Syracuse Lacrosse: Across the Polls

After a win over the Binghamton Bearcats, the Syracuse Orange find themselves in relatively the same position. SU moved up one spot in the Cascade/Maverik Media Poll to #7, stayed steady at #8 in the USILA/NIKE Coaches' Poll, and moved down one spot to #9 in the Nike/Lacrosse Magazine Poll. The ACC still has four of its five teams represented in all three rankings. Notre Dame fell out of the first spot in all three polls after losing to UNC. The Tar Heels are now in the top ten of all three polls. After a 16-1 demolition of Marquette last week, Duke finds itself spread out between the 10 and 14 positions in the polls. Virginia, meanwhile, continues to be left out of the rankings but received votes in all three. The Cavaliers had an 8-7 win at Georgetown last week to bring the program to 7-7 on the year.

The Army Black Knights fell out of every poll this week after losing to Loyola 6-12. Army will likely need to win the AQ to make the NCAA Tournament. The Greyhounds, however, didn't move at all in any of the polls.

Hopkins now has three straight Big Ten wins after a 19-13 win at Michigan last week. Rutgers also sits at 3-1 in the Big Ten and beat Penn State this past week and continues its rise up the rankings. On the other side, the Nittany Lions are now 1-3 in conference play and find themselves on the fringe of all of the polls. Penn State is likely another team that will have to win out to make the tourney. Maryland is the fourth Big Ten program ranked. The Terps have been on an impressive run and are playing extremely well. UMD has strung together ten straight wins for an overall 11-2 record. One more regular season game versus Hopkins remains before the conference tournament.

Denver put a beat down on Providence and regains the number one spot in each poll other than the Lacrosse Magazine rankings. The Pios are 11-1 on the season with Penn State as its only loss. Villanova and Marquette are the only other Big East squads in the rankings and both sit towards the bottom of all three polls.

USILA/NIKE Coaches' Poll

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

Biggest Movers:

North Carolina +5

Marquette -4

Exiting the Poll:

Army

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (5), Johns Hopkins (9), Duke (13), Notre Dame (4), UNC (11)

Rank	School	Last Week
1	Denver Pioneers	2
2	Brown Bears	3
3	Maryland Terrapins	5
4	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1
5	Albany Great Danes	6
6	Yale Bulldogs	4
7	Navy Midshipmen	7
8	Syracuse Orange	8
9	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	11
10	Loyola Greyhounds	9
11	North Carolina Tar Heels	16
12	Towson Tigers	10
13	Duke Blue Devils	13
14	Air Force Falcons	12
15	Stony Brook Seawolves	14
16	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	19
17	Villanova Wildcats	18
18	Penn State Nittany Lions	17
19	Marquette Golden Eagles	15
20	Bucknell Bison	N/R

Also Receiving Votes: Bryant Bulldogs, Penn Quakers, Army Black Knights, High Point Panthers, Richmond Spiders, Virginia Cavaliers

Cascade/Maverik Media Poll

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

Biggest Movers:

Notre Dame, Marquette -3

North Carolina, Rutgers +3

Exiting the Poll:

Army

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (5), Johns Hopkins (8), Duke (14) Notre Dame (4), UNC (10)

Rank	School	Last Week
1	Denver Pioneers	2
2	Brown Bears	3
3	Maryland Terrapins	5
4	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1
5	Albany Great Danes	6
6	Yale Bulldogs	4
7	Syracuse Orange	8
8	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	10
9	Navy Midshipmen	7
10	North Carolina Tar Heels	13
T11	Loyola Greyhounds	11
T11	Air Force Falcons	9
13	Towson Tigers	12
14	Duke Blue Devils	16
15	Stony Brook Seawolves	14
16	Rutgers Scarlett Knights	19
17	Villanova Wildcats	18
18	Marquette Golden Eagles	15
19	Penn State Nittany Lions	17
20	Bryant Bulldogs	N/R

Also Receiving Votes: Bucknell Bison, Hofstra Pride, Army Black Knights, Penn Quakers, Virginia Cavaliers

Nike/Lacrosse Magazine Poll

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

Biggest Movers:

Penn State, Yale -3

North Carolina, Rutgers +3

Exiting the Poll:

Cornell, Saint Joseph's

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (5), Johns Hopkins (13), Duke (10), Notre Dame (3), UNC (6)

Rank	School	Last Week
1	Brown Bears	2
2	Denver Pioneers	3
3	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1
4	Maryland Terrapins	5
5	Albany Great Danes	6
6	North Carolina Tar Heels	9
7	Yale Bulldogs	4
8	Navy Midshipmen	7
9	Syracuse Orange	8
10	Duke Blue Devils	10
11	Towson Tigers	11
12	Loyola Greyhounds	12
13	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	13
14	Air Force Falcons	15
15	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	18
16	Villanova Wildcats	17
17	Penn State Nittany Lions	14
18	Marquette Golden Eagles	16
19	Bucknell Bison	NR
20	Stony Brook Seawolves	NR

Also Considered (listed alphabetically): Army Black Knights, Bryant Bulldogs, Fairfield Stags, Hofstra Pride, Lehigh Mountain Hawks, Penn Quakers, Richmond Spiders, Virginia Cavaliers

Syracuse will play North Carolina on Friday at 6 PM in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Kennesaw, GA. The game can be seen on ESPNU and heard on TK99. Of course you can follow me @Orangelax for updates.