Albany’s earned its No. 1 ranking.

The Great Danes claimed an 11-10 victory at Maryland on Saturday thanks to Connor Fields’ game-winner with 1:16 to go. It was Albany’s first lead of the game, and the only one it needed.

Paired with a rout of Syracuse, it provides the Great Danes with a pair of brand-name victories that past versions of Albany couldn’t always cobble together. (Given Syracuse’s erratic play, it’s probably best not to assume that will go down as a top-five or even top-10 victory when all is said and done).

This opens up the very real possibility Albany owns an undefeated record when the NCAA tournament’s opening weekend arrives in exactly two months (yes, it’s that close to starting). The Great Danes play only two more teams ranked in this week’s top 20 —Vermont on Saturday in the America East opener for both teams, and Yale on April 22 in New Haven.

Beyond those games, Albany will probably enter every game between now and the postseason with the perception of being a heavy favorite. How will Scott Marr’s team handle it? The Great Danes have plenty of practice with it, having dominated the America East for several years now.

Still, Albany will need to improve. It was a goal better than Maryland, which is a near-certainty to improve as the spring unfolds. Duke, Denver, Notre Dame … all could eventually await the Great Danes in May.

Yes, Albany’s earned its No. 1 ranking. And it has an excellent chance to keep it through the end of the regular season. But there’s still work to do.

Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s Top 20

	March 12, 2018	W/L	Prev	Next
1	Albany	5-0	2	3/17 vs. No. 19 Vermont
2	Duke	6-1	3	3/17 at Towson
3	Maryland	5-1	1	3/17 at No. 6 Villanova
4	Notre Dame	3-1	7	3/17 vs. No. 8 Virginia
5	Denver	4-2	4	3/17 vs. No. 20 Ohio State
6	Villanova	6-1	5	3/17 vs. No. 3 Maryland
7	Yale	4-1	6	3/17 at Cornell
8	Virginia	6-1	9	3/17 at No. 4 Notre Dame
9	Loyola	4-2	10	3/17 at Navy
10	Georgetown	6-0	16	3/17 at Drexel
11	North Carolina	6-2	11	3/14 at Richmond
12	Johns Hopkins	3-2	20	3/13 vs. UMBC
13	Syracuse	3-2	8	3/18 at No. 18 Rutgers
14	Lehigh	5-1	NR	3/14 vs. No. 18 Rutgers
15	Army	4-2	12	3/17 vs. Holy Cross
16	Hofstra	2-2	NR	3/13 vs. Monmouth
17	Princeton	3-2	NR	3/17 vs. Penn
18	Rutgers	4-2	13	3/14 at No. 14 Lehigh
19	Vermont	7-0	19	3/17 at No. 1 Albany
20	Ohio State	5-2	15	3/17 at No. 5 Denver

Also considered (alphabetical order): Brown, Cornell, Harvard, Penn, Penn State, Robert Morris, Towson

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 (+8)

Up and down the Blue Jays go, but their offense has certainly figured things out over the last two weeks. A 16-goal showing against Princeton preceded an 18-7 outburst against overmatched Syracuse.

It matches the most goals Hopkins has ever scored in the Carrier Dome (also done in 1991), and Cole Williams (four goals, one assist), Alex Concannon (three goals, two assists) and Shack Stanwick (two goals, three assists) all filled up the box score. It’s too early to know for sure if Hopkins has fully shaken off an early two-game slide, but this is a good sign.

Georgetown (+6)

This is a function of inertia as much as anything else. The Hoyas are off to a fine start, and Daniel Bucaro (five goals and two assists) was stellar in Saturday’s 12-9 defeat of Hobart, but with every other team between No. 10 and No. 18 in last week’s rankings falling at least once, someone was bound to move up.

Georgetown is one of three undefeated teams remaining in Division I, joining Albany and Vermont.

Notre Dame (+3)

The Fighting Irish bounced back from their loss at Maryland, securing an 11-9 victory over Denver in a rematch of last year’s lopsided NCAA tournament quarterfinal.

