The Sunday Slide: Georgetown, Temple Making Moves

It’s March, which means it’s the time of year when the unexpected February happenings are either earmarked as “reality” or “reaction.”

Today, the “reality” we’re addressing concerns both Georgetown and Temple. The Hoyas took down Johns Hopkins decisively on Tuesday, one week after hanging tough with No. 3 Maryland.

Temple is 7-0 for the first time since 1988 (when the team went 19-0), and the Owls’ hot streak to start the season includes a win over crosstown rival Penn.

Temple’s next three games (at Towson, vs. Rutgers, vs. South Florida) are winnable — but they are also a barometer for just how good the Owls are. We’ll see where they stand on March 14 (the day of the USF game), but for now, Temple appears to be a legit Top 20 team.

As for Georgetown, the Hoyas have burst onto the seen in year two of the Caitlyn Phipps era — a feat made more impressive by the fact that Phipps doesn’t even have her own recruits on campus yet.

They aren’t doing anything flashy statistically, but a 12-6 win over Johns Hopkins is eye-catching for sure.

Will we look at these two teams in a different way in a month? It’s possible. But these two teams were nowhere near most peoples’ radars in January — and that’s what makes the early discoveries of spring so fun.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

Tip of the cap required to Cindy Timchal, Ava Yovino and Navy. I picked Florida to win in Annapolis, citing Clark Hamilton’s possible impact on the game. All Navy did was limit Hamilton to zero points, while Yovino had three goals and three assists in a 14-11 win. Navy should shoot up the USA Lacrosse Top 20 on Monday, and rightfully so.

It’s still too early to tell just where Isabella Caporuscio will rank among the game’s offensive weapons — that’s a determination for season’s end. But Joe Spallina’s early season hype for his star midfielder appears to be justified. She had three goals and one assist in a 9-7 win over Colorado and three goals and two assists in a 1              3-12 loss to Northwestern.

The Northwestern game proved that this Seawolves team has the trademark grit of Spallina-coached squads. Even without the usual star power, Stony Brook can hang with just about anyone. That’ll make them an unfavorable matchup late in the season, no matter the seedings in May.

(Caporuscio also had six goals in a Tuesday win over UConn, giving her 12 goals and three assists this week.)

What an impressive win by Yale. Michigan has proven every bit the capable contender in 2026, and Yale — without the 16 seniors who graduated last year — are a team I expected to be competent in 2026 with its share of growing pains. The Bulldogs put it together masterfully on Saturday, with four multi-goal scorers in an 11-6 win. Niamh Pfaff was lights out with 10 saves.

Either Boston College is trending up or Clemson is trending down. It might be too soon to tell. Though it’s possible both can be true. The Eagles’ 11-9 win over the Tigers saw Kylee Colbert score four goals, and BC was able to overcome an uncharacteristically shaky game from Shea Dolce (five saves). Clemson has now lost two in a row and three of four.

Cornell’s 11-9 loss to Penn State did nothing to dissuade my sudden interest in the Big Red. That’s a quality loss against a team that’s now 6-0 and from a power conference. I’m anxious to see Cornell play the likes of Princeton, Penn and Yale.

FUN WITH NUMBERS

11 • Undefeated teams remaining in Division I. Listed alphabetically: Dartmouth, Davidson, Denver, Jacksonville, Maryland, Navy, North Carolina, Penn State, Siena, Stanford, Temple, Yale.

17 • Draw controls by Vermont’s Sabine Godwin vs. LIU, breaking her own single-game program record.

18.67 • Goals per game for Arizona State in its last three. The Sun Devils’ offense is potent — but can they play enough defense to make noise? They’ve allowed 13.67 goals per game in that same span and have gone 2-1.

27 • Goals scored by North Carolina against Florida State, setting a single-game program record and extending the program’s winning streak — ironically enough — to 27 games. Chloe Humphrey’s seven scores led the way.

28 • Goals scored in a 2-0 week for Syracuse, which managed only 20 goals in its 0-3 start.

300 • Career wins as a college head coach for Stony Brook’s Joe Spallina, who reached the milestone with his team’s Thursday win over Colorado.

2019 • The last time Dartmouth defeated Harvard before this weekend. The Big Green are 4-0 with a scoring differential of plus-60, which is tied for second nationally with Northwestern.