Salisbury remains planted at the top of the Nike/USA Lacrosse Magazine Division III Women’s Top 20 after beating No. 2 Gettysburg in a highly anticipated matchup this past week.
Gettysburg won’t be punished for the 14-9 loss thanks to its tough schedule. The Bullets’ four wins this season have come against opponents who were ranked or in consideration for a Top 20 spot. They have a chance to add a fifth quality win when they head to York (Pa.) on Wednesday.
The entire top 10 stayed the same this week, though York also dropped a game to No. 7 Franklin & Marshall on Tuesday before bouncing back with strong wins over Lynchburg and Roanoke. With Christopher Newport dropping out and some movement at the bottom of the rankings, Wesleyan saw a five-spot jump despite its big game against TCNJ getting postponed.
Trinity (Conn.), which remains unbeaten through three games, and Stevenson, who opened with three tough losses before beating former No. 17 St. John Fisher and Mary Washington, enter the Top 20.
NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION III WOMEN’S TOP 20
March 14, 2022 |
W/L |
Prev |
Next |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Salisbury |
7-0 |
1 |
3/19 vs. SUNY Cortland |
|
2 |
Gettysburg |
4-1 |
2 |
3/16 at No. 10 York |
|
3 |
Middlebury |
3-0 |
3 |
3/19 vs. No. 16 Trinity |
|
4 |
William Smith |
3-0 |
4 |
3/16 vs. No. 9 SUNY Brockport |
|
5 |
Ithaca |
3-0 |
5 |
3/16 vs. Babson |
|
6 |
Washington and Lee |
3-2 |
6 |
3/15 vs. Ferrum |
|
7 |
Franklin & Marshall |
3-1 |
7 |
3/16 vs. Denison (in Haines City, Fla.) |
|
8 |
TCNJ |
3-0 |
8 |
3/15 vs. Haverford |
|
9 |
SUNY Brockport |
2-0 |
9 |
3/16 at No. 4 William Smith |
|
10 |
York |
3-1 |
10 |
3/16 vs. No. 2 Gettysburg |
|
11 |
Wesleyan |
2-0 |
16 |
3/16 vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps |
|
12 |
Chicago |
4-0 |
15 |
3/19 at No. 17 Tufts |
|
13 |
Hamilton |
2-0 |
18 |
3/16 vs. SUNY Oneonta |
|
14 |
Catholic |
2-2 |
13 |
3/16 vs. Bowdoin |
|
15 |
Colby |
2-1 |
11 |
3/15 at New England |
|
16 |
Trinity |
3-0 |
NR |
3/16 vs. SUNY Geneseo |
|
17 |
Tufts |
1-1 |
14 |
3/16 at Endicott |
|
18 |
Stevenson |
2-3 |
NR |
3/15 vs. FDU-Florham |
|
19 |
St. John Fisher |
0-2 |
17 |
3/16 at Oswego |
|
20 |
Pomona-Pitzer |
5-0 |
20 |
3/26 at Occidental |
Also considered (alphabetical order): FDU-Florham (2-1), Geneseo (1-1), Lynchburg (2-1), Mary Washington (3-2), Messiah (3-3), Roanoke (2-1)
Nike/USA Lacrosse Rankings
Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women
HOT
Chicago (+3)
The University of Chicago tied a school record for most goals in a game while blowing past DePauw 22-3 in its lone contest of the week. The Maroons (4-0) handed the Tigers their first loss and continued their climb up the rankings.
Lulu Hardy and Anneke Pulkkinen tallied four goals each to lead the offense, while Jane Chen added four assists, four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Chicago faces a good test against Tufts on Saturday.
Hamilton (+5)
A big road win in sloppy conditions kept Hamilton unbeaten and rising. The Continentals edged Bowdoin 9-8 on a rain-soaked Ryan Field in Brunswick, Maine, on Saturday.
Olivia Seymour scored the go-ahead goal with 9:17 left, and the defense buckled down to preserve the win. Seymour, Lauren Hamilton and Clarissa Hurley all finished with two goals. Hamilton has won five of the last seven meetings with the Polar Bears.
Hamilton’s game against Rochester was suspended after the first quarter Wednesday. The Continentals’ schedule really picks up in April.
NOT
Colby (-4)
Coming off a win over Tufts in their opener, the Mules couldn’t carry the momentum into Wednesday’s game against unranked Roger Williams. Colby cut a 5-0 deficit down to one early in the second quarter but was stuck playing catchup the entire game and ended up with a 13-10 loss.
The upset loss was pushed to the side by the weekend when the Mules routed Plymouth 19-5, but Colby needs a good showing next weekend against Wesleyan.
St. John Fisher (-2)
Considering how well Salisbury is playing, the Cardinals’ 15-7 loss Friday to the defending national champions wasn’t all that bad, but the 0-2 start to the season pushed them down a couple spots.
Brittany Halpin led the Fisher offense with three goals, Sydney Carpenter added two goals and Hannah King had a solid game on defense by forcing three turnovers. The Cardinals had opened the season with an 11-10 loss to now-ranked Stevenson.
IN
Trinity College (No. 16)
The Bantams have been dominant in their 3-0 start, including a 19-5 win over Bates. Trinity’s home opener was played over the course of two days, as the game was halted with Trinity leading 11-2 with 8:36 remaining before halftime because of inclement weather Saturday. Play resumed Sunday, and the Bantams picked up where they left off.
Senior Lilianna Khosrowshahi scored a career-high seven goals and added one assist, and Christine Taylor contributed five goals and one assist.
Stevenson (No. 18)
Stevenson notched its second straight one-goal victory, pulling ahead of Mary Washington for good on Caity Schaefer’s tally with just 1:40 remaining en route to a 13-12 decision.
The Mustangs, who were coming off an upset win over St. John Fisher, suffered three tough losses to open the season, including defeats against the top two ranked teams. Caroline Murphy finished Friday’s win against Mary Washington with five goals, as Stevenson made a second-half turnaround to seize control in the final frame.
OUT
Messiah (was No. 19)
The Falcons fell to 3-3 with an overtime loss to unranked St. Mary’s, and that was enough to move them out of the rankings for now.
Messiah rallied in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime but came up short when the Seahawks scored the winner with just over two minutes left in the extra period to claim a 16-15 win. Grace Gormley led the Messiah offense with six goals, and Amanda Wadsworth finished with five points on two goals and a team-high three assists.
Christopher Newport (was No. 12)
The Captains dropped a pair of games to unranked opponents last week, and it proved costly. They fell 13-9 against Haverford on Wednesday and 15-12 to Lebanon Valley on Saturday after coasting through their first three games of the season.
They have two chances to bounce back this week with games against Shenandoah and Washington and Lee.