by Jac Coyne | MCLA.us

LA CROSSE, Wis. – It’s hard times in Atlanta and Berkeley right now.

Georgia Tech’s 22-game home winning streak was snapped on Friday in overtime by Chapman. On Saturday, any remaining memories of that streak were erased from our consciousness as No. 24 Boston College stifled the Yellow Jackets, 8-5.

On the Left Coast, Cal coughed up a fourth-quarter lead to No. 4 Brigham Young, bowing 12-10 to push the Bears’ losing streak to three.

BYU goalie Hampshire with a clutch save with under a minute left. Follows it up with a dime on the outlet. Might be a game-ended. pic.twitter.com/Ups2tfN4uS
— Virtually Varsity (@vvlacrosse) February 24, 2018

Hard times, indeed.

Tech and Cal combined for five losses total in their respective runs to the national semifinals last year. They’ve now matched that number before the calendar has flipped to February.

Time for the panic button?

To borrow a phrase from Wisconsin sage Aaron Rodgers: R-E-L-A-X.

Actually, instead of the Packers quarterback saying that, imagine Chapman coach Dallas Hartley uttering those letters in consolation, because that’s really why neither the Jackets nor Bears should be too jittery.

Coming off an undefeated national championship season in '16, Chapman came out of the gate in '17 with an anchor around its collective neck.

The Panthers were 2-3 prior to March, beaten by three eventual tournament qualifiers. Cal mopped the floor with them.

Start of the 4th Eagles up 8-3. pic.twitter.com/LkFB7hl04E
— BC Men's Lacrosse (@BC_Mens_Lax) February 24, 2018

Now go and check out how the season ended for Hartley and his crew. Not bad, huh?

There’s undoubtedly some soul searching going on at Tech and Cal, but before anyone buries them – or, worse, they bury themselves – just take a step back and look at the big picture.

We’re not even into March.

Relax.

SATURDAY'S SCORES

Fear Fargo
No. 3 North Dakota State wrecked No. 8 Duluth last week, 11-5. Duluth just unmasked No. 1 St. Thomas, 10-9.

Hmmm.

As we all know, comparative scores mean nothing. There is no transitive property of lacrosse.

Still.

It’s kind of tough not look at these scores and think the Bison aren’t the team to beat at this point.

Down goes No. 1! After building a huge first half lead, @umdlacrosse held on for a 10-9 win over top-ranked St. Thomas Saturday night. #godogs #mcla18
A post shared by The MCLA (@the_mcla) on Feb 24, 2018 at 5:24pm PST

With that said, the D-II season really hasn’t even started yet. Grand Valley State – the team that conventional wisdom would say is in line for the No. 1 spot on Wednesday – is still two weeks from its season opener.

Regardless, you can bet NDSU is going to sit on a pile of first place votes, a likelihood bolstered by the fact that they toyed with No. 15 MSU Denver on Saturday, leading 11-0 after three quarters on its way to a 13-4 triumph.

We knew heading into the season that the UMLC was going to be ridiculous. After a month, the league is certainly living up to our preconceptions.

Reno 911
Send out the alarm! Nevada bagged its first-ever ranked win on Saturday when the Wolfpack dealt No. 25 Arizona a 14-13 setback in Vegas.

Nevada just beats their first ever ranked opponent!! Took down #25 ranked Arizona 14-13!! Go PACK!!@LasVegasLaxNews @HighSierraLax @NevadaWolfPack @RenoOrtho @MCLA @DougKnuth pic.twitter.com/qaOG9A26rT
— Nevada Men’s Club Lacrosse (@NevadaLax) February 24, 2018

Congrats to Chris Tatro and the boys. This isn’t an accident. They’ve been working hard to make this happen. A win over UNLV on Sunday will send Nevada home with all of the good vibes.

ODDS & ENDS: Things are starting to get moving in the PCLL. Stonehill took down MCLA newbie Worcester State, 17-7…Oklahoma gained a measure of revenge for last year’s LSA championship game loss to SMU by downing the Mustangs, 14-7, on Saturday…Colorado Mines dealt Wyoming its first loss of the season…UNC-Charlotte jumped up and bit North Florida in overtime…Wake Forest is 4-0 after dumping Davidson