Following a week of chaos, this past week of club lacrosse brought even more storylines and movement amongst the Varsity Club Lacrosse MCLA Week 6 Rankings. With Georgia Tech now sitting at the top of the MCLA lacrosse throne, can the Yellow Jackets go the distance this year? Can Liberty take down the new No.1 this week? How will Virginia Tech recover from their heartbreaking loss? So many questions with so little answers.
Division I
1. Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets have been in the Top 5 all year, they just needed a chance to prove they were #1. They did just that this weekend when they beat then #1 Virginia Tech at home. They then confirmed they #1 overall by beating one of the best teams on the West Coast, Cal, 16-11.
2. Virginia Tech
Only lost to Georgia Tech by one, which was they’re first lost, so they’re right up there with GT. They also beat Cal by seven really showing that they’re #2.
3. Florida State
Only beat unranked Tennessee by one, and unranked Vanderbilt by two, which doesn’t look to good from a #3. Wins are still wins and they’re still undefeated with a win over #5 Boston College.
4. Liberty
Had the weekend off, but face #1 GT this weekend. They have wins over #19 Colorado, #20 Colorado State, and Temple who just upset SMU. They have also played VT the closest besides GT, only losing by four and leading for some of the game.
5. Boston College
Beat Florida and then took a month off, they then beat #16 UCSB in Santa Barbara and will play Chapman and Southern California this week. Their loss to FSU was only by one so they have the potential to overtake them in the rankings depending on how each of their schedules go.
6. Florida
Beat TCU and WMU at a neutral Florida location. Neither are ranked wins, but they’re still good teams that they beat by a good amount. Only loss is to BC by two which is why they are right behind them. Their six goal win over #13 UGA earlier in the season keeps looking better.
7. Concordia
The loss to Cal definitely hurt them a lot, but since then they beat Cal Poly by 19 and #16 UCSB by five, and now play #25 South Carolina on Tuesday. They beat #12 BYU by eight earlier in the year, which is looking really good right now.
8. Chapman
They beat a good Clemson team by five over the weekend, but the really reason they moved up is because of #9 Northeastern, a team they beat, beat Arizona and Arizona State in back to back days.
9. Northeastern
Flew across the country to play back-to-back games outside after playing every game inside domes in Minnesota and Massachusetts. They came away with a big win over #10 Arizona and an OT win over an unranked, but very good ASU team. These will probably end up being some of the top road wins any team has.
10. Arizona
Lost their first game to Northeastern at home by three, but followed it up with an 11 goal win against a good Southern California team. They have a win over #11 Cal and all but one of their remaining games are against ranked opponents.
11. Cal
They have two huge wins (#7 CUI, and #8 Chapman), but also two losses keeping them from being higher (#10 Arizona and #16 UCSB). This weekend they faced #1 GT and #2 VT in Atlanta, two games they ultimately lost, but they kept it relatively close.
12. BYU
An eight goal loss is never good to have on your schedule, but it’s looking better now that CUI is moving up. They have wins against UCLA, USC, ASU, GCU, and Michigan State. All unranked teams, but all some of the best unranked teams. They host Boise State and UNH this weekend.
13. Georgia
Didn’t play this past weekend, and won’t play this upcoming weekend. They have wins over Clemson and Auburn, two unranked, but rising teams. They don’t get to the tougher games of their schedule until late March/April.
14. Utah Valley
The Wolverines beat Oregon State by ten to move to 5-0. Their only ranked win is #25 South Carolina, but they have a good chance to prove themselves this weekend against USC and GCU.
15. San Diego State
Beat UCSB to get their first ranked win, and third road win to move to 4-0. The Aztecs will look to keep it going this weekend against UCLA.
16. UC Santa Barbara
Started off strong, but now have three straight losses to #7 CUI, #5 BC, and #15 SDSU, all three close losses to very good teams. They also still have a win over #11 Cal keeping them ranked this high and a chance to redeem themselves this weekend against Santa Clara.
17. Boise State
Move to 4-0 with a 14-5 win over Nevada. A team that has been doubted a lot will have a chance to really prove themselves when they play BYU in Provo this weekend. They also play a very good DII in College of Idaho a couple days before.
18. LSU
Beat Ole Miss by six, and then a very good Kansas team by one. They are 8-0 overall and are looking like the favorites in the LSA so far, however they still need to play SMU and Texas to get there.
19. Colorado
Beat a solid Texas A&M team by four and will host UNH this upcoming weekend. Losses to VT and GT aren’t looking as bad.
20. Colorado State
Have played the exact schedule, and have had almost the exact results as Colorado, but will play Florida instead of UNH this weekend, which should give a better look at where the team is at.
21. Simon Fraser
Beat their rival #24 Oregon in OT over the weekend to move to 3-0. They have a couple weekends off before going to Provo to play BYU.
22. Pitt
5-0 with no ranked wins, but all over solid opponents and they’re still undefeated. Biggest win is against #5 Penn State (NCLL). In two weekends they face a huge test when they play UGA and FSU in Athens.
