Fort Lewis College is one of six Native American-serving, non-tribal colleges in the United States. They provide free tuition to Native American students, and 26% of all baccalaureate degrees awarded to Native American students come from Fort Lewis, the most of any college. Like the school, the school’s MCLA team does a great job honoring the Indigenous people in the area in multiple ways on and off the field.

The Fort Lewis army post was built in 1878 in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and later moved to Hesperus in 1880 in the southern slopes of the La Plata Mountains. In 1891, it was decommissioned and converted into an off-reservation federal Indian boarding school. In 1911, the land and buildings were transferred to the state of Colorado to provide free and equal education opportunities to Native American students. What started as just a high school has grown into a four-year college with NCAA Division II athletics that is also outside of the CSU system and has its own board of directors. The college now sits atop a mesa overlooking the city of Durango and the 13,000-foot peaks of the La Plata mountain. The buildings are custom-chiseled sandstone to reflect the heritage of the Pueblo Indians. Before on-campus events, a Land Acknowledgement is read to recognize that the land is connected to the communal and ceremonial spaces of the Jicarilla Apache (Apache), Pueblos of New Mexico, Hopi Sinom (Hopi), and Diné (Navajo) Nations.

The Fort Lewis College lacrosse team was started in the 1980s and now plays in the RMLC DII conference of the MCLA. The history of the school and the area inspires the team with a unique perspective in playing a truly Native American sport. A big way the team honors the Indigenous people of the area is through their helmet and uniform design. For the past 20+ years they have included different decals which includes the Skyhawk logo, sacred feathers worn by native members in the community, and patterns and designs used by multiple tribal communities within the Four Corners region.

I spoke with Skyhawks midfielder, Kyen Attakai, a full blooded Navajo whose clans are Tábaahá (Water edge ), Trizi Láni (Manygoats), Tsé Nikini (Cliff dweller), and Tótsohnit (Bitter water) who had this to say.

“My experience growing up in the Navajo Nation was one of the best experiences I could have had. When I was young, living in Whitecone, Arizona, with my two grandparents (nalí), we lived five miles from the main road, more than 50 miles from the nearest grocery store, and further from any town or city. Within my household, I had multiple family members living in a three-bedroom house, including me, my mom, dad, older sister, my six aunts, and my uncle. The house also had no running water, which I thought was normal at the time. Even when visiting relatives and family friends, they were all living in the same situation, and some were without electricity also. Growing up this way with my family, I never thought of it as a hard lifestyle because, for many generations, Native Americans have lived this way. In the Navajo culture, we are taught a lot of values throughout our life about family, nature, and living in balance. I’m very fortunate to be able to go to Fort Lewis College to get my degree in exercise physiology. They do a good job respecting our cultures and giving resources to learn some native cultures, which helped me cope with going to school away from home because other students were in the same situation. Fort Lewis was only five hours away from but within driving distance to be with family. Fort Lewis is also the place where I found the game of lacrosse. Playing on the Fort Lewis College Men’s Lacrosse team, we have built a brotherhood going into every game, battling for each to come out with a win. We, as a team, will welcome any newcomers who will come to work hard and have fun playing a great game. The Navajo Reservation is not known for the sport of lacrosse; it’s known for basketball. Navajo Nation has some of AZ’s biggest high school basketball stadiums. I played basketball in high school and saw how big it has grown in my town and reservation. Lacrosse has been more of a northern and eastern sport. When I found lacrosse in 2021, I had never played before or ever seen the sport played in person. I picked up a stick and did everything I could to learn and be the best I could at lacrosse. The game is a Native American sport, and that stuck out to me, and I took pride in a game that the creators had given us. Back in March, I had the opportunity to introduce the game to my hometown. We host a weekend of games inviting the community to come and watch. This past year it’s been my goal to grow the game of lacrosse not only as a player but as a teacher of the game.”

To learn more about the Fort Lewis College Lacrosse team check out their website and follow them on Instagram to see them working hard towards their goal of winning the RMLC DII.

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The Florida State Women’s Lacrosse team is currently operating as a non-varsity sport at the University with the intention of achieving varsity status. Plenty of teams have made the jump from club to varsity. However, FSU is doing something almost no team has ever attempted; bringing the University to court unless given varsity status.

The Seminoles play in the Division I West conference of the Southeast Women’s Lacrosse Conference (SWLL) within the Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Associates (WCLA), which includes Auburn, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Alabama Birmingham. Historically, they have always been a solid program within the region and nationally. This past year they went 15-3 and made it to the national tournament, where they lost to eventual champions Boston College in the first round. Off the field, they do a great job with their social media, running their website, selling merchandise, and recruiting new players.

