Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

BALTIMORE -- An 8-4 win over Villanova in the University of Delaware’s Colonial Athletic Association opener Saturday night helped the Blue Hens improve two spots to No. 14 in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association and Nike Inside Lacrosse Top 20 polls announced Monday afternoon.

The Blue Hens (6-2), who travel to Lehigh Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. game in Bethlehem, PA and host Brown this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Rullo Stadium, also improved to No. 12 in the Laxnews.com poll. The USILA poll is selected by coaches while the Inside Lacrosse poll is voted on by media members.

Delaware has now appeared in the USILA poll 19 straight weeks since the May 1, 2006 poll.

Unbeaten Virginia (9-0), which defeated Johns Hopkins 13-12 in overtime Saturday, took over the top spot in the USILA poll thanks to previously No. 1 Duke’s loss to Georgetown the same day. Virginia earned all 13 first place votes and 260 points in the poll.

Syracuse (5-1) was at No. 2 with 243 points followed by Duke (8-1) at No. 3, and Georgetown (4-2) and Maryland (6-2) tied for No. 4 with 201 points. Cornell (5-1) was ranked No. 6 with 188 points followed by Notre Dame (5-1/184), Johns Hopkins (3-3/173), North Carolina (6-2/161), and Navy (8-1/154) in the top 10. Drexel (7-1) was at No. 11 followed by Hofstra (3-2), UMBC (4-3), Delaware (6-2), Bucknell (5-2), Army (5-2), Princeton (2-3), Loyola (4-3), Penn (4-2), and Denver (4-4). Ohio State, Harvard, Siena, Stony Brook, Albany, Quinnipiac, Brown, Sacred Heart, Towson, and Rutgers also received votes.

Virginia took over the top spot in the Inside Lacrosse poll with 18 first place votes and 360 total points followed by Duke and Syracuse tied at No. 2, Maryland was fourth, Georgetown was fifth, and Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, Cornell, Navy, and North Carolina rounded out the top 10. Drexel was at No. 11 followed by UMBC, Army, Delaware, Hofstra, Princeton, Bucknell, Loyola, Ohio State, and Penn. Albany led 12 teams also receiving votes.

In the Laxnews.com poll, Virginia was at No. 1 followed by Syracuse, Duke, Maryland, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Navy, Hofstra, Delaware, Drexel, Princeton, Bucknell, Loyola, UMBC, Ohio State, Army, and Penn.

Senior Cam Howard (at right) leads the Blue Hens in assists.