Following a wild weekend in which five of the top 10 teams in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 went down, this week’s Top 20 looks decidedly different. Most notably, Penn leapt 12 spots into elite territory with a win over Virginia, while the other big winners — previously unranked Stony Brook and Army — made their presence known.
Feb 27, 2017 |
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| 1 | Denver | 4-0 | 1 | 3/4 vs. No. 6 North Carolina |
| 2 | Maryland | 4-0 | 2 | 3/4 at No. 4 Notre Dame |
| 3 | Johns Hopkins | 4-0 | 5 | 3/3 at Princeton |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 2-0 | 4 | 3/4 vs. No. 2 Maryland |
| 5 | Penn State | 4-0 | 10 | 3/4 vs. No. 7 Penn |
| 6 | North Carolina | 3-1 | 3 | 3/4 at No. 1 Denver |
| 7 | Penn | 2-0 | 19 | 3/4 at No. 5 Penn State |
| 8 | Yale | 1-1 | 6 | 3/4 vs. Bryant |
| 9 | Virginia | 3-1 | 8 | 3/1 vs. High Point |
| 10 | Richmond | 4-0 | 16 | 3/5 vs. Duke |
| 11 | Loyola | 1-2 | 11 | 3/1 at No. 12 Towson |
| 12 | Towson | 2-0 | 12 | 3/1 vs. No. 11 Loyola |
| 13 | Stony Brook | 3-0 | NR | 3/4 vs. Fairfield |
| 14 | Rutgers | 3-0 | 14 | 2/28 vs. Wagner |
| 15 | Army | 3-1 | NR | 3/4 vs. Lafayette |
| 16 | Syracuse | 2-1 | 7 | 3/5 vs. No. 9 Virginia |
| 17 | Albany | 1-1 | 13 | 3/1 vs. UMass |
| 18 | Ohio State | 4-0 | 17 | 3/3 at Marquette |
| 19 | Brown | 1-1 | 9 | 3/4 at No. 14 Rutgers |
| 20 | Boston University | 4-0 | NR | 2/28 vs. Bryant |
Also considered: Air Force, Duke, Harvard, Hofstra, Marquette
Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings
Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women
HOT
Penn (+12)
There it is, the patented early-season quality victory for the Quakers. Sometimes it helps lift Penn into the NCAA tournament (like beating Duke in 2011 and Denver in 2014). Sometimes it doesn’t (such as North Carolina in 2012 and Duke in 2013).
The Quakers edged Virginia 11-10 on Saturday, using a zone defense to become the first team to slow down the Cavaliers since Lars Tiffany arrived. Tyler Dunn had three goals (including the go-ahead score with 5:52 left) and Reed Junkin made 16 saves for Penn, which warrants a jump up the rankings even if it’s still a bit uncertain just how good Virginia really is this season.
As for Mike Murphy’s bunch, this result is at least some confirmation that the Quakers had the potential to be sneaky-good this season. Let’s graduate them to plain-old good, though tests against Penn State, Navy and Michigan all await before Ivy League play.
Richmond (+6)
The Spiders keep on winning, this time stymieing Marquette in a 9-2 victory in a matchup of relatively new programs that have quickly made an impact in the sport.
Goalie Benny Pugh made 16 saves for Richmond, which has surrendered just 17 goals in its first four games. The Spiders will be tested this weekend when Jack Bruckner, Justin Guterding and Duke pay a visit to Robins Stadium, but for now Richmond looks like it has a defense that will allow it to compete with nearly anyone.
NOT
Brown (-10)
Even the Bears will have a tough go of it when they spot an opponent the first eight goals. That was merely the start of wild 25-17 loss to Stony Brook (more on the Seawolves in a bit) on Saturday, and it amazingly came even as Brown won 26 of 45 faceoffs (with Ted Ottens taking them all) and committed just eight turnovers in the first three quarters; it would have eight more in the final period.
Mike Daly’s bunch looks like it will score at will, but there is also work to be done on the defensive end. Stony Brook certainly played a big role, peppering Brown goalies Phil Goss and Peter Scott with 37 shots on goal. This week’s trip to Rutgers will provide another data point on how the Bears stack up this season.
Syracuse (-9)
It’s been back-to-back weekends when the Orange found itself in a one-goal game at the Carrier Dome. It beat Albany on Feb. 18, then lost to Army this weekend (hence, why Army, Syracuse and Albany are in succession in the rankings).
Is Army that good? Considering it committed only nine turnovers, won the groundball (31-24) and faceoff (17-13) battles and outshot the Orange in every quarter, quite possibly. But it’s also worth remembering that Syracuse is far from a juggernaut, either. It’s a safe bet the Orange will pick up some nifty victories along the way, but it clearly isn’t likely to overpower a well-coached balanced team very often.
NEW
Stony Brook (No. 13)
The Seawolves took 66 — not a typo — shots in Saturday’s 25-17 victory at Brown. Cory Vanginhoven took 13 of them (scoring on seven) and four other Stony Brook players recorded hat tricks in perhaps the most impressive performance of the Jim Nagle era.
This wasn’t a pushover last year, going 12-4 with a pair of one-goal losses, and it clearly is more than capable of handling tempo. That won’t be necessary very often, but it’s a nice skill to have when beating Albany is a likely requirement to reaching the NCAA tournament.
Army (No. 15)
Might the Black Knights be the most likely team to dislodge Loyola from the top of the Patriot League? Saturday’s 14-13 victory at Syracuse — the first for Army since the 2010 NCAA tournament — suggests that might be the case. Nine players scored in the upset, which rightfully vaults Joe Alberici’s team into the rankings discussion and quite a bit more.
Faceoff ace Dan Grabher was 17 of 29 against an Orange team that was without veteran Ben Williams. Nonetheless, this is the sort of victory that could provide Army some wiggle room when it comes to postseason selection.
Boston University (No. 20)
The Terriers are 4-0 and have yet to play a home game. They are plenty balanced; five players have at least eight points, but only Cal Dearth (nine goals, six assists) has more than nine.
Boston University earned its most riveting victory so far Saturday at Navy, dealing the Midshipmen an 8-7 loss. Jack Wilson scored with 1.5 seconds left to cap a comeback from a 7-5 hole early in the fourth quarter.
The question here is whether the Terriers can sustain this solid start. They won six of seven to open last season and entered April at 8-2, but ended the year on a five-game skid. Only time will tell how this growing program handles similar early success this time around.
OUT
Marquette (was No. 15)
In another week — one in which three teams went on the road to beat NCAA tournament qualifiers from a year ago — the Golden Eagles probably would have stayed in the top 20 even after a tough outing at Richmond. That wasn’t the case this time around.
It’s best not to forget about the Golden Eagles, who remain the most likely team to cause problems for Denver in the Big East. They could easily find themselves back in the top 20 with a sweep of Ohio State and Detroit this weekend.
Navy (was No. 18)
The Midshipmen fell to 1-3 with their loss to Boston University. Much like losses to Johns Hopkins and Maryland earlier in the season, Navy sputtered late in the game. This time, though, the Mids led for a good chunk of the fourth quarter and didn’t lose the lead until the closing seconds.
While not an ideal situation, Navy is no worse off than it was a season ago, when it also lost to Hopkins, Maryland and Boston University and still slipped into the NCAA tournament as the last at-large pick. But it’s also clear Navy has lost a fair bit of its margin for error even before the end of February.
Marist (was No. 20)
The Red Foxes lost 10-6 at Princeton before picking up an 11-8 victory at Binghamton. Marist (3-1) will finally play its home opener Saturday against Drexel and remains as good a team as any to keep an eye on in the MAAC title race.