Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Syracuse and Virginia staged another classic in their men’s lacrosse history, a 14-13 Orange win. Just how close has the series been? Syracuse now leads 17-16, and has outscored the Cavaliers by a single goal, 430-429. The win vaulted Syracuse eight slots, tying Army and Rutgers for the biggest gain, in this week’s Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20.
Inside Lacrosse took a look at the Orange’s throwback uniforms on the 20th anniversary of a 43-goal Syracuse-Virginia shootout.
Not to be out-rallied, however, were the Syracuse women in their matchup with Virginia. Also in the Carrier Dome, the Orange fought off an 11-2 first-half deficit to edge the Cavs, 16-15, cementing a bit of a trend in these ACC rivals’ encounters lately.
2. This week’s Nike/US Lacrosse rankings changed quite a bit on the men’s side following a wild weekend that saw seven of the previous top 10 teams fall. That included No. 1 Denver and No. 2 Maryland, though the latter remained in place given its one-goal road loss at current No. 1 Notre Dame.
The stampeding Colorado Buffaloes ascend to No. 9 in this week’s Division I women’s ranking after pounding in-state rival Denver, 14-3. Elon returns to a lineup that’s down to just six unbeatens.
A look at the major-college, college club, and junior-college polls this week:
Nike/USL Rankings
MD1 | WD1 | MD2 | WD2 | MD3 | WD3
Maverik/Cascade/IL Media Polls
MD1 | WD1
USILA Polls
MD1 | MD2 | MD3
IWLCA Polls
WD1 | WD2 | WD3
College Club Polls
MCLA | US Lacrosse WCLA
Junior College Men
- Genesee 1-0 (59 points)
- Onondaga 2-0 (55)
- Harford 2-1 (45)
- Howard 1-1 (40)
- Nassau 2-1 (37)
- Essex 4-0 (28)
- Anne Arundel 0-2 (26)
- Ocean County 1-0 (18)
- Suffolk 0-2 (8)
- Monroe 0-1 (6)
3. The Epoch/US Lacrosse Players of the Week are Princeton’s Austin Sims on the men’s side and Syracuse’s Devon Parker on the women’s side.
4. A few Top 20 matchups highlighted Monday’s college schedule, which typically represents a light day.
MD3: No. 13 Cortland improved to 2-0 with a 15-7 win over Nazareth in a game rescheduled from Saturday.
WD2: No. 6 Florida Southern got back on track with home wins over West Virginia Wesleyan, 18-2, and Fort Lewis, 20-10. No. 12 Grand Valley State made the first of its four trips to Tierney Field at US Lacrosse Headquarters in Maryland a success, defeating No. 15 Bentley, 13-5.
WD3: No. 8 St. John Fisher got its season underway in Port Charlotte, Fla., with a 21-3 win over Roanoke. The Cardinals will battle Kenyon there Wednesday evening.
WHAT WE’RE READING
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Prayers for perseverance and a full recovery for inaugural Converse College varsity women’s coach Megan Smith. You can read why here.
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North Carolina’s Jenny Levy wasn’t the only women’s coach to achieve the milestone 300th career victory recently. Congrats also to Williams College’s Chris Mason, who earned it Monday as the Ephs beat RPI, 13-7. Mason is in her 33rd and final season at Williams, sporting a 300-162 career record.
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Family lacrosse dynasties at Syracuse aren’t new, but ESPNW has a nice read on a rare Orange family still chasing an elusive crown.
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Boosters at Manatee (Fla.) High School, which already has in place a popular youth girls’ lacrosse club, will kick off Friday fundraising efforts for varsity lacrosse team at a nearly sold out dinner. The community also is exploring a US Lacrosse soft-stick equipment grant.
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Finally, in case you missed it Friday, US Lacrosse released Team USA’s schedule for this summer’s FIL World Cup. The U.S. women will attempt to defend their crown July 12-22 in Guildford, England.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
The Lacrosse Network followed former Maryland and Team USA star and current Rochester Knighthawk and New York Lizard Joe Walters around his hometown of Rochester, N.Y., in a video published Monday.
WHAT’S ON TAP
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If the Virginia men are to forget about the collapse in Syracuse, they’ll have a long plane ride to do it Saturday. The Cavaliers meet Cornell in the Pacific Coast Shootout in Costa Mesa, Calif. It’s one of several games for which US Lacrosse members can purchase discounted tickets this season.
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More from the Left Coast this weekend: LaxAllStars.com breaks down the MCLA’s annual Pac-12 Shootout.
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Big day Saturday in Division III women’s lacrosse: No. 1 Middlebury vs. No. 10 Tufts, No. 2 Cortland vs. No. 14 Franklin & Marshall, and No. 5 Gettysburg vs. No. 11 Washington and Lee.