Nearly one third of the 2018 season has come and gone, and the Division III landscape is as fluid as ever. Just take a look at the top five alone.

Last week’s top two teams, Wesleyan and York, were both dealt narrow losses at the hands of Coast Guard and Gettysburg, respectfully. Meanwhile, RIT and Denison kept their winning ways going, vaulting those programs into the top two spots. Based on how the year has gone so far, though — few expected two-two defending national champs Salisbury to lose in back-to-back weeks — there could be even more shuffling a week from now.

One main reason? The NESCAC is heating up, with Tufts, Amherst and Connecticut College all undefeated, and a 2-1 Wesleyan side is more than capable of surging back up the rankings. From strength of schedule and top-end attackmen — Amherst’s Colin Minicus has 23 points (15 goals, eight assists) and Tufts’ Ben Connelly has 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) — a NESCAC school is always capable of a deep run.

The entire equation, however, could flip on its head this week. Four top-20 games are on deck, including Denison vs. Amherst, Cabrini vs. Ohio Wesleyan, Cortland vs. Franklin & Marshall and Ithaca vs. Coast Guard.

It’s time to buckle up, Division III lacrosse fans. The national landscape is about to get all that more interesting.

	March 12, 2018	W/L	Prev	Next
1	RIT	4-0	3	3/16 vs. Lynchburg
2	Denison	5-0	4	3/16 vs. No. 8 Amherst
3	Gettysburg	6-0	5	3/14 at Washington and Lee
4	York	5-1	2	3/16 vs. Nazareth
5	Cabrini	4-0	6	3/14 vs. No. 12 Ohio Wesleyan
6	Tufts	3-0	8	3/17 vs. Colby
7	Cortland	3-0	7	3/13 vs. No. 15 Franklin & Marshall
8	Amherst	3-0	9	3/16 vs. No. 2 Denison
9	Ithaca	3-0	10	3/13 vs. No. 16 Coast Guard
10	Wesleyan	2-1	1	3/14 vs. Vassar
11	Salisbury	5-2	11	3/17 vs. Washington College
12	Ohio Wesleyan	5-1	17	3/14 at No. 5 Cabrini
13	St. Lawrence	2-0	12	3/12 at Middlebury
14	Christopher Newport	6-0	16	3/14 vs. Illinois Wesleyan
15	Franklin & Marshall	4-1	15	3/13 vs. No. 8 Cortland
16	Coast Guard	4-0	NR	3/13 vs. No. 10 Ithaca
17	Roanoke	5-1	18	3/13 vs. Kenyon
18	Stevens	3-1	13	3/13 vs. Skidmore
19	Connecticut College	3-0	NR	3/13 vs. Transylvania
20	Dickinson	3-2	14	3/16 at Stevenson

Also considered: Clark, Muhlenberg, Springfield, Middlebury, Union

Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings

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

Hot

RIT (+2)

The Tigers vault up to the No. 1 spot at previous top dog Wesleyan’s misfortune, but they’ve rattled off quite the start to 2018 on their own merit.

On Saturday, in RIT’s first Liberty League game of the year, it comfortably swept aside Clarkson 18-7. To put it lightly, senior midfielder Kyle Killen had himself a day with a career-high nine goals. Six of his tallies came in man-up situations, an RIT single-game record.

Much credit also goes to senior Nate Farrell, who went 15-for-17 from the faceoff X, putting him at an 82-percent clip through four games. Sophomore goalie Walker Hare earned his fourth straight win, posting nine saves on 12 shots.

Ohio Wesleyan (+5)

The good times kept on rolling for the Bishops, who are now riding a four-game winning streak into Wednesday’s clash with No. 5 Cabrini.

Before then, they convincingly knocked off Alma 17-4 with plenty of confidence in hand from last week’s 12-11 overtime upset win over Salisbury. Eleven different players scored for Ohio Wesleyan against Alma, paving the way for a dominant performance in other areas of the box score.

The Bishops won the ground-ball battle 45-17, caused 12 turnovers, and went 16-for-25 at the faceoff X were a near-perfect 18-for-19 on clears.

Not

Dickinson (-6)

The Red Devils took care of business on Saturday, beating a struggling Widener team 17-5. It’s the results prior to that which spell concern.

Dickinson fell to No. 5 Cabrini 13-11 on March 4, and lost last Thursday to No. 17 Roanoke 13-9. Simply, those are the types of games the Red Devils must win if they want to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013.

They have two non-conference games – against Stevenson and No. 2 Denison – this coming weekend to steady the ship before Centennial Conference play gets underway in late March.

Stevens (-5)

After storming out to a 3-0 record, the Ducks were humbled this past weekend in a 16-7 loss to No. 6 Tufts, a NESCAC powerhouse and the owner of three national titles.

They only trailed 7-5 at halftime, but then the Jumbos blew it open in the second half, outscoring Stevens 9-2. Ben Connelly sounded off for Tufts, bagging four goals and five assists, while Andrew Seiter notched four goals of his own.

Wesleyan (-9)

It was an up-and-down week for the Cardinals, who dropped out of pole position in the top 20. They suffered an unexpected setback Tuesday to Coast Guard, falling 10-9 in overtime, but bounced back to beat NESCAC foe Bates 13-11 on Saturday.

Wesleyan had no answer in goal in the loss to the Bears, as Steve Kovalsky and Max Powers combined for just four saves on 14 shots. Wesleyan trailed 9-8 with 1:12 left, sent it to OT on a goal by Christian Barker and lost when Anthony Wyler’s third goal of the day sealed the Coast Guard upset with 32 seconds left in overtime.

It’s certainly not panic time for the Cardinals, especially since they won’t encounter another top-20 team until March 21 (Roanoke).

In

Coast Guard

Coast Guard has firmly cemented itself as the team to beat in the NEWMAC, especially after knocking off previous No. 1 Wesleyan in overtime 10-9 last Tuesday.

Riley McNulty proved pivotal in the upset, as he bagged four goals and one assist to help along Wyler’s three goals and a helper of his own. Goalie Trey Johnson made 11 saves on 20 shots against the Cardinals.

Come Saturday, Coast Guard again took care of business, sweeping aside Goucher 11-4. Of note, the Bears have reached double-digit scoring in all four of their wins.

Connecticut College

After three consecutive losing seasons, Connecticut College is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2010.

The Camels stormed past Lasell 23-11 in non-conference play on Tuesday, then beat NESCAC opponent Middlebury 8-6. Against the Panthers, the Camels scored the game’s final three goals after trailing 6-5 late in the third quarter.

In this frenzied start, Conn. College has seen 13 different players score. Ben Parens, one of Division III’s best faceoff specialists, went a combined 27-for-38 from the X during the Camels’ wins over Middlebury and Lasell, an NCAA tournament team in 2017.

Out

Bates

Matt Chlastawa has 13 goals and nine assists through four games, but that hasn’t been enough to steady a Bobcats team that finished the regular season 14-0 in 2017.  At 1-3, Bates has already dropped two NESCAC games to Middlebury and Wesleyan. The Bobcats will close out the regular season with contests against Connecticut College, Tufts and Amherst – three top-20 teams – so there’s ample time to reverse course.

Middlebury

The Panthers’ season-opening 11-10 win over Bates was impressive at the time, but they haven’t done enough since to merit a consistent spot in the rankings. Middlebury lost 8-6 on Saturday to Connecticut College, failing to score in the fourth quarter after leading 6-5 late in the third. A tall task awaits Middlebury this week, too, as games against No. 13 St. Lawrence and No. 10 Wesleyan are on the docket.