Gillian Cortese made eight saves against TCNJ.

Red-Hot Gettysburg Climbing Nike/USA Lacrosse Division III Women's Top 20

April 3, 2023

Laurel Pfahler

John Strohsacker

A couple of big upsets caused some shakeups in the Nike/USA Lacrosse Division III Women’s Top 20 this week, most notably Gettysburg’s dominant takedown of No. 3 TCNJ.

The Bullets beat TCNJ 17-9 at their Bullet Pride Game on March 29 and now have won five straight to climb back to No. 6, while the Lions fell to No. 8.

Trinity (Conn.) beat once-ranked St. Lawrence to re-join the Top 20, and Williams tagged right behind with its 8-1 record. Ithaca’s loss to unranked Union pushed the Bombers out of the ranking, though Union could still be a team to watch at 6-2.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION III WOMEN’S TOP 20

	April 3, 2023	W/L	Prev	Next
1	Middlebury	10-0	1	4/8 at No. 12 Wesleyan
2	William Smith	9-0	2	4/5 at Skidmore
3	Washington and Lee	10-1	4	4/5 at No. 14 Roanoke
4	Tufts	6-2	5	4/5 vs. MIT
5	Salisbury	7-3	6	4/8 at No. 9 York
6	Gettysburg	7-3	9	4/5 vs. Dickinson
7	Franklin & Marshall	7-3	7	4/5 at McDaniel
8	TCNJ	8-2	3	4/8 at Montclair
9	York	7-2	10	4/5 vs. Mary Washington
10	Messiah	8-2	8	4/5 at Eastern
11	Colby	6-3	13	4/5 vs. Southern Maine
12	Wesleyan	7-1	11	4/5 vs. No. 13 Amherst
13	Amherst	7-1	12	4/5 at No. 12 Wesleyan
14	Roanoke	8-1	15	4/5 vs. No. 3 Washington and Lee
15	Trinity (Conn.)	7-2	NR	4/5 at Connecticut College
16	Williams	8-1	NR	4/5 at Babson
17	St. John Fisher	5-2	16	4/6 at SUNY Geneseo
18	Stevens	9-1	17	4/5 vs. Wilkes
19	Kenyon	9-0	18	4/8 vs. Ohio Wesleyan
20	Pomona-Pitzer	10-1	19	4/8 at Occidental

Also considered (alphabetical order): Chicago, Ithaca, Mary Washington, MIT, SUNY Cortland, Union

Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings

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

HOT

Gettysburg (+3)

The Bullets dropped losses early to Messiah, Washington and Lee and Salisbury but seem to have found their form since falling in overtime to W&L on March 4 and suffering a two-goal defeat to Salisbury a week later.

They’ve now won five straight, including double-digit wins against current No. 9 York and previously-ranked Catholic and now a statement win against TCNJ. Gettysburg scored the first five goals against the Lions and maintained control from there. Jordan Basso led the attack with five goals and three assists, while Julia Daly and Katie Fullowan each contributed three goals and one assist. Gettysburg followed that with a 21-8 victory over Washington (Md.).

Colby (+2)

The Mules have won six straight since opening with three consecutive losses to Tufts, Salisbury and Williams by a combined seven goals.

Over the weekend, Colby added road wins against Connecticut College and Roger Williams. Annie Eddy finished with five goals in the 14-8 victory over Roger Williams, and Elizabeth Hennessey added four goals. Eddy had four goals in an 18-6 decision against Connecticut, while Ally Franz led with six goals and two assists and Gianno Bruno contributed a game-high seven points on two goals and five assists.

NOT

TCNJ (-5)

The Lions dropped back-to-back losses to quality teams, but the lopsided score against Gettysburg and the lack of a signature wins cost them in the rankings. Julia Charest made 14 saves against the Bullets and still ended up surrendering 17 goals.

They did bounce back with a 14-5 rout of Colorado College on April 1; however, TCNJ may need a strong showing against Salisbury on April 22 to rejoin the top five. The Lions play four NJAC games before that.

IN

Trinity (No. 15)

The Bantams have been solid with just two losses to Middlebury and Tufts, and they’ve beaten some quality opponents, including Williams, Colorado College and most recently St. Lawrence.

Lily Ives scored five goals to power the attack in a 14-6 victory over the Saints in a game that gave coach Katy Szymanski her 100th career win. Trinity still faces tough tasks in NESCAC play before the regular-season comes to a close.

Williams (No. 16)

Williams College has won eight straight since opening with an 11-10 loss to Trinity on March 4, and among those were games against ranked Colby and teams in the mix like Skidmore, Colorado College and Bowdoin.

After Colorado opened the scoring in their game last week, the Ephs netted 10 consecutive goals and went on to win 19-5. Franny Donahue and Lauren Morganlander each registered four goals and an assist. Williams also added a conference win against Bates over the weekend.

OUT

Ithaca (was No. 14)

The Bombers dropped a Liberty League game against unranked Union, and that 13-11 defeat moved them out of the Top 20 for now. They also had losses against Amherst and unranked Cortland early in the season.

Ithaca and Union were tied at 11 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Dutchwomen scored the eventual winning goal just 34 seconds into the period before tacking on an insurance goal at the 4:38 mark. The Bombers managed just five shots during the final 15 minutes, four of which occurred over the final 2:11 and were all saved.

Pomona-Pitzer (was No. 20)

The Sagehens were bumped out of the Top 20 because of the additions of two new teams and just one other warranting a move out of the rankings. They beat Redlands 19-4 in their only game last week and will have been off 11 days when they return to the field Saturday at Occidental.

PREVIOUS RANKINGS

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