Maryland hadn’t found itself down more than three goals all season. So what was the Terrapins’ response to Michigan scoring the first five goals on Saturday? Try depositing 16 in a row against the Wolverines.

The Terrapins have unleashed these sorts of barrages before. The second half against Johns Hopkins. The fourth quarter at home against Rutgers. Parts of the second and third quarters against Penn State in College Park. The third and fourth quarters at Ohio State.

Those stretches of dominance have helped Maryland get to 8-0, its best start since 2004. They’ve ensured the Terps have never trailed in the second half all season (and tied for just 14:06 of a possible 240 minutes in the third and fourth quarters). Their biggest run yet turned their biggest deficit of the season into a 17-10 rout.

Coupled with Duke’s 13-8 loss at Notre Dame, the victory moves Maryland to No. 1 in the Nike / US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 this week.

It also helped finalize some of the Big Ten’s seeding. Up two games on Rutgers (6-2) with two to play, the Terps have clinched the top seed in next month’s league tournament by virtue of a sweep of the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers is locked in as the No. 2 seed thanks to its sweep of Ohio State (4-4). And the Buckeyes need only one victory or one Penn State loss to seal the No. 3 seed.

Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s Top 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Albany (6-3), Boston University (6-2), Bryant (5-2), Navy (3-2), Saint Joseph’s (5-3), Vermont (5-3), Villanova (4-3)

Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings

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

HOT

Hofstra (+4)

The Pride move up in part because of a come-from-behind 12-11 victory at UMass and in part because of other teams losing in the Nos. 12-15 range. But long story short, Hofstra has now avenged its only conference loss to date, thanks to hat tricks from Riley Forte, Justin Lynskey and Ryan Tierney.

There’s a big week coming up for Seth Tierney’s team. Saturday’s visit from Delaware could decide the outright lead in the Colonial. That, of course, is contingent on Hofstra handling Towson in the Baltimore ’burbs in a makeup matinee on Tuesday.

Stony Brook (+4)

Another Long Island team making a push, the Seawolves overcame a shaky first half to defeat NJIT 12-8 and wrap up a season sweep of the Highlanders. Those two victories bookend a five-game winning streak for Anthony Gilardi’s bunch, which is averaging 14.6 goals and is led by Maryland transfer Dylan Pallonetti (27 goals, 14 assists).

Stony Brook entered the week with a share of the America East league with Vermont. Both the Catamounts and fellow contender UMBC remain on the Seawolves’ schedule, but first comes a Friday night date with in-state rival Binghamton.

Ohio State (+4)

Think the Buckeyes are thrilled to have Ryan Terefenko back? After missing four games with injury, Terefenko returned to play against Rutgers and then made a massive impact in Saturday’s 14-12 victory over Johns Hopkins. His three goals and eight ground balls helped get Ohio State back to .500 and complete a season sweep of the reeling Blue Jays.

Now comes a big one if the Buckeyes are to entertain realistic hopes for an NCAA tournament at-large berth. Ohio State visits Maryland a little more than four weeks after dropping a 16-8 decision at the Horseshoe. That game, of course, came with Terefenko on the sideline.

NOT

UMBC (-5)

The America East remains a challenge to figure out. UMBC, after all, owns victories over conference co-leaders Stony Brook and Vermont (granted, both at home) and stitched together three solid quarters on Sunday at Albany. But the Great Danes took over in the final 15 minutes, scoring seven times en route to a 14-9 victory.

UMass (-4)

The Minutemen remain one of the season’s trickiest teams to accurately gauge. The initial reason was a late start caused by a virus-related pause. Now, UMass is 3-3 after back-to-back 12-11 losses to Drexel and Hofstra — teams it defeated by six goals apiece last month. Good luck making much sense of those results, though the Minutemen are still well-positioned to earn a berth into the anyone-could-win-it CAA tournament.

Duke (-3)

This is simply a function of trying to establish a logical pecking order for the ACC, at least for the moment. Virginia (No. 2) is playing well and dealt Notre Dame (No. 3) its only loss, and the Fighting Irish earned a spot ahead of Duke thanks to Saturday’s 13-8 victory.

It was unlikely anyone was going to make it through the bruising six-game ACC schedule without a blemish, and no one got past the halfway point without a loss. The good news, as always in the ACC this year, is that the opportunity to collect a quality victory is just a game away. In Duke’s case, that’s a Thursday night trip to Virginia.

Loyola (-3)

It was a Murphy’s Law kind of Saturday for the Greyhounds, who lost two starters (attackman Joey Kamish and defenseman Kyle LeBlanc) in the first half, made a goalie change less than 10 minutes in and went more than 24 minutes without a goal at one point of a 12-7 loss to Army.

Loyola’s most viable path to the NCAA tournament — and maybe its only one — is the Patriot League’s automatic berth, and there’s three games before the conference tournament (Navy, at Lafayette, Georgetown) for the Greyhounds to get right. What’s clear from Saturday is there’s plenty to fix if Loyola is going to knock off the Black Knights (or unbeaten Lehigh, for that matter) in a rematch.

IN

Drexel (No. 17)

Enter the Dragons thanks to a four-game winning streak that’s seen them pay back earlier losses to UMass and now Delaware. Aidan Cole scored five times in Saturday’s 12-9 triumph at Delaware, continuing a run for a team that might not rank in the top five nationally in any category, but it is pretty good at a lot of things: 12th in assists per game, 14th in scoring offense, 17th in shooting percentage and 24th in man-up offense.

Next up are Drexel’s only single-game opponents in CAA play: A trip to Fairfield on Saturday, followed by an April 24 date with Hofstra in Philadelphia.

OUT

Navy (was No. 18)

The Midshipmen have dropped back-to-back Patriot League games to Southern Division foes Loyola and Lehigh, and they’ll need to win the return game at Loyola on Saturday to have a chance to reach the conference tournament.