Trinity McPherson and the Denver defense have yet to allow more than eight goals in a game during an 11-0 start to 2023.

Denver Enters Top 3 of Nike/USA Lacrosse Division I Women's Top 20

April 3, 2023

Beth Ann Mayer

John Strohsacker

A seemingly tame weekend slate had a couple of wild upsets on Saturday when Notre Dame took down previously third-ranked North Carolina, and, shortly after, Virginia Tech beat the team down Tobacco Road with a thrilling 14-13 victory in triple overtime.

All told, the result moves Denver to No. 3 in the Nike/USA Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20, its highest ranking ever. The Pioneers remained unblemished with a 17-4 win over Villanova on Saturday. Virginia Tech receives consideration, and UMass joins Notre Dame as a big mover with a four-spot jump to No. 16. The Minutewomen beat Davidson by 10, are 11-1 and have been nothing but consistent all season.

The top two remain consistent. Top-ranked Syracuse is still undefeated, besting Virginia 21-9 on Saturday to secure the top spot for the third-straight week. Northwestern was off this weekend but used a strong second half to rout Penn State 19-9 on Thursday. No. 4 UNC and No. 5 Boston College round out the top five.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION I WOMEN’S TOP 20

	April 3, 2023	W/L	Prev	Next
1	Syracuse	13-0	1	4/8 vs. No. 15 Clemson
2	Northwestern	11-1	2	4/6 at Rutgers
3	Denver	11-0	4	4/5 at UConn
4	North Carolina	9-2	3	4/7 vs. Pitt
5	Boston College	9-3	5	4/8 at No. 12 Notre Dame
6	James Madison	11-1	6	4/5 vs. Richmond
7	Stony Brook	8-2	7	4/7 at Monmouth
8	Maryland	9-3	8	4/5 vs. Johns Hopkins
9	Notre Dame	6-3	12	4/8 vs. No. 5 Boston College
10	Florida	8-3	9	4/12 at Liberty
11	Loyola	9-2	10	4/8 at Colgate
12	Virginia	8-4	11	4/5 at VCU
13	Army	11-0	13	4/4 vs. No. 14 Yale
14	Yale	8-2	14	4/4 at No. 13 Army
15	Clemson	10-4	15	4/8 at No. 1 Syracuse
16	UMass	11-1	20	4/8 vs. Duquesne
17	Michigan	9-5	17	4/8 vs. No. 18 Penn State
18	Penn State	10-3	18	4/8 at No. 17 Michigan
19	Duke	6-6	16	4/8 vs. No. 11 Virginia
20	Navy	9-2	19	4/8 at Boston U

Also considered (alphabetical order): Princeton (4-4), Richmond (10-2), Stanford (5-5), USC (9-3), Villanova (8-3), Virginia Tech (6-6)

Nike/USA Lacrosse Rankings

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

HOT

Notre Dame (+3)

What a difference a week makes. The Irish were listed under “Not” last Monday. But an upset over previously-No. 3 UNC has the Irish hot this week. As they did in the 2022 ACC championship semifinal meeting, the Irish built an early lead, heading into halftime ahead 9-4. Unlike last season, Notre Dame held off a late UNC rally and won 16-12 behind a game-high five goals for Madison Ahern. The upset snapped UNC’s 27-game ACC regular-season streak that started on March 31, 2019.

Notre Dame’s win over UNC adds some juice to its game with No. 4 Boston College next week. Good news for fans: It’s on ESPNU.

Denver (+1)

Welcome to the top three, Denver. The Pios handily beat a sneaky-good Villanova team off to its best start in program history to move to 11-0 on the year. You really can’t say enough about Denver’s defense — we’re halfway through the season, and it has yet to allow more than eight goals.

UMass (+4)

Make it 10 straight for UMass. I have my gripes about UMass’ schedule, which lacks a Top 20 win. But UMass has controlled the controllable, most recently beating Davidson 14-4 on Saturday. It marked the second 10-goal win against one of the better teams in the Atlantic 10. (The Minutewomen dominated Richmond, which was ranked in the preseason Top 20, 22-12 on March 11.) Mark your calendars — the Minutewomen play last year’s Cinderella A-10 champ, Saint Joseph’s, on April 22.

NOT

North Carolina (-1)

Down 9-4 to Notre Dame at halftime, the Tar Heels scored five in the third quarter, but there would be no comeback. To be fair, Notre Dame is often a hard out for UNC. The Irish challenged the eventual conference and national champions in last year’s ACC championship semifinals and beat UNC in 2019. But the Heels have gone 2-2 in their last four games after starting 7-0, seeing both their overall and conference regular-season winning streaks snapped in the process. Head coach Jenny Levy told me in December that things wouldn’t necessarily come as easily to this year’s younger UNC team, but that the group was hungry to grow. Friday’s game at Pitt offers that chance.

Duke (-3)

Virginia Tech entered the game 5-6 and was unranked. But the Hokies had challenged the ACC’s top dogs in UNC (lost 10-6 on February 24) and Boston College (lost 14-12 last weekend). But the triple-overtime thriller — as exciting as it was — is one the Blue Devils should have won. At 1-5 in the ACC, the Blue Devils will need to right the ship in the final month of the season. A win over Virginia Saturday in a game televised on ESPNU could be a step back in the right direction.

PREVIOUS RANKINGS

Written By

Beth Ann Mayer

Beth Ann Mayer is a Long Island-based writer. She joined USA Lacrosse in 2022 after freelancing for Inside Lacrosse for five years. She first began covering the game as a student at Syracuse. When she's not writing, you can find her wrangling her husband, two children and surplus of pets.

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