College Power Rankings, Presented By NUTC [Mar 28, 2018]

After a late-season weekend packed full of competition, there was a good bit of shuffling across the divisions.

March 28, 2018 by Simon Pollock in Rankings with 0 comments

Here are the latest College Power Rankings, presented by the National Ultimate Training Camp! These rankings can always been found on our permanent rankings page.

Every Wednesday, we will post the College Power Rankings here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and serve as a permalink for each week’s rankings.

D-I Women’s Power Rankings

D-I Women’s Discussion

• The #2, #3, and #4 rankings have stirred fervent internal debate in the Ultiworld virtual office, but the final results were Stanford moving up to #2, while UC San Diego slid to #3, and Oregon landed #4. Stanford’s near upset of Dartmouth was the most significant factor, and they are still 2-0 against UC San Diego this year. For their part, Oregon is 2-0 against Stanford. But each of the three has a strong enough resume to make a case.
• It was an unfortunate weekend for British Columbia, who fell to #6, and could have perhaps fallen further after a 4-3 weekend at Northwest Challenge. They were crushed by North Carolina in consolation and lost to Western Washington, perhaps taking the shine off of UBC as a championship contender.
• Brigham Young smashed into the rankings at #12 after a blistering performance at NW Challenge. Few expected them to take wins off of Western Washington and Carleton.
• Whitman also benefited from an excellent NW Challenge, and they rose 10 spots to #15. That’s backed by three blowout wins over ranked teams and a Sunday win over Carleton.
• Speaking of Carleton, they tumbled from #6 to #13 after going 3-4 at NW Challenge. Fellow Northwest visitor Vermont also struggled, and they lost 7 spots to fall to #20.
• Western Washington looked they strongest they have all season at NW Challenge, namely in an upset over UBC. They still have uneven results, but rose to #11.
• Washington and Colorado both fell after their respective performances at NW Challenge and Centex. Washington went 1-4 against ranked teams, including three blowout losses, while Colorado lost to Florida in a quarterfinal upset.
• Florida rejoined the rankings at #24, adding some spice to the Southeast with a late season surge at Centex.
• Colorado State exited the rankings after earning #19 previously, after an unimpressive Centex, and Southern California fell from their top 25 spot after a similar NW Challenge.

D-I Men’s Power Rankings

D-I Men’s Discussion

• Stanford got top billing after a run to the finals at Northwest Challenge, riding a nice semifinals win against #5 Washington up six spots to #11. Along the way, they also beat #17 BYU and #20 Western Washington.
• Speaking of the Northwest, BYU inched up a spot to #17 after a middling weekend. Western slid to #20 after taking losses to Stanford, BYU, Victoria, and Colorado. Oregon regressed to #4 despite winning the Northwest Challenge, after taking a showcase-game loss to #5 Washington. And Washington holds that fifth spot, evening out the upset win over Oregon with the loss to Stanford. The Sundodgers are now tied with Wilmington for the longest run this season in the #5 spot.¹ Victoria also reappeared at #24, pushing Southern California out.
• NC State jumped up five spots to #19. Their record looks stronger as Easterns approaches.
• Carleton and Minnesota stepped back in at #2 and #3 respectively after Oregon’s loss.

D-III Women’s Power Rankings

D-III Women’s Discussion

• A brutal opening weekend for former #6 Valparaiso at Meltdown, where they couldn’t outmaneuver opponents in the windy condition, sent them out of the top 25. They finished at the bottom of their pool, while their two wins on the weekend were both by a goal.
• Mount Holyoke gained a valuable spot, moving up one to #4 with a 6-1 weekend at Jersey Devil, where they won the tournament.
• Also at Jersey Devil, Lehigh managed a semifinal appearance and 4th place finish. That success earned them a jump from #22 to #17 this week.
• North Park moved up three spots to #16 following a strong showing at Meltdown, where they reached the final. They’ve steadily gained ground over the course of March after starting the year unranked.
• The newest team to the rankings was Middlebury, who went 4-0 in one day of pool played at I-85 Rodeo to land at #19. It’s their first time ranked as a program.
• Oberlin returned to the rankings at #22 after reaching the semifinals at CWRUL. They were knocked out last rankings as the #25 team, but have some extra breathing room now.
• A blowout loss to Puget Sound and a 1-1 weekend against Portland dropped Claremont four spots. They took #21 after their weekend at Northwest Challenge.
• St. Benedict dropped out from the rankings to make room.

D-III Men’s Power Rankings

D-III Men’s Discussion

• Shippensburg leads off with the most movement this week, the wrong direction. They fell eight spots to #21 after a 4-3 weekend at CWRUL without any notable wins. Their lackluster performance also bumped a pack of competitors up one spot.
• Middlebury slid one spot to #5 after a 5-1 finish at Atlantic Coast Open, losing the one game 13-10 to a Duke team that put up an impressive weekend.
• Amherst also lost ground, dropping two spots to #9 after an all-New England round robin where everyone beat each other at least once.
• It was a notable weekend for Northwest teams. Portland climbs two spots to #14 after an undefeated Northwest Challenge. Puget Sound debuted at #25 after a 5-1 weekend at Northwest Challenge, with the lone loss to Portland. Pacific Lutheran also moved up a couple of spots to #13 after a 5-2 weekend at Trouble In Vegas.

1. Since active tournament play began in 2018. ↩