College Crosse 2017 Power Rankings: Final Edition

And so we’ve come to an end. The season is over, and that means we have the final Power Rankings of 2017.

It’s pretty simple. Just like with most of this past season, I’m ranking every team in Division I. We also plan on dissecting each team later in the summer, so this will be the definitive list we’ll go by when recapping each team.

For one last time, let’s get to those rankings!

1. Maryland - They won the entire thing for once!
2. Ohio State - It was a very historic season for the Buckeyes, as they made their first ever appearance in the National Championship game.
3. Denver - Trevor “Beast” Baptiste was a Tewaaraton finalist this year and probably their best player, and Ethan Walker is a talented young attackman.
4. Towson - Their death trap defense helped them get to their first Final Four since 2001, but the Buckeyes got in the way in the second half.
5. Syracuse - They loved to play in one-goal games, but Towson wasn’t having any of that in the quarterfinals.
6. Albany - An unbelievable First Round crowd was then followed by a beatdown from Maryland, but they’ll be really good next year.
7. Duke - The Blue Devils got a lot out of their young talent in 2017, and most of them will be back in 2018, with the exception of Jack Bruckner, Danny Fowler, and Kyle Rowe.
8. Yale - After an early season bump, the Elis and Ben Reeves got back to the potential that many thought of them at the start of the season.
9. Notre Dame - Injuries again derailed their chance to win a National Championship, but their entire attack unit will return in 2018.
10. Penn State - A high-powered offense and plenty of freshmen give the folks up in Happy Valley some hope for 2018.
11. Loyola - Pat Spencer will be a junior next year, that is all.
12. Johns Hopkins - First, they lost to unranked Princeton on the road, 18-7, and then lost to unseeded Duke a home, 19-6.
13. North Carolina - This might be the highest-ranked .500 team in the history of final polls.
14. Rutgers - Some say they got screwed for the second straight year, but others say they didn’t appreciate #WhitneyInOT and they got cursed because of it.
15. Army West Point - So close to making the NCAA Tournament, but it was too late, even with a win against Notre Dame.
16. Marquette - A surprise Big East title for the second straight year after what should have been a down season for the Golden Eagles.
17. Air Force - Seems like they’re the only team that can beat Richmond in SoCon play, and they had a goalie change midway through the season.
18. Providence - A nice surprise to see the Friars be a very good team, but they lose a big part of their defense in stud Jarrod Neumann.
19. Bryant - They sure know how to make games boring, but they can play with nearly anyone in the nation when they can get going.
20. Monmouth - First MAAC title with a talented group of seniors, but how will they be with them all gone in 2018?
21. Brown - Bruno got better as the season went on, but have to find replacements for Dylan Molloy and Larken Kemp.
22. Hofstra - Once they got to CAA play (again), they melted, capped off by giving up a buzzer-beating goal to UMass in the CAA semifinals.
23. Villanova - The ‘Cats have some stability in defense and in goal for once, but replacing some of their offense might be a challenge.
24. Boston University - BU made their first Patriot League Tournament, but still don’t know how to beat Army.
25. Princeton - The Tigers have some incredible young talent such as Michael Sowers and Arman Medghalchi back for 2018, but have some big losses in Zach Currier and Gavin McBride.
26. Richmond - Dan Chemotti’s crew had a top-notch defense and competed against three ACC schools, but they couldn’t get past Air Force.
27. Binghamton - A remarkable year for the Bearcats thanks to seniors Tom Moore and Tanner Cosens, but how will they respond in 2018?
28. Penn - The Quakers showed some signs of promise again this season, but they need to be consistent in 2018.
29. Virginia - At least the Cavaliers got above .500 and have Michael Kraus and Dox Aitken, so how do they build on that small success?
30. Marist - The Red Foxes have been consistently good in terms of MAAC teams and should still be good in 2018, even with the loss of J.D. Recor, who was drafted in the MLL Collegiate Draft.
31. Hobart - After beating host St. Joe’s in the NEC title game last year, the Statesmen were the host in this year’s game, only to lose to Bryant in a very exciting 5-4 final.
32. Sacred Heart - If freshman keeper Brooks Dutton was healthy late into the season, the Pioneers might have won the NEC title.
33. Stony Brook - After a hot start, the Seawolves cooled down considerably in the second half of the season.
34. Robert Morris - The Colonials had a very good offense, but it was stymied against Bryant in the NEC semifinals.
