there are tons of girls who play for one of the bottom 25 D1 programs and those teams are really weak but club connections can get you a spot and at the end of the day you will be forever able to say "I played D1 lacrosse with scholarship"
After the top 5-10 schools its all the same
The first part of your post is correct. Bottom 25 D1 teams r on par w many D3 teams and would lose to the top D3 teams.