Syracuse Men's Lacrosse: Orange Sit Tight in Week Three Polls

The three major polls were released on Monday afternoon. The Syracuse Orange stay at #3 and #5 in the Cascade/Maverik Media Poll and the Nike/Lax Magazine Poll while SU moves up one spot to #3 in the Nike/USILA Coaches' Poll. There are a lot of newcomers into this weeks rankings so let's get started.

Once again, the top two spots in the NIKE/USILA Coaches' Poll stay steady. Notre Dame is in the two spot with 12 first place votes and Denver is number one with 11 first place votes. In the ACC, Virginia lost big by falling from #11 to #17 after losing to High Point by one in overtime and then beating Penn 15-10 on Sunday. UVA kicks off ACC play this Friday against ‘Cuse. Syracuse and Carolina gained a spot leaving SU at #3, switching places with Duke, and UNC tied at #9.

The biggest winner of the weekend was once again Hofstra, which beat Princeton in overtime. The Pride were elevated into the top ten to the eighth ranking. Meanwhile, Maryland falls to the ninth position, tied with UNC, after losing to Yale.

Ranked Teams by Conference: ACC (5/5), Ivy (3/7), Big Ten (3/6), Patriot (1/9), Big East (3/6), America East (2/7), Colonial (2/6), Metro Atlantic (0/7), SoCon (0/8), Independent (0/2), Northeast (0/7)

Biggest Movers:

Villanova enters at #14, Hofstra +4

Virginia -6

Exiting the Poll:

Bucknell, Navy, Georgetown

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (15), UVA (17), Johns Hopkins (13), Duke (4), Notre Dame (2), UNC (9)

Rank	School	Points (1st place votes)	Last Week
1	Denver Pioneers	448 (11)	1
2	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	446 (12)	2
3	Syracuse Orange	391	4
4	Duke Blue Devils	389	3
5	Loyola Greyhounds	372	6
6	Yale Bull Dogs	367	7
7	Brown Bears	277	9
8	Hofstra Pride	275	12
T9	Maryland Terrapins	264	5
T9	North Carolina Tar Heels	264	10
11	Towson Tigers	215	13
12	Harvard Crimson	195	14
13	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	180	8
14	Villanova Wildcats	118	N/R
15	Albany Great Danes	110	18
16	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	97	N/R
17	Virginia Cavaliers	95	11
18	Stony Brook Seawolves	58	19
19	Marquette Golden Eagles	40	N/R
20	Penn State Nittany Lions	36	15

Also Receiving Votes: High Point Panthers, Boston University Terriers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Cornell Big Red, Princeton Tigers, Navy Midshipmen, Army Black Knights, Georgetown Hoyas, Bucknell Bison, Colgate Raiders, Lehigh Mountain Hawks

The top three positions in the Cascade/Maverik Media Poll hold steady with Notre Dame, Denver, and the Syracuse Orange staying at one, two, and three respectively. The biggest tumbler was Penn State, which fell to Villanova 9-19 sending them to 3-1 on the season and down to #18.

The Hofstra Pride entered the top ten while Johns Hopkins fell out after a home loss to UNC. The Tar Heels have leveled off at the ten spot. Hopkins has lost two straight after beating Navy in the season opener. The Blue Jays have two tough, but winnable games against Princeton and Towson before hosting Syracuse on March 19. Carolina, on the other hand, won its first two games handedly against very under matched opponents but fell hard against Hofstra, so the win over Hopkins will go a long way when the NCAA Tournament selection time comes around.

This week's poll features four previously unranked squads. Undefeated Rutgers's win over Army looks a lot better after the Black Knights nearly took down Syracuse on Sunday, while Boston University moves to 4-1 after beating Navy. Rutgers is suddenly a contender and won't really be tested until the latter half of the season. Army played Syracuse tight, and it came down to the final shot, which hit the pipe. I don't think it's crazy to say that Army could go on an 8-0 run heading into the final two games against Loyola and Notre Dame.

Ranked Teams by Conference: ACC (5/5), Ivy (3/7), Big Ten (4/6), Patriot (2/9), Colonial (2/6), Big East (3/6), America East (1/7), Metro Atlantic (0/7), SoCon (0/8), Independent (0/2), Northeast (0/7)

Biggest Movers:

Penn State -6

Villanova enters at #15

Exiting the Poll:

Bucknell, Cornell, Georgetown, Navy

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (16), UVA (10), Johns Hopkins (13), Duke (4), Notre Dame (1), UNC (10)

Rank	School	Last Week
1	Notre Dame	1
2	Denver Pioneers	2
3	Syracuse Orange	3
4	Duke Blue Devils	5
5	Loyola Greyhounds	6
6	Yale Bull Dogs	7
7	Brown Bears	T8
8	Maryland Terrapins	4
9	Hofstra Pride	13
10	North Carolina Tar Heels	11
11	Towson Tigers	14
12	Harvard Crimson	15
13	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	T8
14	Virginia Cavaliers	10
15	Villanova Wildcats	N/R
16	Albany Great Danes	18
17	Marquette Golden Eagles	N/R
18	Penn State Nittany Lions	12
19	Rutgers Scarlett Knights	N/R
20	Boston University	N/A

Also Receiving Votes: Stony Brook Seawolves, Cornell Big Red, Ohio State Buckeyes, High Point Panthers, Navy Midshipmen, Georgetown Hoyas, Lehigh Mountain Hawks, Princeton Tigers, Bucknell Bison, Colgate Raiders, Army Black Knights, UMass Minutemen, Air Force Falcons, Bryant Bulldogs

The bottom half of the Nike/Lacrosse Magazine Poll looks completely different this week. The Syracuse Orange remains at #5, and the only real difference amongst ACC teams is Virginia falling from #10 to #13. One of the four programs to enter the poll this week is High Point. The Panthers lost its first three games of the year to Duke, BU, and Maryland, but bounced back to beat Virginia and Robert Morris this week.

The Ivy League won big this week with both Yale and Harvard moving up four positions while Brown picked up one spot. Harvard is 3-0 and has a big matchup this week with Duke. Yale is in a very good position. The Bulldogs took down Maryland 8-5 and will face Bryant this week, but the rest of the schedule looks fairly light.

Ranked Teams by Conference: ACC (5/5), Ivy (3/7), Big Ten (3/6), Big East (3/6), Patriot (2/9), America East (1/7), Colonial (2/6), SoCon (1/8), Metro Atlantic (0/7), Independent (0/2), Northeast (0/7)

Biggest Movers:

Johns Hopkins -4

Yale +4, Harvard +4

Exiting the Poll:

Georgetown, Navy, Penn State, Stony Brook

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (14), UVA (13), Johns Hopkins (11), Duke (3), Notre Dame (1), UNC (10)

Rank	School	Last Week
1	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1
2	Denver Pioneers	2
3	Duke Blue Devils	3
4	Yale Bull Dogs	8
5	Syracuse Orange	5
6	Loyola Greyhounds	6
7	Maryland Terrapins	4
8	Brown Bears	9
9	Hofstra Pride	11
10	North Carolina Tar Heels	12
11	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	7
12	Towson Tigers	13
13	Virginia Cavaliers	10
14	Albany Great Danes	17
15	Marquette Golden Eagles	18
16	Harvard Crimson	20
17	Villanova Wildcats	N/R
18	Boston University Terriers	N/R
19	High Point Panthers	N/R
20	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	N/R

Also Considered (listed alphabetically): Georgetown Hoyas, Lehigh Mountain Hawks, Navy Midshipmen, Ohio State Buckeyes, Princeton Tigers, Stony Brook Seawolves, UMass Minutemen