Middlebury, No. 1 in Nike/USA Lacrosse D-III Women's Top 20, Wins NESCAC Crown

Middlebury and William Smith maintained their perfect records after the completion of conference tournaments to hold their No. 1 and 2 spots in the final in-season Nike/USA Lacrosse Division III Women’s Top 20.

Williams Smith finished as the Liberty League champion, making a bit of a statement with a 14-4 win over Ithaca in the final, but a lot of attention fell on the Panthers this weekend, as they avenged their 2022 conference championship loss by beating Tufts to lift the NESCAC trophy.

That game accounted for Middlebury’s lone loss last season, as the Panthers went on to beat Tufts in a rubber match meeting for the national title. Now Middlebury has even more momentum trying to defend that title. Tufts, meanwhile, returns to the top five despite that conference final loss after beating Wesleyan in the semifinals to make up for a regular-season loss to the Cardinals.

Franklin & Marshall also won the more-important second matchup against Gettysburg to claim the Centennial Conference crown after suffering a blowout loss to the Bullets during the regular season. Otherwise, there weren’t any big shakeups, but two teams slid back in with Kenyon and Cortland losing in their respective conference finals.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION III WOMEN’S TOP 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Christopher Newport, Cortland, Haverford, Ithaca, Kenyon, MIT, Williams

UPCOMING GAMES

No. 1 Middlebury 5/14 vs. No. 20 Geneseo / Canton
No. 2 William Smith 5/14 vs. Rhodes / Merchant Marine
No. 3 Washington and Lee 5/14 vs. Capital / Transylvania
No. 4 Salisbury 5/14 vs. Washington & Jefferson / Meredith
No. 5 Tufts 5/14 vs. Cortland

No. 6 TCNJ 5/14 vs. Messiah / St. Mary's
No. 7 Wesleyan 5/14 vs. Roger Williams / Cabrini
No. 8 Franklin & Marshall 5/14 vs. No. 15 Roanoke / Bryn Athyn
No. 9 Gettysburg 5/14 vs. Christopher Newport / JWU (Providence)
No. 10 York 5/14 vs. No. 19 Stevens / Scranton

No. 11 Messiah 5/13 vs. St. Mary's
No. 12 Colby 5/14 vs. Babson / Westfield
No. 13 St. John Fisher 5/14 vs. Mount Union / Aurora
No. 14 Trinity (Conn.) 5/13 vs. Plymouth State
No. 15 Roanoke 5/13 vs. Bryn Athyn

No. 16 Amherst Season complete
No. 17 Pomona-Pitzer 5/14 vs. George Fox
No. 18 Chicago 5/12 vs. Denison / Hope
No. 19 Stevens 5/13 vs. Scranton
No. 20 Geneseo 5/13 vs. Canton

Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings

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

HOT

TCNJ (+2)

The Lions have won eight of their last nine, including a 16-9 win over Rowan to claim their 12th consecutive NJAC championship. Ally Tobler scored a game-high five goals, and Anna Wright added four goals and one assist. Anna Devlin had three goals, one assist and 12 draw controls, and Julia Charest made 11 saves in goal.

TCNJ had routed Kean in the semifinals, winning 20-1. The Lions’ three losses this season were against ranked opponents in Salisbury, Gettysburg and Middlebury.

Franklin & Marshall (+1)

After a disappointing 14-5 loss to Gettysburg in the regular season, Franklin & Marshall didn’t let down when it fell behind in the rematch and managed to steal a 15-14 win in the Centennial Conference championship thanks to Lauren Pittman’s winner with 1:04 left.

The Diplomats twice overcame four-goal deficits but only twice pulled ahead and never for long. Gettysburg took its last lead with 5:24 left, but Gilliam Brennan tied it at 14 with 3:06 remaining and Pittman finished it off two minutes later.

All nine of F&M’s conference championships have come since the 2007 season, including two in the past three years.

NOT

Gettysburg (-2)

The Bullets’ 13-game winning streak came to an end in the Centennial Conference championship with that 15-14 loss to Franklin & Marshall. Emily Crane scored Gettysburg’s final three goals, twice tying the scorer and finally giving the Bullets a 14-13 lead with 5:24 left, but the defense couldn’t hold it. Crane finished with five goals.

Gettysburg had opened the season with three losses in its first five games but seemed to find a rhythm after that and now looks to rebound in the NCAA tournament.

Wesleyan (-2)

The Cardinals had a six-game winning streak come to an end with a narrow 13-11 loss to Tufts in the NESCAC semifinals. They rallied from a 6-2 deficit to tie it at 8 going into halftime, but after going up 10-9 in the third quarter, Wesleyan conceded four straight goals in the fourth and only managed to respond with one before time expired.

IN

Stevens (No. 19)

The Ducks bounced back from their regular-season finale loss to Misericordia, avenging that defeat in the MAC Freedom championship. Stevens had lost the first matchup in triple overtime but won 10-5 in the conference final to claim a second straight title.

Stevens jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second quarter and had as much as a six-goal advantage with 3:55 left in the third quarter. Camryn Rogers and Morgan Westerby each tallied three goals to lead the Ducks attack, and Emily Leiby had four caused turnovers.

Geneseo (No. 20)

After a slow start to the season, the Knights have won 13 of their last 15 games with the losses being against ranked St. John Fisher and previously ranked Cortland, the latter of which they avenged in the SUNYAC tournament.

Geneseo beat Cortland 11-9 in the final to win its first SUNYAC title. Alaina Reina scored four goals, Molly Brown had three goals and one assist, and Emily Salanger registered a hat trick. Emily DeJohn had nine saves in goal while allowing just five. Tricia Curran, the tournament MVP, had six ground balls and four draw controls.

OUT

Kenyon (No. 18)

The Owls’ undefeated stretch ended with a 14-8 loss to Denison in the North Coast Athletic Conference championship. Kenyon had a 17-game winning streak going, which also was a program-record win total, and the Lions finished as the runner-up, flipping finishing positions from last year’s NCAC tournament finale when Kenyon claimed the title. The Big Red are just 9-10 this season.

Cortland (No. 20)

The Red Dragons’ loss to Geneseo in the SUNYAC tournament final cost them their spot in the rankings. They had beaten Brockport 19-8 in the semifinals. Cortland will still get a chance to bounce back in the NCAA tournament, meeting Tufts in the second round.

PREVIOUS RANKINGS

• Preseason

• Week 1: Feb. 20, 2023

• Week 2: Feb. 27, 2023

• Week 3: March 6, 2023

• Week 4: March 13, 2023

• Week 5: March 20, 2023

• Week 6: March 27, 2023

• Week 7: April 3, 2023

• Week 8: April 10, 2023

• Week 9: April 17, 2023

• Week 10: April 24, 2023

• Week 11: May 1, 2023