The average person and burner Twitter accounts believe that Title IX means “to add a men’s sport, you need to add a women’s sport.” However, it goes a little deeper than that. I won’t give too much detail on the subject because there is much to know, but this article along with this one explains the topic much more in-depth. The main issue is FSU has an 11% gap between men’s and women’s opportunities. Given the number of men on the varsity teams, this means FSU needed to add 195 women to its athletic program to provide substantially proportional opportunities for women.

The Florida State Women’s Lacrosse team argues that filling this gap requires FSU to make lacrosse a new varsity team at the school. To show how serious they are, the team retained Arthur Bryant, a lawyer from Bailey Glasser, who was lead trial counsel in the first Title IX case tried against a university for discriminating against its women athletes and potential athletes.

Sophia Villalonga is leading the charge on this Title IX pursuit. Villalonga is a second-year graduate student in computer science and has been team president for the past two years. She will be a member of the Seminoles team for her 6th season this year (club lacrosse legend). On July 7th, she sent an extremely detailed email to the school showing the Title IX violations, a varsity women’s team plan, and letters of support from Duke and South Florida’s women’s coaches (both NCAA DI programs). The school refused to hear the team’s plan and immediately shut down the idea of adding any new varsity sports. Bryant was hired shortly after to represent the program. Bryant agreed to represent them.

Every player and alum of the team hopped on board to support the plan, as well as the aforementioned Duke and South Florida coaches along with USA Lacrosse. In the next few months, it will be no surprise if they gain more support from other NCAA DI Women’s Lacrosse teams, other women’s club teams, and lacrosse fans nationwide.

The situation is simply a case of women fighting for equal representation in the sport and school they love. Villalonga stated, “I love FSU. I have loved every moment at FSU and on the club team, and I even decided to attend grad school here because I wanted to stay a part of them both. We are not fighting the school out of malice; we are fighting for women’s equality. Title IX has been in place for 51 years. Closing the gap is past due.”

To support the team, follow them on their social media account, donate or buy their merchandise, and read more on Title IX to get a better understanding.

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The two biggest struggles college club lacrosse teams face are staying organized and presenting themselves as a legit team. It can be difficult for players to manage balancing a budget, collecting player dues, recruiting new players, ordering gear, and scheduling games and practices. This becomes even more of a challenge when everyone in charge graduates, and a new set of kids are left to pick up where the graduates left off. As for the latter struggle, your school won’t give you much money or support, and your team isn’t well-known on campus. A solution to both of these problems is creating a website for your team, and the best company to create one is OptimX Sports.

OptimX Sports was founded in 2021 with the mission to provide teams with the most accessible and affordable platform to create a professionally tailored sports website. They found that many current sports website platforms needed to be updated and were unaffordable, with many of the features being offered as either redundant or impractical for many teams. OptimX Sports was created to provide the market with a platform that made web development extremely easy for people regardless of their backgrounds. The company’s ultimate goal is to create a sports platform where the “Tech Dad” is no longer necessary for web development, and any of the volunteers on a sports team could maintain all the required components of a website with little to no issue. OptimX Sports is a no-code web platform that anyone of any background can use.

“We believe that we offer the best and most affordable sports management web technology on the current market. We are cheaper than the most well known competitors in this space, but also provide just as many features. Most importantly, our platform is the easiest to use. It takes a customer no longer than 20 minutes to have a professional website for their sports team. We offer a platform that ensures there is less time and frustration dedicated to web development, so there is more time that can be dedicated on the field.”
-OptimX Sports Founders

The company started out mainly working with ACHA (the hockey version of the MCLA) teams and then added college club rugby teams. This past December, they began working with MCLA and club lacrosse teams from other leagues. Today, they have created websites for over 200 men’s and women’s college club hockey, rugby, and lacrosse teams.

Managing Administrative Needs All in One Place

Club teams must worry about many tasks: collecting player dues, ordering gear, collecting interest forms from new players, selling merchandise, selling tickets, and collecting donations. These tasks are all difficult on their own and get even more complicated when every single task uses a different Google Sheet, survey form, or website, just to name a few. With an OptimX Sports website, every single administrative need for a team can be put in one place, and with the freedom to design the website however you want, you can add as many or as few of these features to your website.

Easy to Use and Maintain

Many companies advertise their website builders as easy to use, but some people still struggle or don’t have the time for it. With OptimX Sports, they take care of building and updating the website; all you have to do is tell them the information they want.

Easily Transfer Responsibilities Every Year

A problem with websites is that sometimes the kid running the site graduates and stops updating it, and the new people in charge can’t keep it running. OptimX Sports will continue to run and maintain your site every year, no matter how much the leadership on the team changes.

It’s Inexpensive

At $200 a year it is less expensive than other website building companies, and cheaper than hiring someone to do it.

