The top-ranked teams aren’t meant to lose, at least this quickly. But this year, it has become a common occurrence running through men’s Division I lacrosse. No. 1 teams lose a step and fall to weaker teams, and a new team emerges at the top.

“It’s parity,” North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi said of No. 1 teams losing week after week. “We knew as coaches going through this, this is going to happen.”

In each of the past five weeks and all but once this season, the top-ranked team has only held the No. 1 spot for a week. Last week, Penn State fell to Maryland and snapped a 10-game win streak. In Monday’s Inside Lacrosse rankings, Syracuse was named the new No. 1 for the first time in almost two years. In SU’s first defense of the ranking, the Orange play two games and its second comes against the defending national champions.

“It’s a big thing we’ve been thinking about all week,” senior attack Jordan Evans said. “You see teams get a No. 1 spot each week and they’ve all fallen.”

The Orange’s first test came Tuesday, against a struggling Cornell team. The Big Red kept the game close for the beginning, but a 10-0 Syracuse run put the game away. No. 1 Syracuse will have its hands full on four days’ rest Saturday, as the Orange (9-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) takes on preseason No. 1 North Carolina (6-5, 1-1) Saturday in Chapel Hill.

North Carolina has a chance to snap Syracuse’s seven-game win streak and dethrone another No. 1. Even with Syracuse consistently succeeding against the Tar Heels the past few years, it doesn’t take away from the fact that UNC has Top 10 talent. Even if the rankings don’t show it.

Entering the year with high expectations, the Tar Heels quickly struggled and slid out of No. 1 before the Week 1 rankings. Five losses later and No. 17 UNC is on the brink of falling outside the top 20. But that doesn’t take away from UNC’s road wins against Denver and Virginia.

After the Tar Heels fell, Denver took the top spot. North Carolina got its revenge on the new No. 1 just a week removed from the same spot.

Maryland came next and barely escaped its first week as the top-ranked team. The Terrapins staved off a late push from Yale in a one-goal game. The following week, UMD stayed No. 1 — the only team to do so all year.

Since Maryland’s loss the next time out, no No. 1 team has stuck around for the following week. Notre Dame held the top-ranked spot twice, and so did Denver. Rutgers jumped out to its best start in six decades, but couldn’t continue its hot streak against Delaware. The story remained the same.

“That speaks to what we’ve seen in 2017,” ESPN lacrosse analyst Mark Dixon said. “On any given day any team can beat any other team, whether you’re No. 1 or No. 71.”

Published on April 12, 2017 at 10:26 pm

Contact Charlie: csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco