After an eventful Week 2 of MCLA lacrosse, the Varsity Club Lacrosse boys are breaking down their rankings for Week 3. These rankings are separate from what we see in the MCLA Coaches’ Poll.
Division I
1. South Carolina
Beat James Madison at home 11-5. Can’t move the number #1 team down until they lose, even if their wins are kinda close.
2. Virginia Tech
Another weekend of dominating teams after beating ECU 18-5 and Miami (OH) 17-2. They beat Auburn by more than Georgia Tech did and Georgia Tech beat James Madison by more than South Carolina, so could argue they should be one. However, like just stated you can’t move #1 team down before they lose.
3. Concordia Irvine
After beating BYU 18-10, Concordia Irvine could also be ranked #1 in this lacrosse ranking. Ranking them third only because USC is staying #1 and VT has common opponents with USC to make a case for them to be #1. Tough to tell since they don’t have a common opponent with either team, but just think of them as tied for 1st at this point.
4. Georgia Tech
Only beat Auburn by three after VT beat them by 15, but also beat James Madison 17-1 after USC beat them by 6 and were tied for a lot of the game, so this makes it pretty hard. Can also just think of them as tied for 1st, it’s just still too early to separate the teams.
5. Liberty
They beat Temple 19-7 and NC State 17-7. The Flames play Virginia Tech at home this Saturday which should give a better idea of how the rankings should look.
6. Brigham Young
Beat UCLA 16-5, USC 14-7, and then lost to Concordia 18-10. Losing by eight isn’t a good look, but considering it was their third game in 4 days while on an out-of-state road trip doesn’t make it look as bad. They don’t play again until 3/2 against Arizona State.
7. Arizona
They beat Texas Tech 27-1 over the weekend. Will play UCLA and Cal in the PAC-12 Shootout this weekend.
8. Grand Canyon
Will play their first game this weekend against Northern Arizona.
9. Northeastern
The Huskies beat DII Runner Up Rhode Island at home 18-12 and will travel to Minnesota to play the Gophers as well as Chapman this weekend to start off a tough stretch of out of conference games.
10. Arizona State
They travel to San Diego to play SDSU then up to Westwood to play Oregon at the Pac-12 Shootout.
11. Florida State
Patrick Dickson’s 1st win comes against #8 Boston College 11-10, followed by a 28-3 win over Central Florida. They play South Carolina this Saturday at home.
12. Oregon
After starting the season unranked they beat #13 Dominican at home and look to stay hot this weekend against Cal Poly and Arizona State at the Pac-12 Shootout.
13. Boston College
Lost to unranked Florida State by one, but followed it up with a two goal win over Florida in Gainesville. The Eagles get a week off before flying out to play UC Santa Barbara and Chapman in California.
14. Florida
Had a 19-6 win over DII North Florida to move to 3-0, before dropping a close one to BC at home. They look to bounce back this weekend against South Carolina and Auburn.
15. Dominican
After beating Oregon State 19-7, they traveled up to Eugene where they lost to the Ducks 18-12. This weekend they have a huge conference game at home against UCSB.
16. Chapman
Grit team of the week for traveling all the way to Minnesota to play the Gophers as well as Northeastern for their first games of the season.
17. Colorado
The Buffs host former Big 12 rival Nebraska at home this weekend before traveling to VA to play Virginia Tech and Liberty in two weeks.
18. Texas
Beat a solid Southwestern (NCAA DIII) team so moving up slightly. They will play their first game this Sunday against Texas A&M.
19. Colorado State
Dropped a tough one to NCAA DIII Colorado College, but get to stay home and play Nebraska this weekend.
20. UC Santa Barbara
Started off unranked, but are slowly moving up after beating Cal and UCLA. They faceoff against Dominican and Sonoma State which are both must wins in what could be a tight WCLL race.
21. Utah Valley
Beat DII Utah State 22-7 and have a big scrimmage against NCAA DII Westminster this weekend.
22. Louisiana State
Another team that started unranked and is slowly moving up. They beat Texas State to get their 2nd conference win and have this weekend off.
