL, but the defense has not missed a beat. You know, Ohio State is going to grind you down. They're going to win games seven to six, eight to five. Um, the question for them is if they have enough offensive firepower when they get deeper into you know the meat of their schedule in the Big Ten play and into May, you know, can they outscore a team if they get in that position?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Okay, so the Buckeyes, as you mentioned, uh off to a good start non-conference-wise. Next non-conference-wise is Rutgers and the Scarlet Knights. I'm curious of what you think is the Piscataway, New Jersey takeaway for this coming season.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah, Rutgers is another team that has a little bit of a defensive identity, but you know, I think Rutgers arguably has, you know, the best offensive player in the country in Colin Cordilla. He gets he doesn't get the attention of some of the other guys, and I don't think Rutgets the attention as a program of some of the other teams in the the Big Ten and around the nation. Um they've you know been tested with some pretty significant games early in their schedule, and they've won or they've had close losses to a team like Army. Um, they're a team that you know they've always had success in the transfer portal, finding guys, you know, whether it's at a mid-tier school that comes to ruckers or D3 and comes to ruckers, but Colin Cardilla is a homegrown guy. He's a talent who used to play midfield, now he plays at attack. Uh, he's one of the best players in the country, and he can certainly win them some games, and so can their goalie uh Cardin Stoller.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

So, Matt, since you mentioned the term transfer portal for our listeners who maybe don't follow lacrosse on a day-to-day basis, how much has that impacted the sport in general and and the Big Ten in particular?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah, it's huge. You know, the Big Ten and then, you know, the ACC, the those, you know, the big name schools and college across certainly uh there are battles for transfers every summer. And you know, the Big Ten has been very prolific in the transfer porter. I think it has to do with, you know, the schools that make up the Big Ten, right? They're schools that have a lot of different programs, big-time graduate schools. You look at places like Michigan, Ohio State, Maryland, Penn State. You know, these are schools that, you know, people want to go get a business degree or people want to go get some sort of advanced degree at. Maryland was the number one team in our transfer portal rankings over the summer. Um, this year it hasn't quite worked out as well for them as maybe they had hoped. But these are schools that are going to get, you know, every time, you know, the Ivy League, for example, doesn't have um the eligibility that if a guy has an injury red shirt, typically they can't play their fifth year at an Ivy League school. The Big Ten schools are the ones that usually come knocking.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

So we're going down the Big Ten preview on the men's side here with uh with Matt Kinnear from Inside Lacrosse. So those listeners again who don't follow, Johns Hopkins is in the Big Ten. So I'll ask you what you think about them and what they've done so far in the kind of non-conference season and what lies ahead for them.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah, Johns Hopkins is a really interesting program. I was just at their game that they had against Navy. They won that game. And, you know, they're built less on star talent and, you know, more on a share of the ball offensive philosophy. Matt Collison is as a big midfielder for them. He's got a lot of size. Um, he's probably the closest thing to a big time star player that they would have. But that's what works well for them. You know, I think when you looked at their game against Navy this past week and, you know, the games that they've had success, it's when they're going deep into their score sheet. Collison is leading the way, but maybe you get a few goals from your second line midfield. Um, maybe you get, you know, just a lot of assisted goals where, you know, the ball moves six or seven times on the offense and then there's an easy dunk on the crease. You know, look after a player like Hunter Chauvette. He's got uh 20 goals and one assist this year, which by you can tell by that stat line that he's a shooter. You know, he's gonna be a guy that they're gonna move the ball extremely well. He's gonna be on that lefty wing and just sling it in the net. But that's what's really good about them is when they create offense using every player and just leave an open shot for someone to knock in the net.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah, as you all know, Johns Hopkins is always one of the top teams in the country. I'm just kind of curious, what do you attribute the sustainability there? Why do they are we year in and year out continue to be at the top of the lacrosse game, not just in this conference, but across the country?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Yeah, and it's it's funny because it's been so long since they've won, you know, the national championship. So uh I think a lot of uh the Johns Hopkins faithful, you know, their standard is winning a championship every year. But like you said, they're they're a team that is always in the mix, even when they're having a down year, you know, you don't want to play Johns Hopkins because it's not you expect to win. Um, it's kind of in the DNA of that school. You know, they're the only their program, it's a division three school, but like you tipped off this with, you know, Johns Hopkins plays in the Big Ten. You know, it's a very big deal on that campus, Johns Hopkins Lacrosse. It goes back, you know, into the 1800s with all the pre-NCAA championships that they have. It's really part of the DNA. There's generations of players who have played at Johns Hopkins, and they have great coaching. Obviously, Dave Petramala uh was the longtime coach. He was a player, won national championship there, is probably the best defenseman of all time. Um, then Pete Milman, who came in recently, you know, came in during COVID and has led the team since then. They share an identity of doing the work, putting the work in, um, having kind of this identity of, you know, we're not going to be about flash, we're gonna be about substance and doing things the right way from the beginning and letting the process speak for itself. And that's how you get success.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

All right. The next thing I want to ask you about, we just talked talked about them about the the weekend and the issue that they had in that uh game you mentioned between Penn State and North Carolina. What about the Nittany Lions? Let's go a little deeper with them, Matt. What do you expect out of them this coming season on the men's side?

