So much for easing into the 2019 college lacrosse season.

Sure, the opening weekend of February didn’t bring any true zaniness, at least not among the presumptive national contenders.

But then came Duke’s loss to High Point. And Syracuse’s stumble at home against Colgate. Towson blowtorching Johns Hopkins. And the hefty margin separating Loyola from Virginia.

Those weren’t the only surprises, of course, but they are the ones that stand out. And they’ve created a scramble in the ranking before even a quarter of the preseason top 20 have played their opener.

Just one wacky weekend, or a sign of things to come? We’ll find out soon enough. But based on the known results, it isn’t sensible to place Duke ahead of High Point or Syracuse over Colgate this week.

Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s Top 20

	Feb. 11, 2019	W/L	Prev	Next
1	Yale	0-0	1	2/16 vs. Villanova
2	Maryland	2-0	3	2/16 at Penn
3	Loyola	1-0	6	2/16 at No. 20 Johns Hopkins
4	Cornell	0-0	4	2/22 at Hobart
5	Penn State	2-0	11	2/16 at Stony Brook
6	Denver	1-0	9	2/16 at No. 14 Duke
7	Notre Dame	0-0	8	2/16 vs. Detroit Mercy
8	North Carolina	2-0	12	2/16 vs. Harvard
9	Towson	1-0	NR	2/15 vs. Mount St. Mary’s
10	Virginia	0-1	5	2/16 vs. Lehigh
11	Rutgers	2-0	14	2/16 vs. Army
12	Ohio State	2-0	15	2/16 vs. UMass
13	High Point	2-0	NR	2/16 at Drexel
14	Duke	2-1	2	2/16 vs. No. 6 Denver
15	Colgate	1-0	NR	2/16 vs. Binghamton
16	Albany	0-0	17	2/16 at Syracuse
17	Georgetown	1-0	18	2/16 vs. Robert Morris
18	Princeton	0-0	19	2/17 at Monmouth
19	Marquette	1-0	20	2/15 at Jacksonville
20	Johns Hopkins	0-1	7	2/16 vs. No. 3 Loyola

Also considered (alphabetical order): Army, Brown, Bucknell, Hofstra, Lehigh, Navy, Penn, UMass, Syracuse

Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings

Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women

HOT

Penn State (+6)

Say hello to the Nittany Lion payback tour.

Penn State dropped games to Villanova and Robert Morris last February, early missteps en route to a disappointing 8-6 finish. To open up this year, the Nittany Lions have delivered a 17-7 drubbing of Villanova and posted a school scoring record Saturday in a 27-10 rout of Robert Morris.

And that wasn’t a garbage-time accomplishment, either. Penn State was up 18-3 at the half and 25-7 after three quarters. Also, that’s 44 goals in two games against teams that reached the NCAA tournament last year. Not shabby.

The return of a healthy Grant Ament (four goals, 13 assists) has made a considerable difference for the Nittany Lions, but this isn’t a one-man gang. The collection of talent in State College was never really in question. It was what Penn State would do with it. So far, Jeff Tambroni’s bunch couldn’t be more impressive.

North Carolina (+4)

Another team with two games to its credit, the Tar Heels have dispatched Mercer and Furman in the first half of February. Those victories are unlikely to pop up as differentiators for seeding come May, but there’s a lot to like about how Joe Breschi’s bunch has fared early.

For one, the Tar Heels have some balance, with one of the more noteworthy offensive numbers coming from senior Andy Matthews (five assists) in Saturday’s 14-10 defeat of Furman. Also, freshman Zachary Tucci won 21 of 27 faceoffs against the Paladins, again taking on a heavy workload early in his career.

Under normal circumstances, those two victories probably wouldn’t nudge North Carolina too much higher. But with Duke, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse and Virginia all losing, the Tar Heels rode some inertia into the top 10.