Look More Professional

OptimX is the best solution for making your team look more professional. The websites are so well done that it appears your club team is part of the NCAA athletic department at your school. If your team is looking to bring in more fans and recruits, presenting your team professionally is a great way to start, and OptimX is there to help you out.

Here is an example of Louisville’s site.

Below are concerns we’ve heard about getting a website and reasons why you don’t have to worry about them.

“We Have a Twitter and Instagram, People Can See All the Info They Need on Those Platforms”

One group is left out of that statement: parents. As most people know, parents aren’t knowledgeable about social media, and some struggle to find the info they need on Twitter and Instagram. A website allows parents and fans of your team who aren’t tech-savvy to find the information they need. Not having a website means you’re stopping many people from helping your team grow and giving support.

“I Don’t Know How to Run a Website, I Didn’t Go to School for That”

Good news, the guys at OptimX Sports did, and they do a great job building and maintaining the website so that you don’t have to stress about it.

“We’re Not a Serious Team, We Have No Need for a Serious Website”

OptimX does a great job of making professional websites for the most competitive and intense club teams out there. However, the platform also allows teams to have fun with it and not take it so seriously while still having the benefits of organizing the team and getting information to parents and fans. One team that did this well was Cornell. Here is a link to their website. Their website has funny recaps of games, joke bios, and roster pics, yet it still serves a great purpose in helping the team stay organized and connect with potential players and alums.

“We Already Have a Website”

OptimX is better.

If you or your college club lacrosse team is interested in getting a website through OptimX Sports, feel free to email varsityclublacrosse@gmail.com or DM one of the Varsity Club Lacrosse social media accounts. If you have no questions and are ready to sign up use this link!

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Oregon, and specifically the Portland area, has produced a lot of great lacrosse players, such as former No.1 overall MLL pick and Tewaaraton Winner, Peter Baum (Lincoln/Colgate), MCLA legend and former MLL player Connor Martin (Lakeridge/Chapman), current Whipsnakes pole Colin Squires (West Linn/Denver), and many more who had success at the college and pro level.

The area is producing more great players than ever, such as Sam Handley (Jesuit/Penn) and Tucker Dordevic (Edison/Syracuse/Georgetown), who were each PLL first-round picks this year. High school lacrosse has been growing; more schools are getting teams, and teams are improving yearly. Despite all of this, lacrosse at the college level is going down. Seven schools are located within an hour of Portland that all once had teams at the MCLA level for multiple years that no longer play in the league, and five don’t play at any level. The University of Portland and Western Oregon are the expectations as they both have a team but are not currently in the MCLA. Oregon, Oregon State, and Southern Oregon all play in the MCLA and have had solid programs.

Below is a look at the seven college lacrosse programs in Oregon who have left the MCLA.

Multnomah

A private Christian school located in Northeast Portland. They only have about 500 students and host NAIA athletics. This past season was their first and final season. They finished 2-3 and were coached by Keegan Matsukado, the University of Portland’s most recent coach.

Western Oregon

Western Oregon is located in Monmouth, about an hour outside of Portland, so not really part of the area, but I figured I’d include them. They are an NCAA DII school (GNAC) with about 4,000 students. They weren’t officially in the MCLA this past season, but just hired former Second Team PNCLL Attackman, Wyatt Livengood, and plan to play in the MCLA for the 2024 season. The most storied of the Oregon DII programs, they have six conference championships, which is tied for the most in PNCLL with Montana. I detailed their championship runs in this article.

University of Portland

The University of Portland is a Catholic, NCAA DI (West Coast Conference) school located in the University Park neighborhood of Portland overlooking the Willamette River with around 4,000 students. The Pilots started playing in 2009 in the PNCLL DII. They were conference runners up in 2011-13 and 2015. Their last season was 2019, they finished 3-7 under Head Coach Keegan Matsukado and Assistant Coach Joel Donnelly. This upcoming season they’ll be taking the field again, but won’t officially be back in the MCLA yet. They’ll be student coached and emphasize player input.

Portland State University

Portland State is a public, NCAA DI (Big West) school in Portland that has about 26,000 students. They joined the MCLA in 2009 and started PNCLL DI, but moved to PNCLL DII in 2015, and last played in 2018. Despite not playing since then, they had two alumni play at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship; Fabian Finster played for Switzerland and Nikolaj Lund suited up for Denmark.

Willamette

Another one that’s not really in the Portland area, but I figured I’d include it. Willamette is located in Salem, about an hour south of Portland. They also are NCAA DII (NWC) with close to 2,500 students. They started playing in the 70s/80 and played their last MCLA season in 2012.

Lewis & Clark

This school of about 5,000 in Portland started playing in 1997 and won their first and only PNCLL DII Championship in 2003. They last played in 2008 before Portland or PSU even really got their programs started.