35. Cornell - Jeff Teat and Connor Fletcher stood out, but can Peter Milliman turn the program around in 2018?
36. Drexel - The other team from University City had one really good win, and that was against Hofstra.
37. UMBC - Year one of the Ryan Moran era saw some success, including a trip back to the America East Tournament.
38. Navy - An injury-ridden season cost the Mids a possible Patriot League championship.
39. Harvard - After a 4-0 start, the Crimson lost seven of their final nine games, plus assistant coaches Eric Wolf left and Ben DeLuca became the new head coach at Delaware.
40. Delaware - DeLuca will inherit a good crop of young talent, especially on offense and in goal.
41. Michigan - They’re still the worst team in the Big Ten.
42. UMass - The Minutemen pulled out one of the best finishes in the 2017 season against Hofstra, but were subpar for the majority of the season.
43. Fairfield - High expectations came crashing down for the Stags, especially with sophomore Colin Burke.
44. Furman - After a bad start in nonconference play, Richie Meade’s squad surprised many in the SoCon, and have two talented freshmen that will be back in 2018.
45. Holy Cross - Somehow the Crusaders come to play against Patriot League foes after doing nearly nothing during their nonconference schedule.
46. Lehigh - Can’t overlook their sophomore class going into 2018, a similar story that Penn has as well.
47. Bucknell - A season filled with promise turned into a disaster, and they missed out on the Patriot League Tournament.
48. Vermont - The Catamounts had a down year, but we should have some expectations for them in 2018 with the return of Ian MacKay.
49. Colgate - The Raiders have some underclassmen that can make their mark in 2018, but they need to find a solid replacement for Brandon Burke in goal.
50. Hartford - After winning the America East in 2016, the Hawks missed out on the AE Tournament in 2017.
51. St. Joe’s - The injury to Mike Rastivo didn’t help the usually dominant Hawks, who floundered this season and missed out on the NEC Tournament.
52. Georgetown - That really good 2015 season seemed like eternities ago.
53. Canisius - Buffalo’s team did finish third in the MAAC, but will need to pick up production to improve in 2018, especially without Jeff Edwards at midfield.
54. Jacksonville - It looked like John Galloway’s first year as head coach would end up with zero wins, but a late run resulted in a surprise appearance in the SoCon Tournament.
55. Mount St. Mary’s - Another lackluster year for the Mountaineers, but they return a good chunk of their scoring from last season.
56. Bellarmine - The Knights just needed to beat Jacksonville to make it to the SoCon Tournament and they blew that game.
57. Wagner - WAAAAAGGGGGNNNNEEEERRR finished with a 6-9 record, but should try and challenge themselves with their schedule in 2018.
58. UMass Lowell - Even though they finished at 4-12 for the second straight season, the Riverhawks took another step forward in their third year of Division I play.
59. Detroit Mercy - Even though the Titans made it to the MAAC Tournament, they did lose to Cleveland State in the regular season finale.
60. Siena - The Saints made a huge run late and had a good lead against Marist in the regular season finale and looked like they would make it to the MAAC Tournament, but they blew that lead and game.
61. Mercer - The Bears have some talented young players on their team, such as Lucas Wittenberg and goaltender Bradley Hodoval for 2018 that could take them a step forward.
62. High Point - I thought this would be a team that would be in the SoCon Tournament, but a 4-10 season proved me wrong.
63. Cleveland State - Shoutout to the Vikings on a successful first year, and definitely have a bright future ahead of them.
64. Quinnipiac - A moment of silence for Safe putting them in his preseason top 20 and thinking they’d win the MAAC again.
65. Manhattan - The Jaspers don’t lose a ton of important parts, and still have Parker Giarratana for two more seasons.
66. Lafayette - They’re still the worst team in the Patriot League, and change needs to come very soon.
67. Dartmouth - Should they bring back Andy Towers as head coach?
68. St. John’s - Imagine if they didn’t edge Siena by a goal...they’d be winless.
69. VMI - The Keydets beat NJIT (by one) and Hampton (still coming along) for their two wins this year, which doesn’t say a lot.
70. NJIT - The Highlanders defeated Hampton (still coming along) for their only win of 2017, and they’ve lost a few guys along the way, notable Zachary Melillo (Marquette after 2015) and Joe Lomeli (Wagner after 2016).
71. Hampton - They’re still a work in progress after their second full season in the NCAA.

If you decided to skip the small explanations for each team above, here’s a table for ya.