The front half of the Nike/USA Lacrosse  Division III Women’s Top 20 remained the same this week as results confirmed the status of those teams. Throughout the top 20, in fact, there wasn’t much change.

Among the top 11, only No. 6 Colby and No. 11 Ithaca suffered losses, but neither were punished for defeats against better-ranked teams. Middlebury remained unbeaten with its 13-5 win over Colby, and William Smith improved to 12-1 overall with a 14-13 win over Ithaca.

A pair of losses last week cost Trinity (Conn.) its place among the top 20, and Bowdoin also dropped out with its fifth defeat of the season. That made room for Hamilton and Catholic to both re-enter.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION III WOMEN’S TOP 20

	April 18, 2022	W/L	Prev	Next
1	Middlebury	13-0	1	4/23 at Amherst
2	Franklin & Marshall	12-1	2	4/20 at No. 8 Gettysburg
3	Salisbury	11-2	3	4/22 at No. 5 TCNJ
4	William Smith	12-1	4	4/22 vs. RPI
5	TCNJ	10-1	6	4/19 vs. Stockton
6	Colby	11-2	6	4/23 at Trinity
7	Tufts	9-3	7	4/20 vs. Emmanuel
8	Gettysburg	10-3	8	4/20 vs. No. 2 Franklin & Marshall
9	Washington and Lee	11-2	11	4/20 vs. Shenandoah
10	St. Lawrence	12-1	10	4/20 at Clarkson
11	Ithaca	11-2	11	4/22 vs. St. John Fisher
12	Messiah	10-3	14	4/20 vs. No. 13 York
13	York	9-5	12	4/20 at No. 12 Messiah
14	Wesleyan	9-3	13	4/20 vs. No. 18 Hamilton
15	Cortland	9-4	15	4/20 at Nazareth
16	Geneseo	9-2	16	4/20 at Fredonia
17	Pomona-Pitzer	12-0	18	4/20 vs. Cal Lutheran
18	Hamilton	6-3	NR	4/20 at No. 14 Wesleyan
19	Catholic	8-4	NR	4/20 vs. Goucher
20	Roanoke	10-3	20	4/20 at Mary Washington

Also considered (alphabetical order): Amherst (7-4), Bowdoin (8-5), Brockport (6-5),  Chicago (10-1), FDU-Florham (9-2), Haverford (9-3), Roger Williams (11-1), Trinity (7-5)

Nike/USA Lacrosse Rankings

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

HOT

William Smith (+0)

Steady performances among the top three teams makes it hard for William Smith to climb much more but the Herons are on an eight-game winning streak, including last week’s narrow victory over Ithaca. They led 13-6 in the third quarter and had to fend off a late rally to hold on for the win.

Maddie Montgomery won a crucial draw control with 1:09 left in regulation after the Bombers had made it a one-goal game, and the Herons were able to hold possession to run out the clock. Allie McGinty recorded a game-high eight points on five goals and three assists to lead William Smith’s attack.

The Herons’ lone loss was to former No. 1 Salisbury.

Messiah (+2)

The Falcons have won seven straight and are slowing rising after a brief exit from the rankings last month. They beat Stevenson 15-9 on Wednesday to improve to 4-0 in the MAC Commonwealth, as Rachel Delate continued her recent run terrorizing opposing defenses.

Delate, the reigning MAC Commonwealth Offensive Player of the Week, tallied a game-high six goals to give her a seventh-consecutive game scoring at least three goals. She has totaled 16 goals in the last three games.

Mackenzie O’Haver recorded her eighth win in goal while recording 11 saves.

Pomona-Pitzer (+1)

The Sagehens are the only other ranked team besides Middlebury still unbeaten. They improved to 12-0 with two more dominant wins last week in which they outscored their opponents 66-11.

That was quite the response after needing overtime to beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on April 15. Soshi Henderson scored the game winner in that one for a 16-15 win. Only one other opponent has gotten within 10 goals of Pomona-Pitzer, as Colorado College lost by five in an April 1 contest.

NOT

Wesleyan (-1)

The Cardinals had a hard time beating Trinity last Wednesday, eking out an 11-10 win, and then they dropped their second loss in three games with a 16-11 defeat against Tufts. Those results cost them one spot in the rankings but Wesleyan’s three losses this season are against the top three teams in the NESCAC, whom are all among the top seven nationally.

Wednesday’s game against Hamilton will be an important one to solidify their place in the top 20.

York (-1)

The Spartans gave defending national champion Salisbury a scare but ultimately lost 14-13. It was their fifth loss to a top 10 team, and they haven’t been blown out by anyone, but a matchup Wednesday against No. 12 Messiah is a chance to get their first win against a top 20 opponent.

York’s best victories so far came against then-unranked Roanoke, which just entered last week, and Haverford, a team also in consideration for a spot.

IN

Hamilton (No. 18)

An overtime win over Trinity on Saturday allowed Hamilton to rejoin the rankings, despite three straight losses before that. Olivia Seymour scored four goals, including the game-winner with three seconds left in overtime to lift the Continentals to an 8-7 victory.

Hamilton had lost two straight games by one goal before falling to No. 1 Middlebury on April 10, so it’s been a tough stretch. The Continentals will look to carry the momentum of the emotional win into Wednesday’s game at Wesleyan.

Catholic (No. 19)

Catholic has won five straight since a loss to Franklin & Marshall, which ended a tough stretch of three losses in four games.

The Cardinals beat Mary Washington in overtime on April 6 and edged Drew 13-11 last week, but otherwise it’s been smooth-sailing in most of their wins this season. They also own a notable win over No. 20 Roanoke.

OUT

Trinity (was No. 17)

Trinity suffered two losses in the past week, falling to Wesleyan 11-10 and Hamilton 8-7 in overtime. The Bantams scored two goals late against Wesleyan to make it a one-goal deficit with three minutes left but could not get another one to force overtime.

Against Hamilton, Lilianna Khosrowshahi scored the game-tying goal with 3:15 left to send the game to overtime, but the Continentals got the winner just before the final whistle in the first overtime period.

The Bantams have lost three of their last five overall and four of their five total losses have been against NESCAC teams. They also dropped a game against Geneseo.

Bowdoin (was No. 19)

The Polar Bears dropped out after a 15-7 loss to Colby, which accounted for their fifth loss -- all of them being against conference foes. They also had lost a game against Trinity four days earlier, but a nine-day layoff from games will provide a chance to correct some mistakes before resuming play Saturday against Connecticut College.

Colby outscored Bowdoin 5-0 in the fourth quarter to put the game away.