There is bound to be rankings volatility anytime perceptions (such as those in the preseason) give way to reality (once results actually start to roll in).

Three weeks into the Ivy League’s return to play, the jolts are still coming.

The biggest jumps are something more akin to market corrections. It was hard to know just how good the Ivies would be after what amounted to a 23-month absence from competition. (Brown, Dartmouth and Penn each played one game last spring.)

It turns out Cornell isn’t really a mystery team, and its 14-11 defeat over previously undefeated Ohio State warranted another leap. And while Princeton is decidedly different without Michael Sowers and learning something new every game, it can lean on its defense to be disruptive and its transition offense to exploit opportunities enough to claim a 10-8 victory at Georgetown.

The Big Red and the Tigers account for the biggest changes in this week’s rankings, but they’re hardly the only ones on the move after another eye-opening stretch in the sport.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION I MEN’S TOP 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Boston University (4-0), Brown (4-1), Bucknell (5-0), Hobart (2-2), Lehigh (2-2), Richmond (3-2), Saint Joseph’s (4-1), Stony Brook (4-1), Villanova (3-2)

Nike/USA Lacrosse Rankings

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

HOT

Cornell (+9)

This qualifies more as an acknowledgment that the Big Red were undersold (for understandable reasons) in the preseason than as a claim they improved that much week over week. Beating a previously unbeaten Ohio State team is part of the explanation, too.

Cornell spotted the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead then rattled off seven goals in a row. And when Ohio State tied it at 10 early in the fourth quarter, the Big Red scored four in a row (including two of CJ Kirst’s four goals) to pull away. Cornell’s nine-game winning streak (which stretches back to 2020) is tied for the longest in the country with Virginia.

Michigan (+4)

The Wolverines played their first road game (a 12-10 defeat of Marquette) and their first ranked opponent of the season (an 18-8 rout of Delaware) during a two-game week. Marquette gave Kevin Conry’s 7-0 team more headaches than anyone else had this season, but Josh Zawada and Co. were firmly in control of Delaware much of the way.

Things are about to get trickier. An improved Harvard team visits Ann Arbor this week, and Michigan closes non-conference play March 19 at Notre Dame before its five-game Big Ten slate.

NOT

Jacksonville (-6)

For probably the first time in program history, the Dolphins have a bit of a target, a new experience that’s bound to have some choppy moments. Such was the case Sunday night when Jacksonville sputtered after scoring the first four goals on the way to a 16-10 loss at home to Utah.

This is still a team that won at Denver and Duke, and at 5-2, the Dolphins still belong in the Top 20. But they didn’t go from upstart to juggernaut overnight, and there is still more work to do as the season unfolds.

Syracuse (-6)

Put plainly, the Orange aren’t going to be a credible contender for much of anything until the defense improves. It was true last year when Cuse yielded 18 goals on five occasions, and it’s true now after surrendering 53 goals in a three-game span.

The previous weekend’s 20-11 loss at Virginia was painful, but understandable. But Syracuse was again overwhelmed by Army at the Carrier Dome, giving up the last six goals in a 17-13 loss to the Black Knights before outlasting Hobart 18-16 in a Sunday shootout.

IN

Princeton (No. 5)

As junior attackman Alex Slusher noted after scoring five times as the Tigers dispatched Georgetown, most of his teammates can count the number of college games they have played on two hands. Slusher is among them; the defeat of the sloppy Hoyas was his ninth game since he arrived at Princeton.

The Tigers are in the midst of a rigorous stretch. A 15-10 loss at Maryland preceded the trip to Georgetown, and they’ll face Rutgers, Penn, Yale and Brown (combined record: 14-3) over the next four Saturdays. It would be a tough stretch for anyone, but Princeton now has a noteworthy victory to help provide even greater belief that more are on the way.

Utah (No. 18)

The fourth-year program made it 3-for-3 in road games, picking off Jacksonville 16-10 after closing out February with one-goal victories at Vermont and Marquette.

Tyler Bradbury had four goals and two assists in Sunday’s defeat of the Dolphins, which had its own rankings breakthrough earlier in the year. Now it’s the Utes’ turn, who play at UMBC and Georgetown the next two Saturdays before finally getting their second home game of the season at the end of the month when Mercer visits Salt Lake City.

OUT

Hobart (was No. 18)

There is still a lot to like about the Statesmen, particularly at the offensive end. Hobart lost a pair of rivalry games on the road last week, but its scoring at Cornell (15-12) and Syracuse (18-16) is nothing to criticize.

Hobart has nearly two weeks off before it begins Northeast Conference play. The Statesmen should be an interesting variable throughout its league schedule, and the experience of the last week will likely pay dividends down the road.

Loyola (was No. 20)

The Greyhounds managed a split last week, losing 11-8 at home to Towson to drop its fourth in a row before opening Patriot League play with a 14-12 triumph at Lafayette that again exposed some instability at the defensive end of the field.

It’s too soon to say Loyola’s path to the postseason runs exclusively through the Patriot League tournament with Duke and Georgetown still to come, but it might be true soon enough. Loyola could easily be 3-2 with a couple breaks, but at 1-4, it has played its way out of the Top 20.

PREVIOUS RANKINGS

• Preseason

• Week 1 (Feb. 14)

• Week 2 (Feb. 21)

• Week 3 (Feb. 28)