Middlebury solidified its place atop the Nike/USA Lacrosse Division III Women’s Top 20 last week, beating No. 3 Tufts to remain undefeated.
Two other games created some additional shuffling among the top 10 teams. Former No. 8 Franklin & Marshall made a big jump up to the No. 2 spot following a win over Salisbury, which now drops a spot for a second straight week after spending the first five weeks at No. 1. The College of New Jersey also rises after handing Gettysburg its third loss of the season.
Only one new team entered the Top 20 this week, with SUNY Cortland climbing back in after beating SUNY Geneseo. A spot opened with Brockport suffering an upset loss to a 4-6 RIT squad.
NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION III WOMEN’S TOP 20
April 4, 2022 |
W/L |
Prev |
Next |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Middlebury |
9-0 |
1 |
4/5 at Union |
|
2 |
Franklin & Marshall |
9-1 |
8 |
4/6 vs. Bryn Mawr |
|
3 |
Salisbury |
10-2 |
2 |
4/16 vs. No. 14 York |
|
4 |
Tufts |
6-2 |
3 |
4/9 at Connecticut College |
|
5 |
William Smith |
8-1 |
4 |
4/6 vs. RIT |
|
6 |
TCNJ |
7-1 |
9 |
4/9 vs. Montclair State |
|
7 |
Colby |
8-1 |
5 |
4/9 vs. Amherst |
|
8 |
Gettysburg |
7/3 |
6 |
4/6 vs. Dickinson |
|
9 |
Washington and Lee |
9-2 |
7 |
4/5 at Randolph-Macon |
|
10 |
St. Lawrence |
8-1 |
10 |
4/5 at SUNY Canton |
|
11 |
Ithaca |
8-1 |
11 |
4/8 vs. Bard |
|
12 |
Hamilton |
5-1 |
12 |
4/9 at Bates |
|
13 |
Wesleyan |
7-1 |
13 |
4/6 at Amherst |
|
14 |
York |
6-4 |
15 |
4/6 at Albright |
|
15 |
Bowdoin |
7-3 |
17 |
4/6 vs. Bates |
|
16 |
Messiah |
7-3 |
20 |
4/6 at Alvernia |
|
17 |
Pomona-Pitzer |
8-0 |
19 |
4/6 vs. Chapman |
|
18 |
SUNY Cortland |
5-4 |
NR |
4/6 at St. John Fisher |
|
19 |
SUNY Geneseo |
5-2 |
14 |
4/6 at SUNY Oswego |
|
20 |
Trinity |
5-3 |
18 |
4/6 vs. Connecticut College |
Also considered (alphabetical order): Amherst (6-2), Catholic (5-4, Chicago (8-1), Denison (6-3), FDU-Florham (6-2), Haverford (6-3), Roanoke (6-3), Roger Williams (8-1)
Nike/USA Lacrosse Rankings
Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women
HOT
Franklin & Marshall (+6)
The Diplomats have won nine straight since opening with a narrow loss to Washington & Lee, including a takedown of defending national champion Salisbury on March 30 for their fifth win over a ranked opponent.
F&M trailed 8-7 at halftime and surged in the second half to cruise to a 16-10 win. Ally Marino finished with four goals, Lilly Cassily posted a team-high six points on three goals and three assists, and the Diplomats scored 10 of the last 12 goals of the game. The defense held Salisbury scoreless for more than 18 minutes, including the entire third period. Emily Kitchin registered 15 saves.
TCNJ (+3)
The Lions bounced back from a four-goal loss to No. 1 Middlebury last week to beat No. 6 Gettysburg 16-10. TCNJ had leads of 9-0 at the half and 12-3 after three quarters, and that was enough to withstand a seven-goal explosion from the Bullets in the final stanza.
Ally Tobler and Anna Wright each tallied four goals and one assist, while Jillian Westerby scored a hat trick. Sabrina Phillips had four caused turnovers and three draw controls.
NOT
SUNY Geneseo (-5)
The Knights saw a four-game winning streak come to an end in disappointing fashion Saturday when they struggled to get momentum going offensively and fell 14-6 to unranked Cortland. They didn’t score more than two goals in any quarter and had no answer for the Red Dragons’ attack, as Emily DeJohn faced 22 shots.
Geneseo falls to 5-2, and its other loss was a lopsided decision against William Smith on March 5. The team bounced right back after that but barely pulled out a pair of one-goal wins against Monclair State and Trinity.
Gettysburg (-2)
The Bullets have dropped three of their last six games, including the 16-10 loss to TCNJ. The early deficit was too much to overcome even with 10 second-half goals, a run led by Jordan Basso and Katie Fullowan each registering four goals.
Gettysburg responded with a 16-8 win over Washington on Saturday but will need to find some consistency heading down the stretch in the final month of the season. The Bullets still have some quality wins over ranked opponents.
IN
SUNY Cortland (No. 18)
The Red Dragons are back in the rankings after their win over Geneseo, which marked their fourth straight victory coming off a pair of losses to Messiah and Salisbury.
Hannah Lorenzen led the team with four goals and three assists, while Gabby Meager produced a hat trick and Toni Cashman added two goals and two assists. Paige Potter made eight saves on 14 shots faced. That win produced a ripple effect among the bottom half of the rankings as Geneseo’s drop from No. 14 to No. 19 also caused Trinity to fall, having lost to Geneseo earlier in the season.
A big game against St. John Fisher looms Wednesday.
OUT
SUNY Brockport (was No. 16)
Unranked RIT scored eight goals in the fourth quarter to come back and beat the Golden Eagles 18-17 on Wednesday and knock them out of the rankings.
Brockport got six goals from Claire Odett and five from Alayna Foos, but it wasn’t enough to fend off the late rally. The loss was the Eagles’ third in four games, including defeats at William College and against St. Lawrence.
The Eagles opened SUNYAC play with a 12-9 win against New Paltz on Saturday.