This Week in College Lacrosse: Rankings for April 15, 2013

Good to see you again, old friend: Chaos! You're back! We'd missed you! Last week's #1 (Maryland) and #2 (Cornell) are probably slightly less enthused you chose this week to return. The Terps picked a bad week to lay an egg on offense, dropping a 7-4 intra-Maryland showdown against Johns Hopkins and falling three spots to #4. The five-place fall for Cornell is more surprising in some respects, especially since...

Red and orange don't go together: ...Cornell's loss came in the best game of the week. In a Wednesday night game, the Big Red held a one- or two-goal lead for most of the game before the Orange took a 12-11 lead in the fourth quarter. With five minutes left, Kevin Rice put Syracuse up two, a margin that barely withstood a late-game onslaught from Cornell. 'Cuse ultimately survived when Connor English's shot pinged off the crossbar with just seconds remaining. With the loss, Cornell fell to 10-2 on the year, while Syracuse improved to 9-2 with the win.

One's enough: One-goal games and late comebacks were the order of the week. Syracuse struggled to get back up after the Cornell win, needing 7 fourth-quarter goals to beat Rutgers 12-11. Harvard beat Penn in overtime, as did Denver over Loyola. Dartmouth edged Princeton and Drexel snuck past an upset-minded UMass squad. Hobart clipped Bellarmine in double-OT. And Quinnipiac nipped Sacred Heart in the third extra period; a classic "love of the game" affair, with both teams languishing below .500 for the year.

Danes still Great: The high-octane Albany Great Danes avoided the accursed touch that permeated the Top 20, picking up a 21-11 win over Vermont and continuing their rise. The Thompson brothers, Lyle and Ty, combined for 10 goals in the win. With 191 points already (more than 15 per game) and three games remaining, the Danes are on pace to score more points than 10 D1 football teams did in 2012. Sorry, Idaho Vandals.

Tewaaraton candidates not named Rob Pannell: As stated previously, the men's Tewaaraton is Rob Pannell's until someone snatches it from him. So far, no one has made a particularly compelling case. The aforementioned Lyle Thompson has the stats, but faces the "product of the system" trappings. Colgate's Peter Baum is out to defend his 2012 award, but his team is having a fairly mediocre season at 8-4. The most realistic challenger is probably UNC-Chapel Hill's do-everything Marcus Holman: statistically neck and neck with Pannell, and the Tar Heels have led a fairly charmed life as the season has run its course. If Holman leads Carolina deep into May, he'll certainly solidify his case, especially if Cornell gets bit by the chaos bug and exits the tournament early.

What's next: Denver defends its new #1 ranking against Fairfield on Saturday. Penn looks to strengthen its tournament resume in a tough Ivy League clash with Dartmouth. Albany's blitzkrieg takes on UMBC, one of the country's most porous defenses. Virginia will be mathematically eliminated from the NCAA Tournament with a loss at home to Bellarmine. And Michigan and VMI each look for their first win of the year, against St. Joe's and Manhattan, respectively.

USILA Top Ten for 4/15/13

1. Denver (10-2)
2. UNC-Chapel Hill (9-3)
3. Notre Dame (9-2)
4. Maryland (8-2)
   
5. Syracuse (9-2)
6. Duke (10-4)
7. Cornell (10-2)
8. Loyola (9-3)
9. Penn State (9-3)
10. Albany (9-3)
    Virginia: Stop it, that's not funny. Stop laughing. Now it's just mean. (5-7)