:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49284885/Byrnes.0.jpg)
Monday morning means a new Cascade/Maverik men's lacrosse media poll, and today, YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles are ranked #17 in the country. It's the same ranking that they had a week ago, and I can't blame the voters for not boosting them up a bit. MU looked pretty bad for 30 minutes against St. John's on Saturday before Andy DeMichiei went HAM in the second half, scoring five of his new program record seven goals in a game after the break. DeMichiei scored three straight in the first four minutes of the second half to turn a halftime SJU 6-4 lead into a 7-6 Marquette advantage.
The other notable news in the poll is that Notre Dame is ranked #1, just like they were last week. The Fighting Irish rallied from a halftime deficit themselves on Sunday against #13 Duke to stay atop the poll heading into Wednesday's clash...... against Marquette.
Big East favorite Denver stays steady at #3 after getting two very late goals against Villanova to move to 2-0 in league play. Duke drops to #16 following the aforementioned loss to Notre Dame, which means that Marquette's visit to Durham could be very important for both teams' chances at the NCAA tournament. Even after throwing the game away late for their third straight loss to a ranked team, Villanova only dropped from 18 to 19 in the newest poll.
There are two teams that Marquette has already played down in the "Receiving Votes" category. Richmond slips into the unofficial #26 spot in the country after getting a triple overtime 6-5 win over Furman on Saturday. It's honestly kind of surprising, seeing as the Spiders got shutout by Virginia on April 2nd, and the Cavaliers themselves got knocked out of the poll this week. Ohio State also creeps into the final RV spot..... after losing their 6th straight game. They haven't won since going 2-0 in the Midwest Lacrosse Classic, including a 12-8 defeat of Marquette. That's MU's only loss of the season right now, and no, it's not looking like a great loss right now.
Faceoff against Notre Dame is scheduled for 3pm Central in South Bend. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3/WatchESPN.
You can check out the entire poll here.