In a week in which five of the top 10 teams in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 rankings, you can expect some change. And that's exactly what happened.
The top three stayed the same with Boston College and Maryland remaining unblemished in the top two spots and No. 3 North Carolina holding firm after a tough overtime loss at Maryland on Sunday.
After that, things got scrambled. Syracuse rode a win over Northwestern to vault up to fourth and Virginia and Denver both crashed the Top 10 with their unbeaten records.
Feb. 25, 2019 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston College | 4-0 | 1 | 2/27 vs. Dartmouth |
| 2 | Maryland | 3-0 | 2 | 2/27 at UMBC |
| 3 | North Carolina | 3-1 | 3 | 3/2 vs. No. 9 Northwestern |
| 4 | Syracuse | 4-1 | 8 | 2/27 vs. No. 12 Loyola |
| 5 | Virginia | 4-0 | 13 | 2/26 at William & Mary |
| 6 | Penn | 2-0 | 6 | 2/27 at Rutgers |
| 7 | Denver | 4-0 | 12 | 2/26 vs. No. 19 Michigan |
| 8 | James Madison | 3-1 | 9 | 3/1 vs. Canisius |
| 9 | Northwestern | 3-1 | 7 | 2/25 at Canisius |
| 10 | Stony Brook | 1-1 | 6 | 3/1 at Towson |
| 11 | Johns Hopkins | 2-1 | 16 | 2/27 vs. No. 18 Georgetown |
| 12 | Loyola | 1-1 | 20 | 2/27 at No. 4 Syracuse |
| 13 | Florida | 1-2 | 4 | 3/2 at Navy |
| 14 | Penn State | 3-0 | 11 | 2/27 at No. 15 Princeton |
| 15 | Princeton | 1-1 | 10 | 2/27 vs. No. 14 Penn State |
| 16 | Duke | 3-1 | 18 | 3/1 vs. William & Mary |
| 17 | Notre Dame | 5-0 | 14 | 3/2 vs. Louisville |
| 18 | Georgetown | 3-0 | 17 | 2/27 at No. 11 Johns Hopkins |
| 19 | Michigan | 5-0 | NR | 2/26 at No. 7 Denver |
| 20 | Stanford | 2-1 | 19 | 3/1 at Albany |
Also considered: Colorado, Navy, USC, Virginia Tech
Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings
Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women
HOT
Loyola (+8)
A season-opening loss to rival Johns Hopkins became a distant memory as the Greyhounds upset then No. 4 Florida on Saturday — their first win over Florida since the two schools began playing on an annual basis since 2013.
Livy Rosenzweig scored four goals for Loyola, which has little time to soak in the victory. The Greyhounds head to the new No. 4 — Syracuse —on Wednesday afternoon before turning around and hosting No. 14 Penn State on Saturday.
Virginia (+8)
Virginia started 6-0 last season before stumbling down the stretch to a 10-10 finish. You can rest assured the Cavaliers haven't forgotten that feeling and will stay pretty grounded despite moving to 4-0 after beating Princeton 14-9 on Saturday. Sammy Mueller had six goals in the victory as Virginia scored the final five goals of the game to pull away.
Virginia's move to No. 5 in the rankings is more than just the Princeton win. The Cavaliers have also beaten two 2018 league champions — Navy (Patriot League) and Richmond (Atlantic 10) — in their perfect start. After a midweek game against William & Mary, the Cavaliers head to the Carrier Dome on Saturday for a big early season showdown at Syracuse in their ACC opener.
Denver (+5)
After Stony Brook looked to have fully reloaded for 2019 with a season-opening 15-5 win at Colorado on Friday, most people expected the Seawolves to continue that domination on Sunday at Denver.
The Pioneers weren't among those expecting that result. Denver improved to a perfect 4-0, holding Stony Brook to just three first half goals in an 11-7 victory.
Denver, which hosts another unbeatent upstart — Michigan — on Tuesday, has allowed just 5.0 goals per game in the early going.
NOT
Florida (-9)
The Gators fell to 1-2 with the loss at Loyola and the domino effect of that loss pushed the Gators down. Loyola already had a loss to Johns Hopkins, which lost to Penn in overtime on Saturday.
Florida will look to work on its defense after allowing a combined 32 goals in losses to Maryland and Loyola, before returning back to the Mid-Atlantic region to play at Navy on Saturday.
The Gators will also look to diversity their offense as three players — Lindsey Ronbeck (15), Shannon Kavanagh (9) and Grace Haus (8) — have combined for 32 of their 40 goals in the first three games.
Princeton (-5)
Princeton spent much of Saturday trying to play catch-up against Virginia, but had no answer for the Cavaliers final run. Virginia had leads of 3-0, 5-3 and 9-6 and Princeton answered back each time, even taking a 6-5 lead at one point. But after Kyla Sears' goal with 11:21 to play tied the game at 9-9, Virginia reeled off the final five goals of the game.
Princeton hosts No. 14 Penn State on Wednesday before beginning Ivy League play this weekend against Columbia.
Stony Brook (-4)
Joe Spallina had no excuses after Sunday's surprisingly loss to Denver. "For 60 minutes, they were by far the better team," he said simply after the game.
Five different players scored multiple goals in Friday's win over Colorado and the Seawolves had assists on nine of their 15 goals in that victory. Against Denver, Stony Brook had just three assists and turned it over 24 times as it struggled to get anything going.
On Friday, Stony Brook hits the road to play a hungry Towson team that has opened a season with high expectations at 0-3 and then the Seawolves host No. 20 Stanford on Sunday.
IN
Michigan
Mira Shane made 17 saves as Michigan improved to 5-0 with an 8-6 victory over Colorado on Sunday. Shane has a 61.5 save percentage for the Wolverines and has made 35 saves in the last two games.
Michigan continues its Rocky Mountain trip on Tuesday when it plays at No. 7 Denver.
OUT
Colorado
The Buffs managed just 11 goals in a pair of losses over the weekend, falling 15-5 to Stony Brook and 8-6 to Michigan. After a 1-3 start, the Buffs will get a chance to regroup before beginning Pac 12 play on March 8 at Stanford.