No surprise here: North Carolina ends the season at No. 1 in the Nike/USA Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20.

The Tar Heels completed an unbeaten season Memorial Day Weekend, overcoming the odds in the semifinals to beat Northwestern before fighting for a one-goal win over Boston College in the championship game. In winning the program’s first NCAA championship since 2016, North Carolina all but erased the recent memories of being ousted in the semifinals every year since 2018.

Where do the Tar Heels stand entering 2023? That’s a larger question for another day. But in capturing a championship in the final seasons of Jamie Ortega, Ally Mastroianni, Taylor Moreno, Emma Trenchard and other longtime standouts, North Carolina ensured that its core walked away with some hardware.

Elsewhere in the final Top 20 of the spring, there are few (if any) surprises.

Each of the remaining three semifinalists check in inside the top four, with eighth-seeded Stony Brook nabbing the No. 5 spot after pushing North Carolina to the brink in the quarterfinal round.

The most notable addition to the Top 20 this week is Jacksonville. The Dolphins started the season ranked but soon fell into the “also considered” category for much of the season. A big 20-8 win over Stanford in the first round of the NCAA tournament thrust them back into the Top 20 at No. 18, though.

Another team worth mentioning here is Arizona State, widely considered the biggest snub from this season’s NCAA tournament. The Sun Devils had an impressive resume but also eight losses, the primary explanation by the Selection Committee for being left out of the field.

Continue on to see the final Top 20 of 2022.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION I WOMEN’S TOP 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Drexel, Johns Hopkins, Saint Joseph's, UConn, UMass, Yale

PREVIOUS RANKINGS

• Preseason

• Week 1 (Feb. 14)

• Week 2 (Feb. 21)

• Week 3 (Feb. 28)

• Week 4 (March 7)

• Week 5 (March 14)

• March 6 (March 21)

• Week 7 (March 28)

• Week 8 (April 4)

• Week 9 (April 11)

• Week 10 (April 18)

• Week 11 (April 25)

• Week 12 (May 2)

• Week 13 (May 9)