US Lacrosse College Notebook
April 30, 2004

Streaking
Princeton's women are aiming for their third straight national championship, but that's not the only streak they hope to keep going. The Tigers won their 24th consecutive game by beating Maryland 8-7 in overtime on Wednesday night. Princeton can finish the regular season unbeaten by beating Brown on Saturday.

The Tigers last loss came on April 12, 2003 to Yale by a 7-6 score. They are 15-0 so far this season and are trying to become the first team to finish unbeaten since Maryland went 23-0 in 2001. The Tigers have gone 50-5 over the last three seasons.

Princeton isn't the only team streaking in Division I. Northwestern, in just its third varsity season since reinstating the sport, has climbed to No. 6 in the polls by winning 11 straight games. The Wildcats last three wins have come over No. 18 Penn State, No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 9 Johns Hopkins.

New Hampshire has also won 11 straight games to move into the No. 19 spot in the latest IWLCA poll. The Wildcats started the season just 1-4 with three losses to Top 20 teams, but haven't lost since. UNH hosts defending America East champ UMBC on Saturday.

Around the Country
May Muscle
Johns Hopkins and Navy sit in the top two spots in this week's USILA Division I poll, but the calendar turns to May and it's hard to discount Syracuse at this time of year. The Orangemen have made it to the NCAA semifinals for 21 straight years and this is their month. Over the last three years, Syracuse, ranked fourth,  has gone 10-2 in the month of May. Top-ranked Hopkins has gone 7-3, No. 3 Maryland has gone 5-2 and No. 5 Georgetown has gone 2-6. No. 2 Navy has not played a game in May over the last three seasons.

Making the Tournament
Army failed to qualify for the Patriot League tournament, losing out on a tie-breaker after finishing in a three-way tie for third place, but the Black Knights season is far from over. Army hosts Duke on May 8 and a win in that game would end their regular season with a 10-4 record with wins over No. 10 Rutgers and No. 14 Penn. That resume stacks up competitively to some of the other potential NCAA bubble teams that are currently ranked ahead of No. 18 Army:

• No. 12 Notre Dame is 7-4 with its best wins over No. 16 Denver and No. 20 Dartmouth. The Irish close the regular season at Maryland on Saturday.
• No. 14 Penn is 7-5, but has wins over No. 9 Cornell, No. 15 Brown and No. 17 Villanova with No. 3 Maryland still on the schedule.
• No. 15 Brown is 8-3, but has beaten just one Top 20 team, No. 20 Dartmouth. The Bears still have Cornell and Princeton to play.
• No. 16 Denver is 8-4 with a win over No. 13 Virginia and closes with games at Delaware and Duke.
• No. 17 Villanova is 10-2, but has no Top 20 wins. The Wildcats play Penn State before hosting Delaware in a CAA semifinal next week.

Navy Tops in this Poll
Navy's women's club team is the top-ranked team in the US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates poll and drew the top seed for the 2004 US Lacrosse WDIA national tournament in St. Louis. Three-time defending champion Cal Poly is the No. 2 seed. Read the tournament press release here.

The men's field will be announced on May 3, but Georgia Tech and Texas have already punched their tickets to St. Louis by winning the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference and Lone Star Allinance tournaments, respectively.

Stick Checks
Salisbury and Washington College are undefeated and ranked 1-2 in the USILA Divison III poll heading into this weekend's War on the Shore at Salisbury, but there not the only unbeaten teams in Division III. Keuka is 10-0, but none of its 10 victories came over a team with a winning record...Colorado College appears poised to make its biggest  run in the women's Division III tournament. The Tigers are 12-2 with the losses coming to UC-Davis (transitioning to Division I) and to Division I Denver. Denver won just 14-12. CC beat the only Division III Top 20 team it played, Ithaca, by a 17-6 score...with 275 career points, Syracuse's Michael Powell is just 12 points away from tying his brothers Casey and Ryan atop the Orangemen's all-time scoring list with 287 career points.

US Lacrosse College Notebook is a weekly feature on the US Lacrosse web site. For information about supporting the sport through membership in US Lacrosse, visit our membership page.

The Games

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The Polls

• IWLCA (Women's)

• USILA (Men's)

• US Lacrosse MDIA

• US Lacrosse WDIA

Previous Notebooks

• April 23, 2004
• April 16, 2004
• April 9, 2004
• April 2, 2004
• March 26, 2004
• March 19, 2004
• March 12, 2004
• March 5, 2004
• Feb. 27, 2004