Notre Dame Ends Season Atop Nike/USA Lacrosse Division I Men's Top 20

In the end, Notre Dame left no doubt about its worthiness as the best team in Division I in 2023.

The Fighting Irish claimed last week’s national title game 13-9 over Duke, earning the program’s first national championship behind Liam Entenmann’s 18 saves and a balanced offensive attack reflective of this team’s depth.

Notre Dame also finishes No. 1 in the final Nike/USA Lacrosse Top 20. The Irish spent the final three months of the season ranked in the top three, largely trading places with fellow ACC powers Duke and Virginia. Notre Dame knocked off both of them in Philadelphia over Memorial Day Weekend to secure its championship.

Appropriately, Duke and Virginia follow the Irish. The three of them went a combined 36-2 against the rest of Division I, creating a clear-cut top tier that rarely wavered at any point during the season.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION I MEN’S TOP 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Air Force (11-6), Bryant (12-5), Lehigh (10-5), Loyola (9-8), North Carolina (7-7), Richmond (11-5), Saint Joseph’s (10-5)

HOT

Army (+4)

The Black Knights were one of the toughest teams to accurately peg all season. In their favor: They played Cornell to a goal during the regular season, dropped only three games by a combined four goals and duplicated their usual brand of exceptional team defense. On the other hand, Cornell was the only NCAA tournament team Army faced prior to the postseason.

The tournament was a fine stage for goalie Knox Dent, defenseman A.J. Pilate and a posse of offensive players --- some, like Reese Burek, reasonably familiar; others, not so much. But Army ran past Maryland’s defensive personnel all night in a 16-15 first-round victory, then came within a whisker of knocking off Big Ten regular season champ Penn State in the quarterfinals.

And as a result, the answer’s a bit more obvious now: Army was as consistent as anybody, and belonged in the top 10. And that’s where the Black Knights wind up. 

Delaware (+3)

The CAA champion Blue Hens got the entire tournament underway with a 25-10 thumping of Marist, tying for the second most goals in a postseason game while getting out of the opening round for the second year in a row.

And when Delaware got up 8-3 on top-seeded Duke in the first round? Well, it was fair to hear echoes of the Blue Hens’ upset of Georgetown in the first weekend a season ago. It didn’t work out quite so well this time. Delaware, playing for the fourth time in 11 days, grew weary and Duke dictated the second half of a 12-11 victory. But the Blue Hens definitely earned a postseason bump.

Michigan (+3)

Here’s one more reminder the Wolverines were 5-6 in mid-April, and anyone could have been forgiven for thinking they were in for a quiet Big Ten tournament exit. Instead, they won five in a row, not just claiming a conference title and earning the program’s first NCAA tournament berth but also ousting host Cornell 15-14 in overtime.

It can be a bit hyperbolic to describe any victory as program-altering, especially in real time. But Michigan’s last two triumphs --- a rout of Maryland in the Big Ten final, then the win at Cornell --- might qualify. They were certainly validating results for what Kevin Conry has built over the last six years in Ann Arbor, and they justify a place safely inside the top 10 to close this season.

NOT

Maryland (-4)

The Terrapins were this year’s anti-Michigan --- the definition of an establishment program that commanded the maximum amount of respect for its 10-4 record entering the Big Ten final. Then it was swatted away by the Wolverines 14-5 before falling 16-15 to Army in the first round of the NCAA tournament --- the most goals it had yielded at home since a 16-8 loss to Cornell in the 2013 tourney.

Thus ended Maryland’s reign as defending champs. The Terps predictably regressed on offense, but figured to be carried by a veteran defense. But goalie Logan McNaney got hurt in February, defenseman Ajax Zappitello missed the final quarter of the season with a right arm injury and long pole John Geppert was banged up all year. In the end, Maryland was more vulnerable on defense.

So the Terps tumble close to the edge of the top 10 after the first opening weekend ouster in a decade. This was a down year in College Park, and the Terps were still the No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. That says quite a bit, even if a final ranking of No. 9 is about right for what Maryland turned out to be in its totality.