Brendan Gleason scored four goals, but the big difference was the work of faceoff man John Travisano, who split his 18 draws with Trevor Baptiste and prevented the Pioneers from dominating possession. Notre Dame will have more chances for quality victories, but it’s always welcome to get one in the bank early.

NOT

Ohio State (-5)

In another rematch from last year’s NCAA tournament, the Buckeyes dropped a 7-6 overtime decision at home against Towson. It’s the second time in as many weekends Ohio State lost while allowing less than nine goals.

In fact, Ohio State has failed to crack double digits in four of its last five games. Some of that is tied to the Buckeyes’ stylistic preferences, and Towson’s methodical philosophy played a role in this low-scoring affair, too (remember, Ohio State won the regular season meeting between the teams last year 6-3). But it also reinforces the existing thought the Buckeyes need to make progress on offense.

Rutgers (-5)

Close, but not quite. The Scarlet Knights squandered a four-goal lead at the end of regulation before falling 15-14 to Princeton.

It’s an interesting week for Rutgers, which meets Lehigh on Wednesday and Syracuse on Sunday. A sweep of those games would provide a solid bounceback before Big Ten play begins in a few weekends.

Syracuse (-5)

That’s twice the Orange has been thoroughly embarrassed at home this season — a 15-3 setback against Albany after the floodgates opened in the second half, and now an 18-7 blowout loss against Johns Hopkins.

Syracuse has a couple notable victories in the early going (Army and Virginia), but there’s no telling how valuable they’ll be at season’s end, especially with Virginia looking vulnerable last week after losing midfielder Ryan Conrad for the season. Much like Ohio State, the effectiveness of the Orange offense appears to be an open question at this stage.

IN

Lehigh

The Mountain Hawks have lost only once (an overtime defeat at North Carolina) and are off to a 3-0 start in Patriot League play that includes Saturday’s 9-7 triumph at Army. Andrew Pettit has 19 goals and nine assists through six games, while Craig Chick (16) and Teddy Leggett (10) have both forced double-digit turnovers. Lehigh looks like it will be a factor in the Patriot League after three relatively quiet seasons.

Hofstra

The Pride roars back into the rankings after thumping North Carolina 12-6. Hofstra took a couple early losses against Ohio State and Villanova, scoring a combined nine goals in those games. But that wasn’t a problem against the Tar Heels; the Pride scored the game’s first eight goals to deliver coach Seth Tierney his 100th career victory.

Princeton

Another returnee to the rankings after struggling to stop Virginia and Johns Hopkins, the Tigers found a power conference opponent it could outscore when it edged Rutgers 15-14 in overtime. Austin Sims had five goals and Michael Sowers provided three goals and six assists for Princeton. The defense might never be an elite unit, but the Tigers can — and will — score in bunches against anyone.

OUT

Marquette (previously No. 14)

A loss to Robert Morris isn’t the worst thing in the world. After all, the Colonials have also beaten Penn State (and lost only to Georgetown and Rutgers, so they’re worthy of top-20 consideration). Mustering just two goals on 30 shots isn’t a great look, and the Golden Eagles’ victory over Ohio State isn’t exactly growing in value.

Penn State (previously No. 17)

The Nittany Lions tumble back out after a 9-7 loss to Cornell at Tierney Field. But this is also a decent time to bring up the uninspired start across the Big Ten. Last year, Big Ten teams went a combined 51-10 against the rest of the country. This year, the league’s six teams are 25-12 with a couple more weeks of nonconference play still to come (plus the postseason). Penn State’s played its part in that, going 9-1 against non-Big Ten foes last year and 4-3 so far this season.

Penn (previously No. 18)

The 3-3 Quakers are quite the yo-yo. They beat Navy 11-3 in a midweek game, then fell to Villanova 8-6. Don’t be surprised if they nose back into the top 20 soon, especially if they can win Saturday at Princeton.