This is the final week of the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse regular season.
What I find interesting is the fact that, over the course of the last month, the Atlantic Coast Conference, a group which I thought might send seven or eight teams into the 29-team postseason tournament, may, according to some metrics, only send four.
On the other hand, the Big Ten, which I thought might have only three entrants into the NCAAs, may send as many as six.
What happened?
Well, a lot of what has happened is the level of competition. Within days of each other, Maryland, Stanford, and North Carolina lost games. They were the top three teams in the polls.
Within these two tough leagues, you’re also seeing teams like Northwestern and Syracuse, after tough starts, have been playing extremely well of late. The Wildcats are on a six-game win streak, Syracuse is on a 12-game streak, and Clemson has won nine in a row.
Especially in the ACC, some of the more recent matches have changed the way that the Ratings Percentage Index ranks the teams.
Of course, there will be a lot of unknowns the next few weeks, especially in the Big Ten and the ACC. However, we do know which teams will be in the conference tournaments. The gaps between the last team in and the first one out have been defined in these two tourneys.
In the ACC, defending champion North Carolina is the top seed. However, there is an Pier Six brawl to figure out which teams are going to be seeded fifth through eighth — four teams have a 5-4 records in the league with one to play:
| Team | League record |
| North Carolina | 9-0 |
| Stanford | 7-2 |
| Syracuse | 7-2 |
| Clemson | 6-3 |
| Notre Dame | 5-4 |
| Duke | 5-4 |
| Boston College | 5-4 |
| Virginia | 5-4 |
As the remainder of teams in the ACC have six or more defeats, none will play in the ACC Tournament.
Now, in the Big Ten, there are a lot of variables in the seven teams which will make the bracket. Southern Cal and Oregon, each without a win in Big Ten play, cannot catch seventh-place Ohio State:
| Team | League record |
| Northwestern | 5-1 |
| Maryland | 5-1 |
| Johns Hopkins | 5-2 |
| Michigan | 4-2 |
| Rutgers | 4-2 |
| Penn State | 3-3 |
| Ohio State | 2-4 |
But there is an absolute scramble for the top seed. I think it’s entirely possible for there to be a tie for the league title, and it will take tiebreakers in order to determine the field for the Big Ten championship.
The last regular-season fixtures for these two conferences will take place this week from northern Florida to the San Francisco Bay area, and places in between. And some of these contests, such as Virginia-Virginia Tech, Cal-Stanford, and UNC-Duke are season-defining rivalry games.
Have fun going to these matches; it should be quite the overall spectacle.