After an 11-10 victory over No. 14 Notre Dame (1-1) on Saturday, the men’s lacrosse team (1-0) found itself in a tie for the No. 6 spot in the first week of the USILA Division I Coaches’ Poll.
Cornell is in a dead heat at No. 6 with a Maryland team that is 1-1 after beating No. 11 Georgetown, 13-6, to open its season, and falling to No. 4 Duke, 10-8, on Saturday.
Leading the way in the poll was Johns Hopkins, which took 9-of-10 first-place votes and was 12 total votes ahead of No. 2 Navy — the only other team with a first place vote. The Blue Jays currently stand at 2-0 after a pair of 9-6 victories over UMBC and Princeton, while the Midshipmen are 3-0 on the season after wins over Providence, No. 19 Ohio State, and No. 10 North Carolina.
Rounding out the top five are Virginia at No. 3, the Blue Devils, and No. 5 Syracuse. Cornell is the highest ranked Ivy League squad in the poll, with Princeton (0-1) in the No. 8 spot and Brown (1-0) at No. 16, while both Dartmouth and Harvard received the most amount of votes out of teams not ranked in the top-20. The Red will face the Crimson, Green, Tigers, and Bears four consecutive Saturdays beginning April 9.
After Princeton comes No. 9 Towson (3-0) and then a pair of one-loss teams — North Carolina and Georgetown. The Tar Heels dropped to Navy, while the Hoyas lost to the Terrapins in their season-opener, but rebounded to beat St. John’s, 16-6. Rounding out the top 15 are Rutgers (1-0), UMass (2-0), the Fighting Irish (1-1), and Army (1-1).
Coming after Brown in the rankings are Hobart and Penn State in a tie for No. 17, the Buckeyes, and Villanova at the No. 20 spot.
The immidiate road ahead for the Red will be filled with some of the best competition in the country, as it will face two ranked opponents in its next three games — the No. 15 Black Knights and the 10th-ranked Tar Heels, before traveling to No. 5 Orange on April 12.
Archived article by Christopher Mascaro
Sun Sports Editor