Linfield University

Linfield is similar to Willamette in terms of distance to the city and school size. Located in the suburb of McMinnville with an enrollment of 2,000 and host NCAA DIII athletics. They started playing pretty early on in the 90s, finished as conference runners-up in 2002, and stopped playing in 2007.

The University of Portland and Western Oregon give hope that these schools can and will return to playing once again. These teams are all student ran and often need more school support. They usually need more funding from the schools, have trouble raising money, and need more numbers due to low enrollment with no time or budget to recruit. Once teams start again, they will get more financial and moral support from these schools and find models to run a sustainable program. We look forward to watching college lacrosse in Oregon grow.

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For the most part, the MCLA consists of large universities. These universities do well in the league because they have a large student population to get players from. However, plenty of small schools succeed in the MCLA and have had consistently great programs. About ten years ago, a school with under 4,000 students in a non-traditional area won their conference six straight times and still holds the record for most conference championships. That school is the Western Oregon Men’s Lacrosse program.

Western Oregon University is located in Monmouth, about an hour southwest of Portland and an hour away from the coast. They have NCAA Division II athletics, play in the GNAC, and have a student population of around 3,700. The team started around 2004 and started their championship run just four years later in 2008. The Wolves went 11-3 that year and 8-1 in the conference thanks to their explosive offense, which averaged 15 goals a game and scored over 20 six times. They also had four players score 60+ points, led by Calvin Davis, who had 86. They won their first-round game by 16 but lost the next round to eventual champions Westminster.

Over the next three seasons, all led by Head Coach Dave Homma, featured the Wolves dominating the conference with great players on both sides of the ball. During this period, they picked up multiple new 60+ point scorers and locked down poles yearly, all of which being guys from the Portland area and other parts of Oregon. In 2009 they won in the first round again, beating now NCAA Division III Southwestern, before losing in the second round again.

In 2012, Justin Eckenroad, a 2x All-PNCLL midfielder at Oregon, took over as Head Coach. That season they started to play more challenging out-of-conference competition which led to a worse record, but they ended the season as conference champions in 2012 and 2013, capping off a six-peat.

The Western Oregon lacrosse run ended in 2014 when they lost to Western Washington. However, they still made nationals and won in the first round to get their third and most recent nationals win. After that, the team stayed competitive but never at the level they once were, and also went through a couple of coaches. 2022 was their last season listed on the MCLA website, so it’s tough to tell if they played in 2023. Recently, they posted on their Instagram that they are looking for players and coaches, so there’s a good chance they’ll be back.

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Dominican University of California will be adding NCAA Division II Lacrosse for both men’s and women’s for the 2023-24 school year as an independent, hoping to join the RMAC the following year. They will be the only school in California to have both their men’s and women’s teams at the NCAA level and the second to ever do so. Whittier had both up until this past season, but both programs were cut, unfortunately.

The men’s team previously competed at the NCAA DII level from 2009 to 2014 before switching to the MCLA DI level to play in the WCLL Conference. Their move leaves the WCLL with seven teams. Concordia Irvine will also be joining NCAA DII from the MCLA, meaning there will be two men’s NCAA teams in California for the first time since 2014, when Dominican and Notre Dame de Namur both had NCAA DII teams.

Dominican Lacrosse Men’s Head Coach Sammy Vogel-Seidenberg had this to say about the move. “We are very excited to be going back to NCAA DII, the goal when we moved from NCAA DII to the MCLA was to always to get back to NCAA DII. I quickly realized that to make this happen we needed to add women’s lacrosse, luckily with some hard work we were able to do that, and Coach Manna did an amazing job building a competitive team which made it clear we were ready to move back to NCAA DII. What I am most excited about is how we are growing the game on the west coast and the hope is that we can continue to bring NCAA lacrosse to the west coast. The players and team are excited to compete at a higher level and get a chance to put California lacrosse on the map.”

The women’s team will be making history as the first ever NCAA DII women’s team in California. They are leaving the WWLL conference which competes at the WCLA DI level.

Dominican Lacrosse is Going NCAA Division 2

Joseph Manna, the Head Coach of the women’s team, had this to say. “Excited would be an understatement, hats off to everyone who made this happen, particularly our players and administration at Dominican. As soon as I stepped foot on the campus, I knew Dominican was the perfect spot for Women’s Lacrosse. To be the first ever NCAA DII Women’s Lacrosse program in California is an incredible honor. Our players are pioneers and have already opened so many doors for future growth of the game. It’s definitely a huge bonus we get to make the Jump with the Men’s Lacrosse program. Dominican Will have around 80 NCAA DII Lacrosse athletes on campus next year, it’s certainly becoming a place for lax!” 

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A new king sits on top of the throne as the Utah Valley Men’s Lacrosse program is having a phenomenal year. The Varsity Club Lacrosse boys have been on top of MCLA this season giving us weekly breakdowns and rankings. Let’s see what they have to say for Week 10.

