West Chester, Tampa Remain 1-2 in Division II Women's Top 20

With Selection Sunday just six days away, we already have some teams that have secured their spots in the NCAA tournament. Others will try to do so this week as conference tournaments continue.

The top of this week’s USA Lacrosse Women’s Division II Top 20, the final in-season ranking, reflects both of those scenarios. No. 1 West Chester, which ran its regular-season unbeaten streak to 60 games, hosts the PSAC tournament this week, while No. 2 Tampa faces a week of rest after securing the SSC’s automatic bid by winning the league championship.

Tampa defeated No. 3 Florida Southern 15-13 on Sunday to capture its third consecutive Sunshine State Conference tournament title, with the defending champions all but securing the South Region’s top seed for next week’s NCAA tournament.

Also in the South, No. 11 Flagler punched its ticket to the NCAA postseason by claiming the automatic qualifier as the Gulf South Conference champion, beating No. 13 Lander in the final. In the Midwest, No. 14 Regis won its sixth straight RMAC championship and returns to the NCAA postseason for the eighth consecutive season.

One team that has work to do this week is unranked Wilmington, the No. 3 seed in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. No. 19 Dominican (N.Y.) is the top seed in the CACC tournament and the favorite to capture the league’s AQ, but Wilmington (13-5) is riding the momentum of a new national record into this week’s action.

Junior midfielder Ella Royer, the nation’s leading scorer, set the national NCAA Division II women’s lacrosse record for goals in a season during Wilmington’s 23-16 home victory over Bridgeport on Saturday. Royer tallied 10 goals in the victory, matching her season high, and now has 118 goals for the season. She broke the previous record of 115, established by Sydney Tiermann of Maryville in 2023.

Selections for the expanded NCAA tournament bracket of 24 teams — a combination of conference automatic qualifiers and at-large selections — will be announced Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

Continue below to see the entire Top 20, which is compiled by USA Lacrosse Magazine staff and contributors.

USA LACROSSE DIVISION II 
WOMEN'S TOP 20