It was anything but a tumultuous weekend in Division I men’s lacrosse.
Call it a Status Quo Saturday, which have a habit of popping up a couple times a year.
Four teams from last week’s Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20 lost, but all fell to teams ranked above them. Ohio State dropped an overtime contest to Maryland. Army played well for a half before fading against Loyola. Delaware slipped up at home against Towson. And Johns Hopkins was drilled 20-9 at No. 1 Penn State on Sunday to complete the weekend schedule.
Little wonder, then, the Blue Jays were the only team to move more than two spots in any direction in this week’s rankings.
While the weekend’s events didn’t alter the landscape much, it did set up the possibility of a fairly unusual development in the Big East: A regular season co-champion failing to make the conference tournament.
Heading into the final weekend of league play, Denver and Villanova are 3-1 in the Big East, while Georgetown, Marquette and Providence are 2-2. If Georgetown upends 0-4 St. John’s, Villanova falls at Providence and Marquette can topple Denver in Milwaukee, there will be a five-way tie at 3-2.
Since all those teams would be 2-2 against each other, the deciding factor would be goal differential in common games. As it stands, Denver (+12), Villanova (+2), Providence (-1) and Georgetown (-3) would get in at the expense of Marquette (-10) — though with Denver-Marquette and Villanova-Providence still to come, that order could change considerably.
As for this week’s rankings, they look quite a bit like last week’s rankings.
Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s Top 20
April 22, 2019 |
W/L |
Prev |
Next |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Penn State | 11-1 | 1 | 4/27 vs. Rutgers |
| 2 | Yale | 9-2 | 2 | 4/23 vs. Quinnipiac |
| 3 | Maryland | 11-2 | 3 | 4/27 vs. No. 20 Johns Hopkins |
| 4 | Duke | 11-3 | 4 | 4/27 vs. No. 11 Notre Dame |
| 5 | Penn | 8-3 | 5 | 4/27 vs. Vermont |
| 6 | Loyola | 10-3 | 6 | 4/26 at Lafayette |
| 7 | Virginia | 11-3 | 7 | 4/27 vs. No. 8 Syracuse/UNC |
| 8 | Syracuse | 9-3 | 9 | 4/25 at North Carolina |
| 9 | Cornell | 9-4 | 10 | 4/27 vs. Princeton |
| 10 | Ohio State | 8-3 | 8 | 4/26 at Michigan |
| 11 | Notre Dame | 7-5 | 11 | 4/27 vs. No. 4 Duke |
| 12 | Denver | 8-4 | 12 | 4/26 at Marquette |
| 13 | UMass | 9-4 | 14 | 24/26 vs. Delaware |
| 14 | Towson | 8-4 | 15 | 4/27 at Drexel |
| 15 | High Point | 11-2 | 13 | 4/27 vs. Richmond |
| 16 | Boston University | 10-4 | 17 | 4/26 at Navy |
| 17 | Villanova | 8-5 | 19 | 4/27 at Providence |
| 18 | Georgetown | 10-4 | NR | 4/27 vs. St. John's |
| 19 | Army | 9-4 | 18 | 4/26 at NJIT |
| 20 | Johns Hopkins | 6-6 | 16 | 4/27 at No. 3 Maryland |
Also considered (alphabetical order): Air Force (9-4), Delaware (10-3), Hobart (10-3), North Carolina (7-6), Princeton (7-6), Richmond (8-5), Rutgers (7-6)
Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings
Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women
NOT
Johns Hopkins (-4)
The Blue Jays weren’t the first team to lose by at least 11 goals to Penn State (Robert Morris, Stony Brook and Jacksonville did the same). Nonetheless, that’s a considerably lopsided margin. Also, the 20-9 loss marked the first time since a 20-11 loss in the 1994 season opener that Hopkins gave up 20 goals in a game.
Now perched at .500, Hopkins has some work to do to make the NCAA tournament for the 47th time in the last 48 years. If the Blue Jays lose at Maryland on Saturday, they’ll need to win the Big Ten tournament just to finish at .500 or better. But a Hopkins loss coupled with an Ohio State defeat of Michigan and a Rutgers upset of Penn State would leave the Blue Jays out of the conference tournament altogether.
IN
Georgetown
The Hoyas were just on the outside last week, and nose back in after a 23-7 obliteration of NJIT that marked their largest scoring output since 1999.
It was a hardly a one-game outburst. Georgetown has scored at least 14 goals in four consecutive outings and eight times overall this season. The story is the same as it has been for much of the spring: The Hoyas’ defense isn’t perfect, but an offense featuring Jake Carraway (46 goals, 26 assists) and Daniel Bucaro (45 goals, 23 assists) is going to keep Georgetown in nearly every game.
OUT
Delaware (was No. 20)
The Blue Hens’ four-game winning streak was snapped with a 14-12 loss at home to Towson. Delaware now needs help to host the CAA tournament --- a Towson loss at Drexel to go along with a Blue Hen triumph at Massachusetts --- but Ben DeLuca’s team has already locked up a berth in the four-team event.
It’s no guarantee, but a victory in Amherst on Friday probably vaults Delaware back into the top 20.