23. Cal Poly
The Mustangs are 4-2 with wins over #24 Oregon and #25 South Carolina. They also have a seven goal loss to unranked USC and a 19 point loss to CUI, which is definitely keeping them this low. They play at #8 Chapman this weekend.
24. Oregon
Two wins over Dominican and Arizona State and two over losses to #21 SFU and #23 Cal Poly meaning they could easily be 4-0 and ranked a lot higher. They host Washington State and Texas State next.
25. South Carolina
The best 1-5 team out there. They have losses to #6 Florida by one, #3 FSU by two, #1 GT by five, #16 UVU by one, and now #23 Cal Poly by one. They’re next four games are against #7, #8, #2, #5, so they have plenty of chances to redeem themselves.
Division II
1. Rhode Island
Beat Maine this weekend and have ranked wins over #10 Kennesaw State and #18 Miami. They have a huge game this weekend against #6 GVSU, which will be the Lakers first weekend of games.
2. St. Thomas
Lost to #4 Montana by two, but beat #3 Montana State by four. They have the entire month of March off and then play #8 Missouri State and #5 GVSU he first weekend of April.
3. Montana State
Beat #4 Montana to win their sixth straight Copper Cup. They are 3-1 and play #21 NDSU and MSU Denver this weekend.
4. Montana
They’re 6-1 with a win over #2 St. Thomas and a loss to #3 Montana State. They’ll play #21 NDSU and MSU Denver this weekend as well.
5. Charlotte
Have only played two games, both unranked, but they won both by a decent amount. First ranked game will be FGCU on the last week of March
6. Grand Valley State
The Lakers haven’t played a game yet, but we’re keeping with their Week 0 ranking. They will travel to New England to play #1 Rhode Island and #25 Bridgewater State this weekend.
7. San Marcos
They beat San Diego 26-9 and Long Beach State 30-4. Their preseason win over DI #16 San Diego State is looking better and better each week.
8. Missouri State
The Bears beats #15 Dayton, #16 FAU, and #21 NDSU in the span of two days. A weekend opening weekend for them, but I also don’t know how to justify ranking them higher than every other team when they don’t have any common opponents.
9. Utah State
Now 5-0 in DII with one ranked win over #24 Northwest Nazarene. They’ll play another ranked opponent in #17 Saint John’s this week.
10. Kennesaw State
Beat then ranked Georgia Southern by 10 over the weekend. They have two ranked wins, but a loss to #1 URI which is holding them back from being higher.
11. UC San Diego
This weekend they beat UC Irvine 29-1 for their 3rd straight 20+ point game. They have ranked wins over #23 College of Idaho and #24 Northwest Nazarene.
12. Florida Gulf Coast
Beat #18 Miami by eight in their first DII game. Could have them higher, but again every team above them is also winning so it’s tough to justify moving them over any of them.
13. Wake Forest
Had the weekend off, but are still 5-0 including a ranked win over #16 FAU.
14. Air Force
Blew out UTSA in their 4th 20+ point game, with their other win being 19-8. Their only loss is #7 San Marcos.
15. Dayton
Beat #16 FAU by two, but lost in OT to #8 Missouri State in their first weekend of games. Have the next two weekends off before playing NDSU and GVSU.
16. FAU
4-3 with a ranked win over #21 NDSU, three ranked losses by two points are less to #8 Missouri State, #15 Dayton, and #13 Wake Forest, so they could easily be 7-0 with four ranked wins.
17. Saint John’s
The Johnnies are now 3-0 with a ranked win over #24 NNU and will now play #9 Utah State this week.
18. Miami
Miami is 5-3, with losses to DI FSU, #1 URI and #12 FGCU. They no longer have ranked win after Georgia Southern dropped out. They only have two games left against Minnesota Duluth and Florida Atlantic.
19. Northern Arizona
Beat Southern Utah 31-3 and Fort Lewis 10-5. These are the only games the Lumberjacks have played so it’s still kinda hard to judge them. They play #7 San Marcos next week.
20. UC Davis
Another team that’s only played two games so it’s hard to know how good they really are. They’ll play their second DI game this weekend against Sonoma State.
21. North Dakota State
Lost to Missouri State and FAU, but finished the weekend with a solid win over Drury.
22. Western Washington
Got their fifth win of the season this week against Gonzaga. Their only losses are to DI Washington State, and #4 Montana. They are looking like a sleep team to win PNCLL DII.
23. College of Idaho
1-2 record, but two losses are one goal each to #9 Utah State and #11 UCSD. Their next game is against DI Boise State.
24. Northwest Nazarene
Lost back to back games against #17 Saint John’s and #8 Utah State. They have a chance to redeem themselves against Humboldt and Central Washington this weekend.
25. Bridgewater State
Had a solid comeback to tie NCAA DIII Mass Maritime in a scrimmage. They’ll play their first DII game this weekend against #6 GVSU.