The Lax Swami's Top 16
April 22, 2004

from Lax Swami

1. Navy
Two top five wins, and looking for a third.

2. Johns Hopkins
Hopkins defeats Maryland by a 40% margin to take second place. Navy's margin over Maryland was 50%.

3. Maryland
The terps hold on to third by virtue of a Syracuse loss to Rutgers, and a previous win over UNC.

4. North Carolina
The Tarheels home loss in overtime to Navy ranks the Heels above Georgetown's two goal home loss to the Mids.

5. Syracuse
The Cruisers never led after the first quarter against Rutgers.

6. Georgetown
Georgetown's first home loss to the Midshipmen since 1992 drops the Hoyas, whose top win is still Cornell.

7. Ohio State
Consecutive victories over Notre Dame (9-8), Duke (16-9), and Hobart coupled with a Navy win, make the 9-2 Buckeyes the class of the GWLL.

8. Princeton
Princeton's biggest win, Rutgers, now grows with the Scarlet Knights defeat of Syracuse.

9. Army
A credible performance against Syracuse, and victories over Penn, Rutgers, and Buckenll, are offset by a narrow win over Air Force and loss to Colgate.

10. Rutgers
The Knights played tough, but lost to Army and Princeton.

11. Penn
Lost to Notre Dame (19-11), lost to Delaware (12-10), defeated Loyola, squeezed past Villanova, but wins big over Brown.

12. Duke
Drubbed by Virgina, Duke is on the skids again.

13. Cornell
Needs a big win.

14. Brown
Lost to Princeton by 3 goals.

15. Notre Dame
Defeated Denver 14-12.

16. Denver
Biggest win is still Harvard.

Swami's Game of the Year/Week [CSTV GAME]: Who would have thought that Hopkins-Navy would be the Game of the Year? But the stats tell the story: this is the only game this season between two teams ranked #1 and #2. The wild roller coaster that is Navy lacrosse will be bathed in publicity this weekend as an expected 20,000+ fans will pack the stands while a CSTV video feed will be beamed out to the world. Hey, don't miss this game. Leading Coach of the Year candidate Richie Meade has mixed up Navy's look this season. No one can be certain what unpredictable Navy will do. Navy's defense has been near impenetrable since the second game of the season. And Navy's midfields have benefited from a special regimen of intense military-like physical training introduced by the coach in the off-season. No team has been able to stop Hopkins when the Jays being their "A" game to the field. But Hopkins has not faced a defense like Navy's so far this season. Last year the Swami told readers that Navy was the most exciting team in lacrosse to watch and this weekend everyone will learn why as the battling Mids complete their long march from bottom to top. The last three games played at Navy between these two teams have been one goal thrillers. Welcome to the Annapolis Palace of Pain--Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Upset City, MD