This was quite a week in the lacrosse world which will lead to some shakeups in the standings. Over the week, nine games saw a ranked team lose. While most of these were due to other ranked teams, the two exceptions were #20 Holy Cross taking a day off against Bucknell and #3 Denver falling to Ohio State.
Other big games were Brown topping Harvard, Notre Dame holding on against Virginia, Duke getting a narrow win over Georgetown and Maryland holding #15 Villanova to just two goals.
We’re now in the really fun part of the NCAA schedule, so get ready!
Records and scores are including games from March 8.
T-1 Syracuse Record: 6-0 InLax Score: 124.98 Previous: 1
Syracuse overcame another very slow start against a Hopkins team playing terrific defense. The end result was a 13-10 win behind very even scoring between their attack and middies, and stifling defense. Bobby Wardwell only needed to make five saves on 40 total shots by the Jays. Next up is another home game with Duke coming to town.
T-1 North Carolina Record: 8-0 InLax Score: 131.00 Previous: 1
UNC started looking mortal this week. A one goal win over Bryant and a five goal win over Richmond kept them undefeated, but Bryant was very, very close to pulling off the upset. I can’t fault the Tar Heels for anything in that game, though. Bryant played like the team that upset Syracuse in the NCAA tournament last year, not the one who entered the game win just one two goal win over Hartford to their record. UNC has tough tests against Harvard and Maryland next.
3 Maryland Record: 5-1 InLax Score: 103.11 Previous: 6
Maryland leapfrogs (or buck bucks, for you TMNT fans out there) a few teams this week after another great game by their defense. Their defense has been so good that they currently possess the best points for to points against ratio in the country. That’s a great formula for long term success.
4 Duke Record: 7-1 InLax Score: 92.28 Previous: 4
Duke had a two point win over Georgetown this week. It wasn’t bad since it’s a win, but it wasn’t good, since they needed a 6 goal fourth quarter to get that win. This team runs completely through Myles Jones as he proved again with an eight point day. All you have to do in theory is stop him. So, good luck with that. This week’s game will be very interesting to see how the Orange defense decides to matchup against Jones and the rest of the Blue Devils offense.
5 Notre Dame Record: 4-1 InLax Score: 56.00 Previous: 5
Notre Dame bounced back from the Denver loss to beat Virginia down in Charlottesville. They started out on fire, but cooled off quickly and relied on their defense in the second half. The result was a two point win and their first ACC win of the season.
6 Brown Record: 5-0 InLax Score: 76.77 Previous: 11
This is a huge jump for Brown, I know. But the latter half of the top 10 really didn’t fare to well this week and Brown finally played a ranked and highly regarded team in Harvard, and they also faced Michigan. The results was a 10 point win over Michigan and six points over Harvard. This team is looking very dangerous. Next are a few very winnable games against Bucknell and Manhattan if their offense keeps going.
7 Marquette Record: 7-0 InLax Score: 65.33 Previous: 9
They will be tested this week against Georgetown, who has only lost to ranked teams, but only by a few goals each time.
8 Denver Record: 4-2 InLax Score: 47.03 Previous: 3
It’s tough to drop Denver too far because of their loss to Ohio State, but I’m still scratching my head after that one. A game like this last year likely would have cost them an NCAA tournament home game. Another one this year might do the same.
9 Virginia Record: 5-2 InLax Score: 53.84 Previous: 8
Virginia won a tight one over St. Joseph’s and then fell short in a comeback against Notre Dame. The big story this week is the loss of James Pannell for the season due to an injury sustained in practice. That will certainly affect the team, but coach Dom Starsia has proven in the past that he can find ways to win without stars. He better do it fast though since he will at best be .500 in the ACC if they can beat Duke and North Carolina to get into the conference tournament. Next up is Hopkins.
10 Army Record: 5-3 InLax Score: 71.85 Previous: 10
Army lost a tough league game to Loyola and let up 12 goals for the second time this season (the other was against Syracuse). Another league game against Lehigh is up next.
11 Cornell Record: 4-2 InLax Score: 55.33 Previous: 13
A dominant 14-7 win over Yale opened up their Ivy League slate. Colgate and Penn are next, which should be very winnable games for the Big Red.
12 Yale Record: 5-1 InLax Score: 59.29 Previous: 7
Yale had their first loss of the season after being overpowered by Cornell. They don’t have too much time to worry about it as next they have to travel to Princeton.
13 Princeton Record: 4-1 InLax Score: 42.92 Previous: 14
They had a solid six point win over Penn this week behind monster games from Kip Orban, Mike MacDonald, and Ryan Ambler, who had nine, nine, and eight points respectively. Rutgers and Yale are next up.
14 Harvard Record: 4-2 InLax Score: 39.69 Previous: 14
They had a great win over Holy Cross and then a bad loss against Brown. Nobody around them did too much themselves, so I’ll give them a little more credit for the win and let them hover.
15 Johns Hopkins Record: 3-4 InLax Score: 36.24 Previous: 12
Johns Hopkins in the first half on Saturday was playing outstanding and was primed for the upset. Their defense did a great job limiting the Orange’s offense. The longer the game went on though, the more Syracuse was able to wear them down. Virginia’s next on the schedule, and they won’t make things any easier on the Blue Jays. Who had them with a losing record halfway through the season?
16 Ohio State Record: 6-2 InLax Score: 62.54 Previous: 19
Well that sure was a marquee win over Denver. With only a few tight losses and the Denver win on their record, keep an eye on the Buckeyes. They could make some serious noise in the B1G.
17 Towson Record: 5-2 InLax Score: 45.45 Previous: 20
A nice win over Hobart this week, but they have two good test coming up with Ohio State and a Binghamton team that has found their sea legs.
18 Villanova Record: 5-2 InLax Score: 45.15 Previous: 15
They split their games this week by beating Lehigh, but only scratching out two goals against Maryland. Fairfield is up next, which they should win.
19 Loyola Record: 4-3 InLax Score: 44.72 Previous: N/A
The Greyhounds had a great win over Army to help them out in the Patriot League standings. Georgetown and Lafayette are up next, and both of those should be wins for Loyola.
20 Navy Record: 5-3 InLax Score: 57.46 Previous: N/A
Navy scored two good wins over Lehigh and Lafayette. Colgate’s up next.
Dropped out: Holy Cross, Colgate
Next five in consideration: Stony Brook, Boston University, Albany, Georgetown, and Richmond
