College Crosse 2018 Power Rankings: Week 1

Despite more than half of college lacrosse not playing yet, that doesn’t mean we can’t update our Power Rankings!

Many teams did not play, so we won’t update their description from last week.

Without further ado, here’s our first regular season edition of the Power Rankings!

1. Duke (Last Week: 1) - They were firing on offense and defense, but Brian Smyth has to do better than 9-of-21 from the face-off X.
2. Albany (LW: 2) - This could be the best Great Dane team in program history, and it doesn’t even include the Thompsons.
3. Denver (LW: 3) - They’re gonna get a bunch of extra possessions, thanks to Trevor Baptiste, and should convert on many of them.
4. Maryland (LW: 4) - The “attacking” national champions lose their entire starting attack and a Tewaaraton winner, but have plenty of young players ready to fill their spots.
5. Yale (LW: 5) - The Elis have a stud in Ben Reeves, but need to find a consistent goalie with Phil Huffard gone, and it might be Brody Wilson.
6. Notre Dame (LW: 6) - At least Ryder Garnsey didn’t leave, but the Irish have some shoes to fill, including in goal.
7. Ohio State (LW: 8) - John Kelly’s four goals against Cleveland State at midfield, which is something they’ll need this year.
8. Rutgers (LW: 10) - They fought a pretty good Robert Morris team last week, and will have St. John’s this weekend before their first big test against Army West Point.
9. Syracuse (LW: 9) - The mumps hurt the team, but they got most of their practice time in, but there’s plenty of questions on offense and in the face-off department.
10. Johns Hopkins (LW: 11) - Another year of high expectations, but can the Blue Jays come through when the calendar turns to May?
11. Loyola (LW: 12) - Not a ton of hype surrounding the Greyhounds, but they have Pat Spencer, who’s a really talented player.
12. North Carolina (LW: 13) - Jack Pezzulla didn’t start in goal, but the Heels still have a potent offense with Chris Cloutier leading the attack.
13. Towson (LW: 14) - Shawn Nadelen’s defense will be fine, but who will contribute on offense?
14. Penn State (LW: 7) - The indefinite injury to Grant Ament hurts the team on offense, and it showed late against Villanova, but Ryan Keenan hopes to provide some production with Ament out.
15. Army West Point (LW: 15) - The Black Knights were the first team out a year ago, and have a very good chance of finally beating Loyola and winning the Patriot League championship.
16. Virginia (LW: 16) - One year under Lars Tiffany’s system should make the Cavaliers a better team, and like three other ACC teams, will probably have a new starting goalie.
17. Villanova (LW: 18) - The team lost Matt Barrett to an injury early in the game, but the offense provided a huge spark in the second half that hopefully continues next week against Yale in Texas.
18. Boston University (LW: 17) - Chris Gray impressed in his debut, and John MacLean scored four goals in the win, including the game-winner.
19. Penn (LW: 20) - With 212 out of 220 points returning from a year ago, the Quakers have a very talented offense returning, and ready to take the next step forward for Mike Murphy.
20. Brown (LW: 21) - Life without Dylan Molloy and Larken Kemp begins, so who will step up with both of them gone?
21. Providence (LW: 19) - Sean Leahey’s five goals weren’t enough for the Friars to exert revenge over the Terriers in their season opener.
22. Princeton (LW: 22) - Michael Sowers is a stud player, but can Austin Sims stay healthy for the entire season?
23. Richmond (LW: 24) - After being known for their defense, the Spiders are known for their offense, thanks to Teddy Hatfield and Mitch Goldberg.
24. Hofstra (LW: 25) - Another year, another time to ask if the Pride can avoid a late-season collapse.
25. Bryant (LW: 26) - The Bulldogs exploded on offense against Manhattan, thanks to freshman Marc O’Rourke’s three goals and two assists in his debut, and Kenny Massa scoring a goal and winning 19-of-24 draws to go with 16 ground balls.
26. Vermont (LW: 45) - Vermont is the country’s first 2-0 team, thanks to the play of Liam Limoges and Ian MacKay, who both have five goals and an assist.
27. Marquette (LW: 28) - The loss of Tanner Thomson for the season will hurt the Golden Eagles, but should expect to compete in the Big East once again.
28. Bucknell (LW: 39) - Will Sands was the second-best player last week, leading the Bison with eight points in a big win over Marist.
29. Hobart (LW: 30) - Despite the graduation of Frank Brown and goaltender Jackson Brown, the Statesmen still have a ton of scoring depth, especially with Chris Aslanian.
30. Monmouth (LW: 31) - The defending MAAC champions lose a very talented starting goalie, but should compete for the conference crown once again.
31. Marist (LW: 29) - Despite the loss, they did get some offense from new guys, including goalie Brian Corrigan.
32. Cornell (LW: 32) - Despite having an interim head coach in Peter Milliman, the Big Red boast one of the top sophomores in the nation in Jeff Teat, as well as Connor Fletcher with him at attack.
