Terps Climb to #4 in the Polls

After defeating Navy 11-9 on Saturday, the Terps jumped Princeton and rose to #4 in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike Division 1 Poll.

Every team in top 20 of the Coaches Poll remained ranked after this past weekend. The coaches of D-1 Lacrosse think that the ACC is very deserving of it's prestigious reputation. UVA is still the unanimous #1 team in the nation, while UNC fell 1 spot to #3, followed by your Maryland Terrapins and then the Duke Blue Devils (Duke is #6 in the Nike Poll, just behind Princeton, which fell to Syracuse in the Big City Classic. However, although the Big east and ACC dominate the 60-team field in Division 1 Men's Lacrosse, they do not receive automatic bids for the 16-team NCAA tournament. Georgetown, which Maryland beat 15-13 earlier this year, rose to #8 to compliment the Orange who are looking to defend their national title from a year ago.

Virginia and North Carolina battled it out in a defensive chess-match with Steele Stanwick leading the way for the Cavaliers, scoring 3 goals and notching 1 assist, in the 7-5 UVA victory. Keep track of the injury to Sean Delaney and Thomas Wood for the Tar Heels who have been battling injuries all season long (remember that All-American Billy Bitter did not play against the Terrapins when UNC beat Maryland 9-7 earlier this season).

Maryland's next opponent, Johns Hopkins, is ranked #16 in the Nike Poll and #15 by the coaches. At 5-5 this year, the Blue Jays are in need of a huge win against Maryland, and they should play better than their .500 record this Saturday in a prime-time showdown with their biggest in-state rival. The Terps must bring their A-game.

Will Yeatman broke his thumb during practice last Monday and wasn't on the sidelines for the win against Navy. The attackman/midfielder needed surgery to repair his thumb, including seven screws and a surgically inserted plate. Thank you to the Diamondback's Kate Yanchulis for that information in the Monday edition of the Diamondback.