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Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:

1. It’s the first day of spring, and the college lacrosse season is wide open.

The stunners kept coming this weekend. While Penn State is No. 1 in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20, most pundits and pollsters have wrung their hands over which of Maryland or Denver truly is the top team in the land. Both went down. Villanova defeated Maryland 13-12 in overtime for the first time in series history, one of three notable OT thrillers Saturday, while Ohio State throttled Denver 16-7 on Sunday.

Expect the Buckeyes to skyrocket in the rankings. After also defeating nationally ranked Towson last week, they are 9-0. Penn State, Rutgers and Hofstra are the only other undefeated teams remaining.

And while no one will dispute Maryland, North Carolina and Florida’s spots atop the women’s lacrosse pecking order — the top-ranked Terps have annihilated Syracuse and Johns Hopkins by a combined score of 34-11 the last two weeks — there’s plenty still to debate after them.

Cornell took down USC, a preseason favorite to reach the final four, while Virginia and Boston College resurfaced in the ACC race with upset wins over Notre Dame and Louisville, respectively.  And not to be outdone by the now nationally ranked Michigan men, the Michigan women defeated institutional archrival Ohio State 12-11 in overtime.

2. The top high school teams have sprung into action.

On the boys’ side:

  • Unranked St. Ignatius (Calif.) upset No. 6 Gonzaga (D.C.) 11-10 on Friday.

  • The Hill Academy, the Ontario juggernaut coached by Brodie Merrill, does not get ranked in the Nike/US Lacrosse National Top 25 of U.S. high school teams, but plays all of its games on this side of the border. The Pride are 5-0 after swinging through Baltimore with a pair of close wins over Loyola Blakefield and No. 7 Boys’ Latin.

On the girls’ side:

  • The McDonogh (Md.) winning streak does not appear to be in peril. The top-ranked Eagles opened with a pair of convincing wins over the top two teams in the South, defeating Vero Beach (Fla.) 19-3 and Milton (Ga.) 20-3 last week. After also defeating the Hill Academy (Ontario), the streak is at 158 games.

  • No. 15 Notre Dame Prep (Md.) defeated No. 5 Bishop Ireton (Va.) 14-12 on Saturday.

3. Two-thirds of the way through the NLL season, the playoff push begins.

After frontrunners Georgia (8-3) and Saskatchewan (7-3), the East and West Division, respectively, are a crapshoot. No other team is better than one game over .500.

With three straight wins, New England has become a relevant threat in the East at 6-6. Still, the first-place Swarm looked mighty good in their 17-8 win over Calgary, and it wasn’t just the St. Patrick’s Day-themed uniforms. Randy Staats, Miles Thompson and Joel White rejoined the team.

WHAT WE’RE READING

  • It’s “greatness breeding greatness” in greater Denver, where several current or recent professional lacrosse players are giving back to the game as high school coaches.

  • Boston College is a team “nobody wants to play with a player nobody wants to try and stop.” After an ACL injury ended her freshman season prematurely, sophomore Sam Apuzzo leads the country in scoring.

  • Vanderbilt coach Cathy Swezey, a Moorestown (N.J.) native, still has a soft spot for tough Jersey girls.

  • Catie Smith, Cornell’s captain and All-American defender, nearly decided not to play lacrosse in college after she missed the early recruiting wave.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Ryder Garnsey’s celebration after scoring in overtime to lift Notre Dame to an 11-10 win over Virginia has lacrosse Twitter all atwitter.

Meanwhile, Villanova’s John Kluh has little guys everywhere rejoicing in his big (and legal) crease-clearing hit on Maryland’s Dylan Maltz

And finally, there have been a lot of #SCTop10-worthy lacrosse goals this season, but North Carolina’s Sammy Jo Tracy may have just dropped the mic on the goal-of-the-year debate.

WHAT’S ON TAP

“Dialed In” is posted daily Monday-Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern on uslaxmagazine.com.