33. Lehigh (LW: 37) - Mickey Fitzpatrick already tied last year’s goal total of three against NJIT, and freshman goalie James Spence had a good debut.
34. Harvard (LW: 34) - Fifteen seniors return to a revamped coaching staff with Chris Wojcik still at the helm, spearheaded by Morgan Cheek.
35. Stony Brook (LW: 35) - The Seawolves are capable of scoring a ton of goals
36. Michigan (LW: 36) - With a new coaching staff, can the Big Ten’s last place team continue to improve?
37. Jacksonville (LW: 54) - A surprising result against Navy, so does that mean they’ll be serious SoCon contenders?
38. Robert Morris (LW: 33) - A tough first game against Rutgers, but look to rebound on Friday against Bellarmine.
39. Navy (LW: 23) - The Mids were dominated at the face-off X, and need Joe Varello to have his suspension over soon very soon.
40. UMass (LW: 38) - They’ve always started out slow for the past few years, yet somehow reach the CAA Tournament, and sometimes championship game.
41. Fairfield (LW: 40) - Similar to Bucknell, Collin Burke is one of the best juniors in the nation, but who will replace Tyler Behring in goal?
42. Binghamton (LW: 41) - Without Tom Moore or Garrett Waldron, will the Bearcats’ have similar success this season?
43. Air Force (LW: 27) - No Chris Walsch, Grant Gould, Brandon Jones, and Paxton Boyer against Duke. It could be a rough season for the Falcons.
44. Drexel (LW: 42) - If Brian Voelker can get a solid replacement for Jimmy Joe Granito in goal, don’t be surprised if the Dragons make a run in the CAA.
45. UMBC (LW: 43) - Not a lot of people talked about the Retrievers, even though they had top 20 defense a year ago.
46. Delaware (LW: 44) - Ben DeLuca will have a roster filled with young talent in his first season back as a head coach.
47. Saint Joseph’s (LW: 46) - Speaking of returns, Mike Rastivo should give the Hawks the lift it needs to return to the NEC Tournament.
48. High Point (LW: 48) - Jon Torpey’s team went 4-10, but need Connor Robinson and Jason Ashwood to step up on offense if they want to compete in the SoCon.
49. Georgetown (LW: 49) - The offense shouldn’t be a problem, especially with Daniel Bucaro and Mercer transfer Lucas Wittenberg, but the defense needs to be tweaked outside of Finn Dunne.
50. Hartford (LW: 50) - The attack unit is pretty good, and if Dylan Protesto can continue being a force at the face-off X, they can try and avoid their weakness on defense.
51. Colgate (LW: 51) - The Raiders boast two Patriot League Rookie of the Year winners, but lose Brandon Burke in goal.
52. Sacred Heart (LW: 52) - Brooks Dutton was an underrated freshman netminder last year, and their offense returns plenty of weapons, including Joe Saggese.
53. Furman (LW: 47) - David Williamson had four goals, but that was basically the only good thing from Furman’s season opening loss to Vermont.
54. Canisius (LW: 53) - The Golden Griffins look to make Mark Miyashita’s first year as head coach a memorable one, especially with Connor Kearnan on offense.
55. Holy Cross (LW: 55) - All of their top five scorers are gone, which doesn’t help the Crusaders in the always tough Patriot League, but Jonathan Tesoro remains in goal as a sophomore.
56. Detroit Mercy (LW: 56) - The Titans have scorers, but who will replace Jason Weber in goal?
57. UMass Lowell (LW: 57) - Will the River Hawks benefit from the Year Four boost that we saw with Monmouth last year?
58. Bellarmine (LW: 58) - There’s 22 freshmen for the Knights this year, so expect growing pains in Kentucky.
59. Mount St. Mary’s (LW: 59) - The Mountaineers lost many of their top players to transfers, but will look toward younger players to help fill those spots.
60. Wagner (LW: 61) - Andrew Streilein put up 43 points last year, more than double the second-highest scorer, but the scoring help will need to be better.
61. Cleveland State (LW: 60) - The Vikings trailed Ohio State by one at half before the Buckeyes exploded in the final 30 minutes.
62. Siena (LW: 63) - They almost made it to the MAAC Tournament, but will look to not start 0-10 this time around. this time around.
63. Mercer (LW: 62) - Three goals against Vermont showed the difficulty the Bears will have on offense.
64. St. John’s (LW: 64) - It was a freshman-heavy team, but can Joe and Mike Madsen improve from a year ago?
65. Quinnipiac (LW: 65) - Brian Feldman scored 30 goals last year, but nobody scored more than 30 points, and the Bobcats will need to find a new starting goalie.
66. Lafayette - The Leopards covered against North Carolina, and had a pretty good game in Ed Williams’s
67. Manhattan - Junior Parker Giarratana leads a young Jasper team looking for a MAAC Tournament birth in 2018.
68. Dartmouth - After winning one game in 2016 and two in 2017, will the Big Green win three games?
69. NJIT - With Aaron Forster, can the Highlanders also convert on the Year Four boost?
70. VMI - They have depth at the face-off X, but they need to find similar depth at every other position as well.
71. Hampton - In their third year, the Pirates will look to continue to grow with an expanded combined Division I/non-D1 schedule.

Here’s the table version.