In the latest edition of “Time Is A Flat Circle,” a Bill Tierney-coached team might just have to lean on its defense to thrive this season. It certainly was the case Saturday.

Tierney, of course, was known for fielding stellar defenses as Princeton rattled off six national titles in a 10-year span from 1992 to 2001. Since arriving at Denver, his teams have been driven by creative offenses and, over the last four seasons, a dominant faceoff man in Trevor Baptiste.

Saturday’s Big East opener offered a different glimpse at the Pioneers, who were playing without Connor Donahue and Drew Supinski. Georgetown didn’t win many faceoffs but still dominated possession in a game that featured 13 stall warnings. Denver escaped with a 6-5 victory, its smallest offensive output since Tierney took over in 2010.

“We’ve won a lot of games with our offense, and if we have to win with our defense, that’s what it takes,” Tierney said.

It seemed odd to look up at halftime and see the Pioneers with only one goal on the board. It was odder still to consider it was the second week in a row it had happened.

(It’s also worth noting Georgetown did a fabulous job of dictating the terms of the game to Denver, forcing the Pioneers into the unusual position of pressing some on offense because they didn’t have the ball as much as usual. The Hoyas took only 24 shots, but were largely sharp in their decision-making and stickwork).

Pegging Denver is a greater challenge than usual this year. It lost at Duke and Notre Dame, which is understandable. Victories over North Carolina, Ohio State and Towson would have held much greater value a season ago. This Saturday’s trip to Villanova might be the last true barometer of the regular season.

This much was certain from Saturday: The Pioneers’ defense is better than in recent years. Junior Dylan Gaines was stellar against the Hoyas, and goalie Josh Matte (seven saves) was solid when needed. If Matte continues to settle in — this was the sophomore’s third start in a row — Denver could have as many answers as anyone at that end of the field come May.

“We’re not big stat guys, but if you look at our defense, we haven’t had goalie play up to what we expect,” Tierney said. “If you’re not getting 50 percent in the goal, what happens is the numbers don’t look good. We got over 50 percent, and we got that today, then you see how good our defense is.”

Onto the rankings:

Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s Top 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Hofstra, Navy, North Carolina, UMass, Vermont

HOT

Syracuse (+3)

The Orange earned its 900th victory all-time when it handled Notre Dame 10-6, and improved to 3-0 in the ACC in the process. Syracuse is assured of no worse than a share of the conference’s regular season title.

It was probably the most complete showing from John Desko’s team all season. Goalie Dom Madonna made 13 saves for the second consecutive week, and Syracuse held Notre Dame to 0-for-8 on extra man. Maybe the best sign for the Orange was that it followed up a riveting victory at Duke with an even better performance as it closed in on the top seed in the ACC tournament.

Lehigh (+3)

There’s a little bit of inertia in play with the Mountain Hawks taking a slight step after a 7-6 victory at Boston University. It was part of a separation Saturday in the Patriot League, where the top four teams all won and the bottom five teams lost (with Lafayette falling in a nonconference game).

Lehigh’s penchant for tight games could very well continue over the next three weekends, with Loyola, Cornell and Bucknell awaiting prior to the Patriot League tournament. The Mountain Hawks get the first two of those at home, superb tests for a team currently in a three-way tie atop the Patriot with Bucknell and Navy at 5-1, with Loyola (4-1) even in the loss column.

NOT

Penn (-5)

The only team in this week’s rankings without a winning record, the .500 Quakers have dropped back-to-back games to Cornell and Yale to effectively see their Ivy League regular season title hopes fizzle. Yet it’s also a team with defeats of Duke, Bucknell, Michigan and Navy. There are a lot of less accomplished teams out there.

Penn gets three in a row at home (Brown, Harvard and Saint Joseph’s) before closing the regular season against Dartmouth. It’s possible the Quakers continue to hover around .500 --- or make an April charge to place themselves firmly in the conversation for an NCAA tournament at-large berth.

Notre Dame (-4)

Is it time to be overly concerned with Notre Dame’s offense? Probably not, even with three single-digit outputs in the last four games. Fighting Irish faithful would point out Notre Dame won two of those games (Virginia and Ohio State) and actually lost the one scoreboard-buster of the bunch (Michigan).

Nonetheless, the Irish managed just one goal in the final 28:36 in Saturday’s loss to Syracuse and were especially feeble on extra man. They need to bounce back quick; Duke rolls into Arlotta Stadium this weekend.

IN

Penn State

Much like last year, the Nittany Lions opened Big Ten play with a brilliant showing against Ohio State. Penn State rolled to a 12-4 victory in Columbus. Colby Kneese was stellar, stopping 16 shots, and Kevin Hill had two goals and two assists as Penn State wrapped up a 5-1 March (with the lone loss coming in a 9-7 neutral-site setback against potent Cornell).

That Ohio State victory might not hold up as well as it did last year considering the Buckeyes’ struggles, but Penn State would rather this be the end of the echoes of 2017 anyway. The Nittany Lions dropped four of their last six a season ago, after all. But this is just the latest sign Penn State’s defense is improving; it’s the fifth time in six games it held an opponent to less than 10 goals.

OUT

North Carolina (previously No. 20)

The Tar Heels actually played well against Duke on Friday — better, in fact, than they did earlier in their five-game losing streak. But there’s the rub. North Carolina has dropped five in a row after a 6-0 start.

Joe Breschi’s team held up well at the defensive end when it zoned Duke, and perhaps that’s something the Tar Heels will use more in the weeks to come. Next up is a visit from Virginia in what very well could amount to an ACC tournament play-in game.