Division I

1. Utah Valley

The Wolverines are 9-1 with their only loss being a one goal one to #7 Liberty at home. They have wins over South Carolina on the road and Cal Poly and Boise State. This weekend they have a huge test against #11 Georgia Tech.

2. Boston College

The Eagles haven’t lost a game since their season opener at #15 FSU. This weekend they are off, but next weekend they play CLC opponent #10 Northeastern which have huge effects on CLC playoffs.

3. Florida

Would most likely be #1 if not for their one loss to #2 BC at home. They have 11 wins including ranked ones over South Carolina, Georgia, and Colorado. They play their final game against rival #15 FSU at home this weekend. With a win they clinch a bye in the SELC tournament.

4. Georgia

The Dawgs only loss is to #3 UF back in February. This weekend they play #14 South Carolina who is also a SELC North opponent. They also play a solid Tennessee team this weekend as well. 

5. San Diego State

One of two undefeated teams, they play USC this weekend. A win will get them to 4-0 in the SLC which will almost guarantee a spot in the SLC tournament.

6. Virginia Tech

The Hokies just got a huge win over #9 Concordia at home to move to 11-2. They have two losses to Georgia Tech and South Carolina, but neither affect their conference standing. They play their final game on 4/15 against NC State.

7. Liberty

They only have two losses to Virginia Tech and South Carolina, and this weekend have a huge test against #9 Concordia. They play their final game against James Madison on 4/15. A win gets them the #1 seed in the ALC North.

8. Chapman

They only have losses to BC and Cal, but are still undefeated in SLC and they have a chance to move to 4-0 this weekend if they beat UCLA.

9. Concordia

The Golden Eagles are 7-2 with a lot of big wins, but two bad losses to #18 Arizona State and #21 Cal which puts them at 3-1 in the SLC as the playoff races heats up.

10. Northeastern

This past weekend they dropped a tough one to then unranked Auburn, but made up for it with a win at Georgia Tech. They’ve taken three long road trips, but stay in New England for the rest of the season.

11. Georgia Tech

They started the season 9-0, but have dropped the last three to Liberty, UGA, and Northeastern. They’re SELC season is over, and this weekend they have a chance to build their at-large resume against Utah Valley and BYU in Utah.

12. Simon Fraser

The other undefeated team in Division 1. They play their first home games against Western Washington and Washington State.

13. BYU

They’ve dropped 2 of the last 3, but have a great chance to bounce back this weekend and improve their at-large resume with a win over Georgia Tech at home.

14. South Carolina

Probably the highest ranked team in any sport at any level ever to have a losing record. They dropped seven straight after their first game, but have since beaten Virginia Tech and Liberty, both of whom were #1 seeds at the time. They have another big one against #4 UGA. A win keeps their SELC playoff hopes alive.

15. Florida State

The Noles started 10-0, but have dropped their last three to UGA, Auburn, and Colorado. They play rival Florida this weekend, a win will get them a bye in the SELC tourney.

16. Colorado

The Buffs have played less games than most ranked teams, but recently had a huge win on the road over FSU. They start conference play this week with a game against Utah.

17. Arizona

They have a SLC loss against SDSU, but have another conference game this weekend against GCU, which is a must win in an always competitive SLC playoff race.

18. Arizona State

ASU has some big out-of-conference wins, but also two conference losses which makes their game on 4/15 against GCU a big one.

19 .Cal Poly

The Mustangs are 5-5, but are still undefeated in WCLL. This weekend they play division opponent Santa Clara, a team that has a couple upsets this season.

20. UCSB

5-4, but just like Cal Poly their still undefeated in WCLL. This weekend they play division opponent Stanford.

21. Cal

The Bears are below .500, but they have two Top 10 wins, and are still undefeated in WCLL. They play division opponent Nevada this weekend.

22. Oregon

The Ducks have a huge game this weekend against #23 Boise State which is also a PNCLL game. A win will move them into second in the conference.

23. Boise State

Dropped a tough one to UVU this weekend, but they have a chance to move into the first place spot in the PNCLL with a win over Oregon this weekend.

24. Colorado State

They start RMLC play this weekend against Texas and Utah. They loss the three ranked games they played, so it’s looking like they need to win these conference games to keep their nationals hopes alive.

25. Auburn

After starting the season 1-6, the Tiger have won six straight which includes ranked wins over Florida State and Northeastern. They locked in an SELC playoff spot and finished their season this weekend against rival Alabama.

Division II

1. San Marcos

Still undefeated, they play another SLC game this weekend against UC Irvine.

2. Rhode Island

Just like San Marcos, they’re undefeated with only conference games left, all which they’re favored to win.