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Yeah, I think Penn State, you know, maybe has the biggest ceiling of any of the teams here in the Big Ten. They've had a weird year, you know, they've had losses to Navy and Villanova, you know, teams that are not currently in the top 20, but they've also beaten a team like Princeton, who, you know, many have on the short list for a national championship, and they hung right in there with North Carolina, again, another national championship contender. So there's a little bit of a Jekyll on Hyde situation with them. Hunter Aquino is kind of their star player. He was a midfielder who they turned into an attackman, just a huge, big body young player, uh, is a matchup nightmare. He's been injured. So they're kind of finding a little bit of identity through that. But the way that they beat Yale and Cornell by over 10 goals each is something that's, you know, pretty shocking to do that. They play really deep. They've got at least two lines of midfielders, usually three lines. And Coach Tambroni uh wants to keep doing that. He wants to keep playing guys and guys and guys. So they'll kill you with depth and high-end talent. And then Alex Ross, their top defenseman. Um, I think he's one of the most versatile defensemen in the country. He can, you know, play a guy man up. He can be kind of the off-ball organizer. Also in their 10-man ride, he's a guy that's gonna, you know, threaten to score from distance or threaten to score in transition as well. Just one of those smart, high IQ guys that, you know, when it comes to crunch time, you're really gonna need that guy on your defense to kind of settle you in, whether it's man or zone, a different look. Because as teams get deeper into May, they get more sophisticated and um just harder to prepare for. So you need that smart guy to lead you on the field.

unknown 10:07

All right.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

And as we wrap up our kind of look at the men's side on the Big Ten side when we get into conference play, Maryland and Michigan, Matt, what can you tell us about those two squads going into this conference season?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Yeah, Maryland is is struggling a little bit right now. They just won a triple overtime gain uh against Virginia, but you know, they're three and three. Their losses are against some of the best teams in the country, so the sky is not falling, but they just faced a significant injury to Will Shaler, who's the top defenseman in the nation. He was number two in our top 50 player countdown to start the year. That's a huge loss. It looks like he's probably going to be out for the year. Eric Spanos is kind of their alpha on attack, and he's missed the last few games with an injury. He's um, again, a big body guy. Uh, when he asserts himself, he's as dangerous as any player in the league. Um, so they haven't really found their chemistry offensively yet. They've got some transfers from Yale, uh Leo Johnson and Chris Lyons, who have um you know certainly contributed and been doing what they can, but they still need to find that right mix on offense. They probably need to speed it up a little bit. They're a team that generally plays a little bit more deliberate, slow the ball down, wait for the good shot. Um, they've got the horses, so they can probably speed it up a little bit. And their defense, um, you know, despite having you know, Maryland is synonymous with defense, has struggled a little bit off ball. I expect Maryland to turn things around. I look, you know, a few seasons ago, they had a season that wasn't that great, and then they ended up playing Notre Dame in the national championship game. They turn it on in May. John Tillman is a fixture of Memorial Day. He's the best Ex coach in the country. You know, it's a pretty safe bet that, you know, as the season goes along, they're going to figure out the formula.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

All right, that's the men's side. So we'll see how that plays out. Matt Kinnear's with us from Inside Lacrosse. Man, I want to just touch on the women's side a little bit right now. And Johns Hopkins and Maryland on the non-conference side, off to really good starts. Give me a little breakdown of both those two squads, if you will, on the women's side.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Yeah, and it's funny because you know, you look at um the women's landscape overall, and then you look into the Big Ten. There was this kind of theme that it was basically three teams that were in it at the beginning of the year. North Carolina from the ACC number one, and they still are number one, and hands down the best team. Northwestern was the other team that we were talking about. You know, they were in the national championship game last year from the Big Ten, and they've struggled. You know, they just lost to Ohio State in conference play. They've had a few losses that are not typical of Big Ten. They are out of uh Northwestern, they are out of the top 10 right now. So I thought for sure if you were to ask me uh a month ago about this, I would be talking about Northwestern in this spot. But we're not, we're talking about Johns Hopkins and we're talking about Maryland. Hopkins is a team that has been building kind of to this moment um for a while now. They, you know, play just like you, you know, they have a coach, uh, Coach McDermott, who just plays like he's from the Northwestern coaching tree. He just has unique things that he does, you know, a unique way that they have offense. Um they create a lot of turnovers. They just put a lot of pressure on teams both sides of the ball, whether it's offensively or defensively, that I don't think a lot of teams are equipped to handle. Um, they did have a misstep against Georgetown earlier in the year, but this is a team I think is proven that, you know, they're not here just to say, hey, we're getting better. This is the year, you know, with with seniors that they have, uh, that they're here to say, hey, we're here to go for a run into May. Um, I think they will. Uh Maryland is a team that, you know, for obviously there's so much history with the Maryland Terrapins women's across program. Um, they've won so many national championships. It's the place where, you know, kids growing up saying, I want to be a Maryland Terrapin. They've had a down few years, but this year that feels like they've grown up. They've been young for a few seasons. They've um just had a lot of players who have been waiting for this moment to be upperclassmen, uh to be leaders in the team. You know, I look at JJ Seriano, who's a young goalie, who, you know, was thrown into the fire as a young player. She's grown comfortable into that role. Um, you look at like the way that someone like Lauren LePointe, you know, as she gets older in her careers, now she has almost 30 goals. Kristen Shanahan is another player. Corey Edmondson is the midfielder, maybe the best midfielder in the country. Um, she was the number one recruit coming out of high school. Now she's going into her final season. So it's just a team that has kind of grown up before our eyes. And any struggles that we saw from them were just part of the learning process for them. And now they're back, you know, where many Maryland fans would say they belong. And that's, you know, toward the top of the teams in the country.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Should be a lot of fun as we go forward here. We're already off and running on the non-conference side. Matt, appreciate your insight. We'll check out everything at inside lacrosse.com and appreciate you being on the show today and giving us a preview on the Big Ten side of things. All right, thanks for having me. You bet. It's Matt Kinner from Insidelacrosse.com. Thanks for tuning in at College Sports Scene today. I'm Pete Bistoni, and we'll see you next time as we dive into the world of college sports.