Maryland accumulated plenty of style points throughout the first 17 games of the season.
There weren’t many for the Terrapins last Monday — or any, really, especially in the last 20 minutes of the national title game — but it hardly matters.
Maryland’s 9-7 defeat of Cornell cements the Terps as an unbeaten champion — just the 11th in Division I men’s lacrosse history. And it also means they finish the year where they’ve been since March — as the top team in the Nike/USA Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20.
There was movement below the top line and some slotting that doesn’t match up with how far programs advanced in the postseason. Virginia remains a top-four team despite a quarterfinal loss; its great sin was getting bracketed with Maryland a round or two early.
Georgetown sits at No. 6 despite its first-round ouster. The Hoyas’ season-long consistency carries some weight despite their 10-9 loss to Delaware.
And Notre Dame, not even invited to the tournament, yields ground to a pair of final four teams but still checks in at No. 8. The Fighting Irish will carry a six-game winning streak into next season — and how many victories it could have tacked onto that run in May will remain the great unknown of the just-concluded postseason.
The full rundown to close out the season:
NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION I MEN’S TOP 20
June 6, 2022 |
W/L |
Prev |
Next |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Maryland |
18-0 |
1 |
Season complete |
2 |
Cornell |
14-5 |
12 |
Season complete |
3 |
Virginia |
12-4 |
3 |
Season complete |
4 |
Princeton |
11-5 |
8 |
Season complete |
5 |
Rutgers |
15-5 |
4 |
Season complete |
6 |
Georgetown |
15-2 |
2 |
Season complete |
7 |
Penn |
11-5 |
5 |
Season complete |
8 |
Notre Dame |
8-4 |
6 |
Season complete |
9 |
Yale |
12-5 |
7 |
Season complete |
10 |
Brown |
10-6 |
9 |
Season complete |
11 |
Ohio State |
10-6 |
10 |
Season complete |
12 |
Richmond |
11-5 |
14 |
Season complete |
13 |
Jacksonville |
14-3 |
11 |
Season complete |
14 |
Duke |
11-6 |
13 |
Season complete |
15 |
Delaware |
13-6 |
NR |
Season complete |
16 |
Boston U |
12-5 |
15 |
Season complete |
17 |
Army |
12-4 |
16 |
Season complete |
18 |
Harvard |
8-5 |
17 |
Season complete |
19 |
North Carolina |
8-6 |
18 |
Season complete |
20 |
Saint Joseph's |
14-4 |
20 |
Season complete |