NOT

Johns Hopkins (-13)

What’s the most amazing thing about the Blue Jays’ 17-8 drubbing at Towson? In retrospect, maybe that they led 4-2 after a quarter.

Towson scored the next nine goals. It dominated faceoffs. But perhaps most disturbing for the Blue Jays was a 43-18 ground ball disparity. If Hopkins is going to be flattened in that area, it could be a long season at Homewood.

Duke (-12)

The Blue Devils usually take a head-scratching loss in February or early March. Right on schedule, they dropped a 13-9 decision to High Point. Duke bounced back with a weekend rout of Jacksonville, but it has to earn its way back into the top 10. Fortunately for the Blue Devils, the opportunity to do so presents itself Saturday against Denver.

Virginia (-5)

The Cavaliers suffered their most lopsided season-opening loss since 1965, falling 17-9 at Loyola. And to their credit, they took the long view afterward, acknowledging there’s plenty of progress that needs to be made but also plenty of time.

On the one hand, Loyola attackman Pat Spencer is going to make a lot of defenses look silly this season. On the other, Virginia’s defensive shortcomings are a long-running problem. No one should be surprised the Cavaliers dropped their opener. But it was a bit unexpected to see them so thoroughly handled at both ends of the field.

IN

Towson

If there was a single team worth watching to see how it would be impacted by the new rules package, it was Towson. And, much like their coach, the Tigers opted to go about their business and let the results speak for themselves.

It looks like Shawn Nadelen and Towson are going to be all right. They took 50 shots in a 17-8 blowout of Johns Hopkins, and faceoff ace Alex Woodall had a goal and two assists while winning 21 of 28 draws. Brendan Sunday had six goals and two assists, offering a possible early answer on who the centerpiece on attack might be. The Tigers might have impressed as much as anyone not named Loyola this week.

High Point

The Panthers (2-0) opened with a shutout of St. Bonaventure, hardly an easy feat even against a start-up program. Then came the 13-9 defeat of Duke, an in-state upset that ranks among the biggest wins in the history of a program that’s less than a decade old.

High Point belongs ahead of Duke at least until it loses. But more significantly, there’s at least one individual player who warrants watching the rest of the way. Tim Troutner Jr. has stopped 25 of 34 shots on goal (73.5 percent), including a 19-stop day at Duke. That’s the sort of thing that gets remembered come awards season.

Colgate

The Raiders enjoyed an ongoing home-and-home series with Syracuse each May, a game now moved to the beginning of the season with the ACC and Patriot League both tinkering with their conference tournaments. It’s doubtful Syracuse is going outdoors to play in February. Now the question is whether Colgate gets invited back to the Carrier Dome next winter.

The Raiders never trailed in a 12-9 victory in new coach Matt Karweck’s debut. Nicky Petkevich scored four goals for Colgate, which delivered one of several quality victories for the Patriot League (Loyola over Virginia, Army over Massachusetts).

OUT

Syracuse (previously No. 10)

The Orange dropped their opener Friday night against Colgate, the first time they opened the season with a loss since 2013. For a team coming off an underwhelming 8-7 season, it was not a performance that would convince anyone this spring will turn out differently. There’s plenty of time for a turnaround, but Syracuse has to earn its way back into the top 20 based on its results.

Lehigh (previously No. 13)

The Mountain Hawks probably don’t tumble all the way out after a 4-3 loss at home to Hofstra if there aren’t so many other upsets. On the bright side, there’s no reason to doubt the Lehigh defense. It gave up only five goals in the first 50 minutes of a 15-8 rout of NJIT on Feb. 2 and held Hofstra to one in the first three quarters Saturday.

UMass (previously No. 16)

Quite a bit like Lehigh, actually. The Minutemen dropped a 12-11 overtime decision to Army, another team knocking on the door of the top 20. One nonconference loss won’t doom UMass; a rough month certainly didn’t do in the Minutemen last season. It welcomes Ohio State to Amherst on Saturday in one of this weekend’s more intriguing games.