😵‍💫 COMPLETE RANKINGS RESET

After an absolutely wild week of college lacrosse, ranking the top 20 teams in the country has become a nearly impossible exercise. Luckily, we have an army — *wink* — of fans who vote on The People’s Top 20 each week.

Although some great cases were made for multiple teams, the undefeated Army West Point Black Knights (5-0) received the most support for the No. 1 spot this week. They beat both Denver (5-0) and Hopkins (5-1) in a poll on our Instagram story, and they also had the most/most-liked comments in our post asking “Who should be No. 1?” on Monday.

Here’s a look at the full Top 20:

Army’s best win so far is a 14-13 overtime victory against Syracuse. Denver beat Cornell and has a head-to-head win over Hopkins on its résumé, but the Blue Jays have since collected wins over Georgetown, North Carolina and Virginia — all on the road.

Ultimately, rankings in early March don’t mean much. Some fans will feel like their team was slighted, but the good news is there’s plenty of time between now and Memorial Day Weekend for everything to settle itself out.

Want more good news? Tomorrow, we’re restocking the TLN Fast Break hat (in both Navy/White and Black/White) as well as our exclusive TLN Script hat from Championship Series. Click this link to get alerts when this restock goes live!

📽 Brennan O’Neill vs. Penn

Last week, Duke sat atop The People’s Top 20. Then they lost to Penn at home on Friday night. The final score was 14-12, and star attackman Brennan O’Neill went 1-for-8 shooting in the rain.

O’Neill also had two fourth-quarter turnovers. Both were caused by Penn defenseman Brendan Lavelle, who had six ground balls in the upset win and did a phenomenal job shutting down the reigning Tewaaraton Award winner.

Check out the full breakdown on O’Neill vs. Lavelle and Penn in the YouTube video below.

This was a wild upset and an underwhelming performance by O’Neill, but two days later everything returned to normal. O’Neill had four points (2G, 2A) in a blowout win over Princeton, and Penn lost to North Carolina.

Is Brennan O’Neill still the favorite to win another Tewaaraton Award? Let us know what you think by clicking the button below and jumping in the comment section!

😱 Scariest Defense Ever?

The Premier Lacrosse League’s free agency window opened on Monday, and the Boston Cannons are in the process of building the scariest defense of all time. On the opening day of free agency, they signed reigning PLL Defensive Player of the Year Garrett Epple.

Boston’s defense is anchored by former Notre Dame standout Jack Kielty, who was named second-team All-Pro last season. The Cannons also acquired veteran defenseman Bryce Young via trade with the Maryland Whipsnakes last November.

The Cannons also have one of the PLL’s best young goalies in Colin Kirst, as well as a terrorizing duo of short-stick defensive midfielders in Zach Goodrich and Bubba Fairman. Don’t forget, long-stick midfielder Ethan Rall led the league in caused turnovers (20) as an undrafted rookie last year.

Head coach Brian Holman just led the Cannons to victory in the 2024 PLL Championship Series in February. It seems as though physicality and tough defense will be a staple of this squad as Holman continues to put his mark on the franchise in Year 2.

👀 80-Year-Old Lacrosse Goalie!?

We recently shared a story about a 46-year-old goalie who enrolled at North Texas and joined his sons’ MCLA squad. Now we’re bringing you a story about an 80-YEAR-OLD goalie who’s still playing in a men’s league in San Francisco, California.

Meet Mike Held and watch this news story from ABC7 News Bay Area:

Held says he has been playing lacrosse since 1960, but he only started playing goalie at the age of 79 last year. How much longer does he plan on playing?

“You keep doing what you think you can do as long as you can do it and then retire gracefully if you can,” Held told the news station. “So, I guess that’s what my plan for life is.”

We hope he keeps playing until he’s 100.

📺 Midweek TV & Streaming Info

NCAA streaming info courtesy of Inside Lacrosse (all times Eastern):

Tuesday, March 5:
3 p.m. — Detroit Mercy at Rutgers (B1G+)
4 p.m. — Binghamton at Mount St. Mary’s (ESPN+)
4 p.m. — Robert Morris at Virginia (ACCNX)
5 p.m. — Villanova at Drexel (LacrosseTV)
5 p.m. — Georgetown at High Point (ESPN+)
5 p.m. — Merrimack at Providence (FloSports)
7 p.m. — Stony Brook vs. Dartmouth (No Streaming Info)

Wednesday, March 6:
7 p.m. — Fairfield at Bryant (AmericaEast.tv)