3. Florida Gulf Coast

Undefeated with only one game left, this weekend they play rival FAU. A win gets them a #1 seed in the SELC tourney.

4. Montana State

They only have one loss to St. Thomas. This weekend they pay #11 Utah State, which is likely the RMLC finals game.

5. Missouri State

This past weekend they beat GVSU, but lost to St. Thomas which will hurt their at-large bid chance. They also beat Drury which means they’ve won the LSA North. They only have two out-of-conference games left against UMD and SJU.

6. Grand Valley State

They’ve already won the UMLC East and now just have two Division 1 games left before the UMLC tourney.

7. St. Thomas

This weekend they have a huge UMLC West game against UMD. This past weekend they lost to GVSU, but got a big win over Missouri State.

8. Montana

They have the most wins in Division 2 and two losses to Montana State and San Marcos. This weekend they play a big out-of-conference game against #11 Utah State.

9. Wake Forest

Another undefeated team, they have wins over Kennesaw State and Coastal Carolina. They still have a big conference game left against UNCC on 4/16.

10. UC San Diego

They only have one loss against Montana and just got a big win over Utah State. This weekend they play newly ranked San Diego, who is also a SLC South opponent.

11. Utah State

They’re coming off an out-of-conference loss to UCSD, but are still undefeated in RMLC. They look to stay undefeated in RMLC when they play Montana State this weekend.

12. Charlotte

They’ve played less games than most ranked teams. On 4/16 they play Wake Forest which is looking like the ALC title game.

13. Kennesaw State

They haven’t played since 3/28 when they lost to WFU. They look to get back on track this weekend against App State.

14. Air Force

They haven’t played since March 5th, but have two conference games against Southern Utah and Fort Lewis this Saturday.

15. Duluth

Just got a division win in the always competitive UMLC DII. They play St. Thomas this weekend, which should be a huge test for the Bulldogs.

16. College of Idaho

They got a huge out-of-conference win against UC Davis. They play Saint Mary’s this weekend before playing a huge conference game against Montana on 4/14.

17. Western Washington

The dark horse in the PNCLL playoff race, they clinched a playoff spot and finish the season against Simon Fraser and Multnomah.

18. Florida Atlantic

A team with some big wins, but also with some bad losses. This weekend they play FGCU, a win get them a #1 seed in the SELC tournament.

19. North Dakota State

Another team with big wins, but a record that doesn’t necessarily reflect that. They play St. Thomas on 4/16.

20. Dayton

Just like NDSU and most UMLC teams, they have some big wins, but also some losses due to their tough schedule. They play Miami (OH) next week before playing St. Thomas and SJU.

21. Saint John’s

With a loss to UMD, they need to beat St. Thomas on 4/21 to keep their UMLC playoff hopes alive.

22. Northern Arizona

They play Claremont this weekend and with a win they win the SLC North and get a #1 seed in the tournament.

23. Northwest Nazarene

Back in the rankings after being out for a couple weeks, they a had huge win over UC Davis this past weekend.

24. UC Davis

They dropped three last weekend, but are still undefeated in WCLL and look to keep that going this weekend against SJSU and UC Santa Cruz.

25. San Diego

Ranked for the first time this year, they play UCSD this weekend, a win will move them into second in SLC South.

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Let’s take a look at what the Varsity Club Lacrosse boys think of the MCLA rankings for Week 9. Teams like Florida have been on a hot streak with only a few games left in their lacrosse season. How will nationals play out in the coming weeks?

Division I

1. Liberty

It’s been a month and a half since The Flames lost to Virginia Tech, and are now on a seven game win streak. This weekend they beat Pitt and West Virginia giving them sole possession of 1st in the ALC North.

2. Georgia Tech

The Jackets haven’t had a DI win since March 5th, but this weekend is probably their biggest game of the year. Not only are they playing their rival Georgia, but the Dawgs are also ranked 8th making this one of the biggest “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate” games in the past couple of seasons.

3. Boston College

The Eagles had to cancel their games last week against South Carolina and NC State. This weekend they play CLC opponent Buffalo and Michigan State in Buffalo. Their only loss is to #14 FSU

4. Utah Valley

Only loss is to #1 Liberty, this weekend they have a big out of conference game against #16 Boise State. After that they have Georgia Tech and then three straight RMLC games against BYU, Colorado, and Colorado State.

5. Florida

The Gators are 10-1 and they only have two games left in their season. This weekend they have UCF, a win against the Knights will put them 3-0 in SELC South going into their final game against FSU.

6. Virginia Tech

This past weekend they beat Tennessee to move to 3-0 in the ALC South. On 4/6 they have a huge OOC game at home against #10 Concordia Irvine.

7. San Diego State

At 7-0 they are the highest ranked undefeated team and are coming off a win against #15 Arizona in Tuscon. They have this weekend off before playing four straight SLC games to finish the season.

