HOT
Penn (+2)
The Quakers couldn’t get past rival Princeton in the Ivy League championship game, but a semifinal win over Dartmouth jumps Penn up two spots this week.
Penn has an intriguing first round matchup with Georgetown on Friday. Penn has won six one-goal games this season, including an 8-7 win over Georgetown on March 9. Georgetown was held scoreless for the final 15:50 of the game.
If the Quakers win, they’ll face Syracuse for the first time since falling to the Orange in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2015.
Northwestern (+1)
Perhaps no team has more momentum heading into the NCAA tournament than Northwestern. The Wildcats beat Maryland 16-11 on Sunday, its first win over the Terps since 2012 and claimed their first conference championship since winning the American Lacrosse Conference in 2013.
They say that defense wins championship and Mallory Weisse has given a boost to Northwestern’s defense since taking over as the starter. Weisse has registered six straight double-digit save games, with five of those games coming against tournament teams, and has a 50.0 save percentage for the season.
But the story of this team is the offense, which ranks second nationally with an average of 18.0 goals per game. Northwestern has four 60-point scorers — Selena Lasota (89), Izzy Scane (67), Lindsey McKone (63) and Lauren Gilbert(61).
NOT
Michigan (-3)
The Wolverines are flying high after being selected to their first NCAA tournament, and getting picked to host.
But Michigan needs to right the ship. After starting the season 13-0, the Wolverines have lost three of their last five games — twice to Northwestern and once to Maryland. Michigan gave up a combined 47 goals in those three losses and its likely first-round opponent is the nation’s No. 1 offense, Jacksonville (18.3 goals/game).
If Michigan gets past that round, either USC or Denver awaits. Michigan edged Denver 12-10 early in the season and has not played USC since 2016 (a 13-4 loss).
Denver (-3)
Denver’s seven-game winning streak came to an end with a 9-8 double overtime loss to Georgetown in the Big East championship game. Denver did not score in the second half or in more than seven minutes of overtime in its lowest scoring effort of the season.
Denver looks to get back on track against former Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival USC in a first round NCAA tournament game at Michigan. The two schools played seven times between 2013 and 2016, but have not played since Denver joined the Big East in 2017.