Who had the best week in Division I?
Pick a team that managed to escape. Penn State fended off Rutgers. Virginia rallied past North Carolina. Denver edged Marquette. Cornell survived Princeton.
Or just pick Johns Hopkins for its 16-11 rivalry rout of Maryland.
As for who had the worst weekend in Division I? That’s easy.
Ohio State was well-positioned to ultimately secure a home game in the NCAA tournament even though it was unlikely to make the Big Ten tournament. But key to that was a victory over Michigan that would allow the Buckeyes to feel good about their postseason hopes.
Instead, the Buckeyes dropped a 13-10 decision to the School Up North on Friday. The Wolverines shot nearly 50 percent (13 of 28), while Ohio State couldn’t take advantage of a 24-2 faceoff advantage. The absence of injured leading scorer Tre Leclaire (34 goals) surely didn’t help.
A month ago, the Buckeyes were the last undefeated team in Division I. Now, they’re a borderline postseason team with no chance to help themselves in the final week of the season. A lot will have to go right for Ohio State’s season to continue and ensure its bad week also wasn’t its last one of 2019.
Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s Top 20
April 29, 2019 |
W/L |
Prev |
Next |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Penn State | 12-1 | 1 | 5/2 at Rutgers |
| 2 | Yale | 11-2 | 2 | 5/3 vs. No. 8 Cornell |
| 3 | Penn | 9-3 | 5 | 5/3 vs. Brown |
| 4 | Loyola | 11-3 | 6 | 5/3 vs. Army/Holy Cross |
| 5 | Duke | 11-4 | 4 | Regular season complete |
| 6 | Virginia | 12-3 | 7 | 5/4 vs. No. 9 Notre Dame |
| 7 | Maryland | 11-3 | 3 | 5/2 vs. No. 15 Johns Hopkins |
| 8 | Cornell | 10-4 | 9 | 5/3 vs. No. 2 Yale |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 8-5 | 11 | 5/4 at No. 6 Virginia |
| 10 | Syracuse | 9-4 | 8 | Regular season complete |
| 11 | Denver | 9-4 | 12 | 5/2 vs. Villanova |
| 12 | Ohio State | 8-4 | 10 | Regular season complete |
| 13 | UMass | 10-4 | 13 | 5/2 vs. Drexel |
| 14 | Towson | 9-4 | 14 | 5/2 vs. Delaware |
| 15 | Johns Hopkins | 7-6 | 20 | 5/2 vs. No. 7 Maryland |
| 16 | High Point | 12-2 | 15 | 5/2 vs. Jacksonville |
| 17 | Georgetown | 11-4 | 18 | 5/2 vs. Providence |
| 18 | Army | 10-4 | 19 | 4/30 vs. Holy Cross |
| 19 | North Carolina | 8-7 | NR | Regular season complete |
| 20 | Boston University | 10-5 | 16 | 4/30 vs. Bucknell |
Also considered (alphabetical order): Air Force (10-4), Delaware (10-4), Hobart (10-3), Princeton (7-7), Rutgers (7-7), Villanova (8-6)
Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings
Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women
HOT
Johns Hopkins (+5)
Dave Pietramala could have been forgiven if he was a bit worried when his Johns Hopkins team spotted Maryland a four-goal advantage in the first 10 minutes. After all, Hopkins was coming off getting blasted 20-9 at Penn State just six days earlier.
“Afraid? No,” Pietramala said. “Anxious? Sure, because we’ve shown the ability to do both.”
Both, as in show resilience in a rally or quietly fade in a loss. The Blue Jays wouldn’t end up on the wrong end of a blowout this time. They responded brilliantly, controlling possession and taking Maryland out of its rhythm en route to a 16-11 triumph. In the process, Hopkins vastly improved its postseason stock as well.
Up next? None other than Maryland. Two wins over the Terps in a six-day span should be enough to get Hopkins into the NCAA tournament and provide another bump in its ranking.
NOT
Boston University (-4)
The Terriers’ three-game winning streak came to an end with a 13-12 loss at Navy on Friday. It ultimately cost Boston University an opening-round bye in the Patriot League tournament, since Lehigh fell to Holy Cross later in the day.
Ryan Polley’s team dealt Loyola its only conference loss this season, and that alone is reason to think the Terriers have the best hope of unseating the Greyhounds in the Patriot tournament. But they’ll need to win two games before any possible meeting with Loyola — Bucknell at home in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, then Lehigh in Friday’s semifinals.
Maryland (-4)
For the second time in conference play, the Terrapins gave up an 8-1 run in the first half — and both times at home. This isn’t how things normally work in College Park, where Maryland bolted to an early four-goal lead and then sputtered in a 16-11 loss to a desperate Johns Hopkins bunch.
The Terps have struggled to piece together complete games in the Big Ten. There was the dreadful first quarter against Penn State before a rally to make things interesting. They spotted Rutgers an early lead before constructing an exceptional second half. They escaped in overtime at Ohio State. And now there’s Saturday’s showing. It’s an unusually wobbly Maryland team that now heads to the Big Ten tournament.
IN
North Carolina
The Tar Heels made it interesting, rallying in the first round of the ACC tournament to take down Syracuse before seizing a four-goal advantage in the second half over Virginia. However, as the Cavaliers are wont to do, they used a late rally to advance to this weekend’s conference title game.
That leaves North Carolina at 8-7, and while the victories over Duke and Syracuse are nice, it almost certainly isn’t going to be enough to get Joe Breschi’s team into the postseason. The Tar Heels’ showing does, however, warrant a top-20 finish.
OUT
Villanova (was No. 17)
The Wildcats closed out the regular season with a 9-8 overtime loss at Providence, an outcome that might have ended their NCAA tournament at-large hopes. If it didn’t, a loss in Thursday’s Big East semifinals at Denver would definitely finish off Villanova.
But here’s the thing: Villanova won at Yale in February and already edged Denver on the road earlier this month. Even with two losses in their last three games, the Wildcats are not to be overlooked this weekend in the Mile High City.