8. Georgia

The Dawgs haven’t beat Georgia Tech since 2013 in the SELC Championship Game, but this year is the best chance they have. They are sitting at 9-1 with a ranked win over #14 FSU.

9. Chapman

Chapman is 2-0 in the SLC, and play USC this week. A win can almost guarantee they’ll make the SLC Tournament

10. Concordia Irvine

The Eagles have two tough losses to #20 Arizona State and #21 Cal, but in almost every other game they’ve been dominant even against multiple ranked teams.

11. Northeastern

This weekend will be Northeastern third huge road trip as they travel down south to play at Auburn and at #2 Georgia Tech. After that they will play all four of their CLC games to end their season. Wins this weekend could set them up for at the very least an at large bid.

12. Simon Fraser

SFU has only played four games, but they’ve won all four on the road, the most recent being #13 BYU. This weekend they play UW in the States.

13. Brigham Young

The highest ranked three loss team. They’re currently on a two game losing streak, but have a chance to break it this weekend at home against #18 Cal Poly.

14. Florida State

The Noles started off 10-0, but have now dropped the last three to end the season including an SELC South game to Auburn. Their last game is against #5 Florida, a must win to get a #2 seed in the SELC Tournament.

15. Arizona

The Cats are coming off a home loss to SLC opponent #7 SDSU, but have a chance to bounce back this weekend against an unranked, but very good TCU.

16. Boise State

Boise is 7-1 with their only loss being to #13 BYU, this weekend they have a big OOC ranked game against #4 Utah Valley in Orem.

17. UC Santa Barbara

The Gauchos have a ranked win over #21 Cal, but lost their last game to #9 Chapman. They have this weekend off, and have Stanford and Cal Poly left. They need to win one of two to have a chance at the WCLL Tournament

18. Cal Poly

This weekend CP has a chance to get their third OOC ranked win when they play #13 BYU in Provo.

19. Oregon

The Ducks have a ranked win over #20 Arizona State. Their off this weekend before finishing their season with three PNCLL games. They have a conference loss to #12 SFU so these next three are must wins.

20. Arizona State

After being ranked as high as #10 at one point early in the season, The Sun Devils fell out of the rankings, got back in, and are now on the rise. This weekend they play TCU and look to get above .500

21. Cal

Cal beat their rival, Stanford 22-7 this past weekend and look to keep it going this weekend against Sonoma State. They still have two other WCLL North games left after in Dominican and Nevada.

22. Southern Carolina

USC is 3-7, however they do have a win over #6 Virginia Tech. This weekend they have a huge game against #1 Liberty. While they can still win the SELC Tournament to get a Nationals bid, they need to win this to at least come close to getting an at-large bid. 

23. SMU

SMU has win over #21 Cal, but two unranked losses to Santa Clara and Temple.

24. Colorado

The Buffs just got a win over #14 FSU, and now will finish their season with Texas, and all four RMLC games.

25. Colorado State

CSU is 4-4 with all four RMLC opponents and Texas left on their schedule. They are the only ranked team without a ranked win.

Division II

1. San Marcos

San Marcos is 6-0 with wins over #14 Air Force and #8 Montana. This weekend they play PLNU, and UCSC and look to move to 3-0 in SLC DII South.

2. Rhode Island

The Rams are undefeated with ranked wins over #11 Grand Valley St, #13 Kennesaw State, and #24 Miami. The rest of their season is just CLC DII games, and they are looking like the favorites to win the CLC again.

3. St. Thomas

It’s been a month since the Tommies played, and they only have a win over #4 Montana State and #8 Montana. This weekend is huge as they play #6 Missouri State and #11 Grand Valley State in Michigan

4. Montana State

The Bobcats are on a six game win streak since losing to #3 UST in February. They have this weekend off, but next weekend they play #7 Utah State.

5. Florida Gulf Coast

The Eagles are 6-0 with a win over #10 Charlotte in the Queen City, and #19 Duluth and #24 Miami at home. This weekend they have an SELC game against North Florida.

6. Missouri State

The Bears are 4-0 with wins over #20 Florida Atlantic, #21 North Dakota St #22 Dayton. This weekend they play #3 St. Thomas and #11 Grand Valley State.

7. Utah State

Another undefeated team in DII, this weekend they have two huge OOC games against #12 UC San Diego and #23 Northern Arizona.

8. Montana

The Griz are 10-2 with a ranked game against #15 UC Davis as well as one against a very good unranked Northwest Nazarene.

9. Wake Forest

The lowest ranked undefeated team, they are 8-0 with ranked wins over Coastal, Kennesaw State, and FAU. They don’t play again until 4/12

10. Charlotte

The highest ranked team with no ranked wins, their only ranked game is a two goal loss to #5 FGCU. Every other game for them has been a 20 point win.