23. Southern California
Dropped a midweek game to BYU 14-7, but recovered with a 13-8 win over Sonoma State. They have Oregon State and Utah this weekend in the Pac-12 Shootout.
24. Georgia
Dawgs got a huge 23-9 win over Auburn then beat Clemson 9-8 to move to 3-1 on the year. This weekend they head to Oxford to play Ole Miss and a New Hampshire team that could be breaking into the rankings soon.
25. Boise State
They haven’t played yet and started ranked so just staying at #25. First game is Saturday at home.
Division II
1. St. Thomas
The DI win over Minnesota earned them the number one spot after Rhode Island lost to DI Northeastern. They don’t play until 2/25 when they head to ND to meet Montana and Montana State.
2. Rhode Island
Moved them down to two just because of the 18-12 loss to DI Northeastern, but they’re still right up there with UST. They head down to Alabama this weekend to play Miami, North Texas, Kennesaw State, and Rice in the span of two days.
3. Montana
Have their first games this weekend against Pacific Lutheran, Western Washington, and Central Washington, all three are conference games.
4. Charlotte
The 49ers will have their first DII game this weekend against Southern Connecticut State at home.
5. Grand Valley State
The Lakers still don’t play until 3/9 so just staying where they are for now.
6. San Marcos
They play their first DII game against #18 Air Force at home.
7. Missouri State
Another team that just hasn’t played yet. First weekend of March the Bears host North Dakota State and Dayton.
8. Utah State
Dropped a tough one to DI Utah Valley, but get to play their first DII game against COI, before playing another DI opponent in Boise State.
9. Kennesaw State
Another team that starts their season in Alabama, they’ll play their four games against Dallas Baptist, Rice, Rhode Island, and East Texas Baptist.
10. Florida Gulf Coast
The Eagles play South Florida this weekend, and don’t play a DII game until March 5th against Miami.
11. North Dakota State
Start off their season with a conference game against Duluth in Minneapolis.
12. Montana State
Have played a game yet, so they keep the #1 spot. Their first game is 2/10 against James Madison at home, and their first ranked game is Florida on 2/17. They got new helmets that look cool.
13. Florida Atlantic
After beating DI Central Florida, they get to play two DII teams in Wake Forest and the Citadel in the Carolinas.
14. UC San Diego
Had two ranked wins this past weekend of Northwest Nazarene and College of Idaho so probably should have moved them up more, but I’ll get them this week.
15. College of Idaho
Beat a solid Claremont team 19-7, before falling to a very good UCSD team 9-8. They get a chance to bounce back this week at home against Utah State.
16. Duluth
Lost to Minnesota 20-9, but started their DII schedule this weekend against conference opponent North Dakota State.
17. Dayton
Another team that just hasn’t played yet so can’t get an accurate ranking of them. I did hear from an unnamed UMLC DII coach that they are a Top 5 team this year. They’ll be able to back that up on March 3rd and 4th when they play Drury and Missouri State in SpringVegas.
18. Air Force
Made the most movement in the rankings after beating NCAA DII Adams State. They now get to play two ranked DII teams in Loyola Marymount and San Marcos this weekend.
19. Wake Forest
Wake Forest won their third straight CLC DII game against App State and have a huge OOC game this weekend against FAU.
20. UC Davis
Haven’t played since February 4th and won’t play again until March 5th when they play WCLL foe Saint Mary’s.
21. Miami
Had the past weekend off, but will get three games in this weekend against Rhode Island, North Texas, and Texas A&M (DII).
22. Georgia Southern
Dropped one in OT to DI Vanderbilt, but go back to DII play this weekend against Elon.
23. Northern Arizona
Have played a game yet, so they keep the #1 spot. Their first game is 2/10 against James Madison at home, and their first ranked game is Florida on 2/17. They got new helmets that look cool.
24. Northwest Nazarene
Lost their first game to UCSD 14-8, but recovered with a 13-11 win over Claremont the next day. Have a conference game against Idaho and an OCC game against Chico State this weekend.
25. Loyola Marymount
Have dominated so far, beating Long Beach 17-5 and Moorpark 17-0. They get a good test this weekend against Air Force and San Diego.
