Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. A week of top-ranked showdowns in women's lacrosse provided a little clarity at the top of the rankings, but more questions than answers everywhere else.
Defending national champion Maryland flexed its muscles, handing two unbeaten Top 10 teams (James Madison and Penn) their first losses of the season. Last year's runner-up, Boston College, showed it's not going anywhere with a convincing win over North Carolina to move to 12-0.
Elseswere in the rankings, seven of the Top 20 teams in the Nike/US Lacrosse rankings suffered losses last week, five of them to teams ranked lower.
2. Last week we wrote that the top teams had begun to separate themselves from the rest of the rankings, now it looks like Albany and Maryland might be separating themselves from everyone else.
No. 2 Duke was stunned by Syracuse, No. 4 Notre Dame suffered a midweek loss to Michigan and No. 5 Denver needed overtime to escape Towson.
#WalkOffWinner Colin Rutan finds the back of the net in overtime to send Denver to 6-2 in non-conference play (Video: @ScoreBreak / Audio: @TylerMaun/#ESPNDenver1600) . #DU1NATION pic.twitter.com/3Xif5oPzxS
— Denver Mens Lacrosse (@DU_MLAX) March 24, 2018
Meanwhile, Albany opened league play with a win over UMass-Lowell and Maryland went across the country to beat its old ACC rival North Carolina in the Pacific Coast Shootout.
3. The Patriot League men's race is shaping up to be a crazy one that could ultimately have ramifications on Selection Sunday. On Saturday, Bucknell upset No. 7 Loyola, Colgate took down No. 15 Army and Navy went on the road to beat No. 14 Lehigh.
4. The inaugural Pac 12 season is providing plenty of intrigue. Red-hot Stanford rallied from four goals down to hand USC its first league loss on Sunday, 12-11 in overtime. Colorado, Stanford and USC are all tied at 4-1 with USC playing three overtime games in the league already.
Backdoor cut from freshman Galen Lew and she scores the winner off Daniella McMahon's pass. @StanfordWLax downs @USCTrojansLax 12-11 in double OT. They join @CUBuffsWLax in three-way tie at top of @pac12 standings. pic.twitter.com/daKZoezYk5
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 25, 2018
5. After an uninspiring 1-2 start to the season, Johns Hopkins finished the month of March with a perfect 5-0 record. On Saturday, the Blue Jays were slow to wake up for an 11:30 ESPNU game at Virginia, falling behind 7-2 at the half. But in the second half, the Jays stormed back for a 15-13 victory. For the season, Hopkins has scored 44 goals in the first half and 62 in the second half.
PHOTO BY MATT RILEY
Johns Hopkins rallied from a seven-goal halftime deficit to beat Virginia 15-13. The Blue Jays have won five straight games.
6. LeMoyne will take over the top spot in the men's Division II poll after an impressive defensive effort against No. 1 Merrimack. The Dolphins held Merrimack to one second half goal in an 8-5 victory in a game that helped raise money for the Beads of Courage program.