After living on the edge in overtime victories over Maryland and Duke in the NCAA tournament, Virginia locked up the top spot in the season’s final Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 with a 13-9 defeat of Yale in Monday’s national title game.

Two days earlier, Yale made it clear it warranted a place ahead of top-seeded Penn State when it dealt the Nittany Lions a loss for the second time this season.

Those two outcomes — along with a couple other developments earlier in the tournament — played a large role in solidifying the final top 20 for the season.

Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s Top 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Air Force, Boston University, Lehigh, Princeton, Villanova

Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings

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

HOT

Maryland (+3)

The Terrapins jumped back into the top-10 on the strength of their overtime victory at Towson in the first round of the tournament. The leap would have been even larger had Maryland maintained a four-goal lead in the final four minutes of the quarterfinals against Virginia.

Instead, John Tillman’s team ended up lower than usual — but probably in an appropriate spot given how its uneven season unfolded. The Terps will have to replace defenseman Curtis Corley, goalie Danny Dolan and others next year, but should find themselves in contention for an 18th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

Notre Dame (+3)

The best seven-loss team ever? That’s a stretch for a team that might not be the best seven-loss Fighting Irish team (the 2010 national finalists wound up 10-7). But there was rarely much doubt Kevin Corrigan’s team would be a tough out, and it forced overtime in the quarterfinals before succumbing to Duke.

The Irish haven’t played on the final weekend of the season since 2015, but as this year illustrated, they remain a solid top-10 team and aren’t far from making a deep NCAA tournament run.

NOT

Johns Hopkins (-2)

After stitching together a riveting three-game stretch heading into the tournament that included two defeats of Maryland and an overtime loss to Penn State, the Blue Jays simply did not have a good night against Notre Dame in the first round. Given the season-long inconsistency and the .500 record, a spot outside the top 10 to close out the year is warranted for Hopkins.

Penn (-3)

There’s a compelling case to be made for the Quakers as the best team not to reach championship weekend. They lost four games all season, with three coming by a goal and three coming against teams that advanced to the NCAA semifinals. Penn was probably a better team than Duke at year’s end, but it’s tough to place the Blue Devils behind a team they beat by 10 goal even if it was early in the season.

Penn State (-2)

Can’t place the Nittany Lions ahead of a Yale team that dropped 21 goals on them in the semifinals, and certainly can’t slot Jeff Tambroni’s bunch ahead of national champion Virginia. Even with the Memorial Day weekend disappointment, Penn State still finished a lot further up the rankings than it started.

Syracuse (-2)

The Orange did not have a superstar on offense, and it ran into a first-round NCAA tournament in Loyola who did. Nine points from Pat Spencer later, Syracuse was sent packing prior to the semifinals for the sixth consecutive season.

Towson (-2)

The Tigers don’t take a significant dip after losing at home to Maryland in overtime in the first round of the tournament, but it would be difficult to slot them ahead of the Terps after such a result. Still, it’s a top-10 finish in a bounceback season for the Colonial Athletic Association champs.