Unlike last week, there were a number of upsets in the world of college women’s lacrosse that shifted this week’s Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20.

The stunning thriller of the weekend came Saturday in the first game of a North Carolina-Syracuse doubleheader in Chapel Hill, N.C. Behind a team-best four goals from freshman Emily Hawryschuk, the Orange upset the reigning NCAA champion and No. 2-ranked North Carolina 13-11 by scoring the first four goals and never trailing for the remainder of the game.

"It was a great opportunity for us to show that we can pick it up a notch," said Syracuse coach Gary Gait, whose team “played with more energy,” according to Tar Heels coach Jenny Levy.

Among other upsets, USC defeated MPSF rival Colorado, this week’s Top 20 newcomer Albany took down Cornell and unranked CAA foe Hofstra beat Towson. 

Also considered: Duke, Elon, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts, Virginia Tech

Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings

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

HOT

Syracuse (+4)

Syracuse got a much-needed boost at an opportune time as the regular season comes to a close this week. After going 1-4 during a three-week stretch in March, with losses to top-ranked Maryland, No. 3 Florida, No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 6 Princeton and its sole win against unranked Harvard in overtime, the Orange have won four straight games against Duke, Loyola, Virginia Tech and North Carolina. They are now tied with the Tar Heels for first place in the ACC.

USC (+2)

With Colorado’s hot streak, national polls pushed the Buffs ahead of reigning MPSF champion USC. The Trojans were ranked in the top five during the preseason and Colorado was nowhere to be seen. Yet USC has regained its presence with a dominating 11-5 win over Colorado after trailing at halftime by one goal and shutting out the Buffs 7-0 in the second half. The win marked the Trojans’ sixth straight since falling to Cornell and Stony Brook on spring break and pushes USC to the top of the MPSF.

NOT

Colorado (-4)                                                                     

The Buffs dropped into second place in the MPSF after failing to score against USC in the second half. “You can’t win games if you can’t score,” Colorado coach Ann Elliot said. “We didn’t want it bad enough.” They allowed the Trojans to snag more ground balls and draw controls, and recorded almost double the amount of fouls as USC.

Towson (-3)

Since recording a key win over Notre Dame in the middle of March, Towson has struggled, first falling to James Madison by four on April 1 and then being defeated by unranked Hofstra by two. The Tigers gave up a four-goal halftime lead against the Pride, allowing their CAA rival to score 10 goals in the second half. Towson now drops toward the bottom of the CAA standings with a 2-2 conference record, tied with Elon.

Cornell (-2)

After falling by just one goal to Penn State at the beginning of the year, Cornell got some attention. The Big Red then defeated Penn by a commanding six goals in their next game, and on March 19, downed USC 11-10. But they have faded a bit down the stretch and were upset by unranked Albany due to uncharacteristic turnovers.

NEW

Albany

Albany has been teetering on the edge of cracking the top 20 and finally did. The Great Danes are 9-4, but all four losses came to Top 20 opponents, one of which was just a one-goal loss to Syracuse. Albany’s 11-10 win over Cornell boosted its NCAA resume and earned itself a spot in the top 20 for the first time this season.

OUT

Virginia Tech

With Albany making noise, that means one team had to drop out. With Virginia Tech on a four-game losing streak, though to all Top 20 opponents, Louisville has the head-to-head advantage over the Hokies. Virginia Tech has one more chance in the regular season to secure a significant win with a tilt at Virginia on Saturday.