Mon Feb 22 2021 | Patrick Stevens | College
PHOTO BY RICH BARNES
Syracuse didn’t lose in 2020 before the pandemic brought things to a halt, and the Orange wasn’t a likely candidate to get blown out at all this year.
And then Sunday’s season opener happened.
Army drubbed Syracuse 18-11 in the most jolting result of the young 2021 campaign. It wasn’t that the Black Knights won; they’re smart, tough and schematically sound. Army usually creates headaches for Syracuse and has pulled off some victories in the Carrier Dome over the last dozen years.
How it happened was another matter.
Mon Feb 8 2021 | Patrick Stevens | College
PHOTO BY NATALIE LeDONNE / DUKE ATHLETICS
Michael Sowers contributed one goal and six assists combined in Duke s 2-0 opening weekend.
There’s one big absence from the first rankings update of the year, and it’s a team that didn’t even play this past weekend.
Or, it would seem, any weekend this season.
With much of Yale’s roster not enrolled this semester to save a year of eligibility based on Ivy League rules, the Bulldogs will not participate in the 2021 season, according to multiple reports. And that explains why Yale, which won the national title in 2018, was the NCAA tournament runner-up the following year and was the preseason No. 8 this season, is no longer in the rankings.