For as solid as the top four have been in recent weeks in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20, things are officially getting mixed up like spaghetti in the rest of the poll.
Consider Johns Hopkins at the epicenter of the chaos. The Blue Jays boast a strong 6-2 record, highlighted by an early-season win over rival Loyola. They also own quality wins over Georgetown and Hofstra and lost by just a goal to Penn.
But a mid-week loss to High Point was a blow to the Blue Jays resume, a blow that took a bigger hit when Hofstra turned around and upset High Point on Saturday.
Things don’t get easier when you look out West. Denver owns wins over Stanford and Stony Brook, but is coming off a Sunday loss to Virginia Tech. The Hokies were torched by Colorado earlier in the year. The Buffs also own a seven-goal win over Stanford, but three of their four losses have come by at least six goals.
Two teams that have stayed above the fray for now are Notre Dame and USC, and they’re the two biggest movers this week.
Notre Dame ran its record to 8-0 and picked up its first win over a ranked team this year with a 10-9 win over Virginia on Saturday. That puts the Irish at No. 7 this week.
After narrowly missed out on the Top 20 the last few weeks, USC knocked down the door with an 11-5 win over Colorado. Virginia Tech’s win over Denver also added some luster to the Trojans earlier win over VT. USC’s only loss was a 12-9 setback to No. 1 Boston College and they enter the rankings at No. 14.
March 18, 2019 |
W/L |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston College | 9-0 | 1 | 3/19 vs. Albany |
| 2 | Maryland | 8-0 | 2 | 3/21 at Penn State |
| 3 | North Carolina | 7-1 | 3 | 3/19 vs. Campbell |
| 4 | Syracuse | 8-2 | 4 | 3/19 vs. Harvard |
| 5 | Penn | 7-1 | 5 | 3/23 vs. Cornell |
| 6 | James Madison | 7-1 | 7 | 3/20 vs. No. 8 Virginia |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 8-0 | 17 | 3/20 vs. Vanderbilt |
| 8 | Virginia | 7-3 | 6 | 3/20 at No. 6 James Madison |
| 9 | Northwestern | 5-3 | 10 | 3/23 at Marquette |
| 10 | Michigan | 10-0 | 11 | 3/21 vs. Niagara |
| 11 | Princeton | 4-1 | 12 | 3/19 at No. 17 Florida |
| 12 | Loyola | 4-3 | 9 | 3/20 vs. Georgetown |
| 13 | Duke | 6-2 | 14 | 3/18 vs. Davidson |
| 14 | USC | 8-1 | NR | 3/23 vs. Cal |
| 15 | Navy | 6-2 | 15 | 3/23 vs. Colgate |
| 16 | Johns Hopkins | 6-2 | 8 | 3/19 vs. UMBC |
| 17 | Florida | 3-5 | 19 | 3/19 vs. No. 11 Princeton |
| 18 | Denver | 7-2 | 13 | 3/26 at Colorado |
| 19 | Stony Brook | 4-3 | 18 | 3/23 vs. No. 17 Florida |
| 20 | Colorado | 4-4 | 20 | 3/23 vs. Oregon |
Also considered: Georgetown, High Point, Hofstra, Stanford, Virginia Tech
Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings
Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women
HOT
Notre Dame (+10)
Notre Dame's impressive 7-0 start included six wins by at least nine goals. But those seven wins all came against unranked teams and several against teams with losing records.
The Irish took a major step towards validation with a 10-9 come-from-behind victory at Virginia on Saturday. After falling behind by three goals in the second half, Notre Dame scored four straight goals to take a 9-8 lead and then former U.S. U19 player Andie Aldave scored the game-winner with 1:30 left after UVa had come back to tie the score.
Aldave is one of three Notre Dame players with at least 20 goals already — Maddie Howe (26), Samantha Lynch (25) and Aldave (20) — and goalie Samantha Giacolone, another former U.S. U19 player, has a 53.7 save percentage.
NOT
Johns Hopkins (-8)
Johns Hopkins lost for just the second time this season, falling 13-10 to unranked High Point on Wednesday. That loss stung and then hurt even more when Hofstra, which Hopkins had beaten the previous weekend, turned around and beat High Point on Saturday.
The Blue Jays still have an impressive resume, which includes wins over Loyola and Georgetown, and host UMBC on Tuesday before beginning Big 10 play this weekend.
Denver (-5)
After posting three straight wins since an upset loss to Michigan earlier in the season, the Pioneers suffered a tough 15-14 road loss to unranked Virginia Tech in a game that featured five lead changes and neither team leading by more than two goals.
The Pioneers will be idle until visiting rival Colorado on March 26.
IN
USC
For all intents and purposes, USC has been the No. 21 team in the country the last few weeks. Saturday's win over Colorado means the Trojans are no longer on the outside looking in. USC also got a boost from Virginia Tech (which USC beat 13-11 last week) beating Denver.
USC is incredibly balanced with seven players scoring between 11 and 20 goals. Sophomore Sophia Donovan leads the team in scoring with 26 points on 20 goals and six assists.
OUT
Georgetown
There's no shame in losing to No. 1 Boston College, which Georgetown did last week, but Hopkins getting upset by High Point had a ripple effect on the Hoyas, who lost to Hopkins earlier in the season. Georgetown has some close losses against strong teams, but lacks the big wins that the rest of the Top 20 teams have to this point.