11. Grand Valley State

Proved they are a Top 15 team by beating #21 NDSU and #22 Dayton, both conference opponents. They have another big weekend at home against #3 St. Thomas and #6 Missouri St.

12. UC San Diego

They have a ranked win over #16 College of Idaho and have another chance at a ranked win this weekend against #7 Utah State, a team that beat COI by the same amount as them.

13. Kennesaw State

They have a ranked win over Coastal Carolina and two one goal ranked losses to #2 URI and #9 Wake Forest. They are still undefeated in SELC and only have North Florida left in conference play.

14. Airforce

Only loss is a four goal one to #1 CSUSM, other than that they’ve beat every team by almost 20 points

15. UC Davis

Undefeated but haven’t played any ranked teams. They have a huge weekend against #8 Montana and #16 COI.

16. College of Idaho

Started the season off with two 1 goal losses to #12 UCSD and #7 Utah State, and now look to get a ranked win over #15 UC Davis this weekend

17. Western Washington

Had two big road wins over Claremont and Long Beach St. They now look to get another PNCLL DII North win over Central Washington this weekend.

18. Saint John’s

They play their first UMLC West game this week against a UMD coming off of two ranked wins. Their best win is over Northwest Nazarene.

19. Minnesota-Duluth

2-4 record, but they’ve only played ranked teams. They have wins over #20 FAU and #24 Miami, both on the road.

20. Florida Atlantic

The Owls have a ranked win over #21 NDSU, and have the biggest game of the season this weekend against Miami. A win gets them in the SELC Tournament.

21. North Dakota State

The Bison are 3-6, but they’ve only played two non-ranked opponents. They have ranked wins over #19 Duluth and #22 Dayton.

22. Dayton

Started off well, but had a tough past weekend that featured losses to #21 NDSU and #11 GVSU. They look to bounce back this weekend against Elon and App State.

23. Northern Arizona

They had big wins over UC Irvine and Biola this weekend. Look to get their first ranked win over #7 Utah State this weekend.

24. Miami

Miami plays FAU this weekend. They already have a loss to FGCU and so if they lose this they miss the SELC Tournament and most likely the National Tournament

25. Coastal Carolina

5-3 with no ranked wins and close losses to Georgia Southern, #9 Wake Forest and #13 Kennesaw State

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

The 2023 MCLA season has been extremely diverse. It can be difficult to track where every team stands in the rankings due to how even the playing field. Your favorite team may pull out a big win one week and then be upset the next. That’s the way the cookie crumbles. The Varsity Club Lacrosse boys are here to give you their thoughts on the current MCLA standings.

Division I

1. Liberty

The Flames flew to Utah and beat both Utah Valley and BYU on each of their home fields. Their only loss is to #6 Virginia Tech, and they now have five straight ranked wins.

2. Georgia Tech

Their only loss is a three goal one to #1 Liberty at a neutral site and their ranked wins are over #6 Virginia Tech, #22 Cal, and #24 South Carolina. Their final four games are against UGA, Northeastern, BYU, and UVU.

3. Boston College

The Eagles only loss is to #9 Florida State, and they have ranked wins over UF, UCSB, and Chapman.

4. Utah Valley

The Wolverines dropped their first of the season to #1 Liberty over the weekend, but still have a ranked win over #24 South Carolina on the road. Their six remaining games are against ranked teams.

5. Florida

Their six goal win over #8 UGA is looking better and better, but their loss to #3 BC is keeping them from being ranked higher. This weekend they play USF and #17 Colorado.

6. Virginia Tech

It feels wrong moving VT from #1 to #6 after just one week, but the Hokies are now the highest ranked 2 loss team, and South Carolina was 1-7 going into their game this weekend, which VT lost.

7. San Diego State

The Aztecs are the only undefeated team besides Simon Fraser and have wins over #16 UCSB and #23 Arizona State. This weekend they pay #14 Arizona, with a win SDSU would have sole possession of SLC DI.

8. Georgia

The Dawgs had two huge wins over Pitt and #9 Florida State this weekend to move to 8-1. Their only loss is to #6 Florida from back on the first week of February. The Dawgs still have two ranked games, which are also both conference games against GT and USC. 

9. Florida State

The Seminoles lost for the first time this season against #8 UGA. They are 10-1 with ranked wins over South Carolina, BC, and Colorado State. This weekend they play Auburn and with a win they clinch at least 2nd place in SELC South.

10. Chapman

Chapman is 8-2 with four ranked wins, and two ranked losses to BC and Cal. They are 2-0 in SLC DI, and have a big out of conference games against #16 UCSB this weekend before playing five straight SLC games in a row.

11. Concordia

The Eagles have four ranked wins on the season all by a good amount, however losses to #22 Cal and now #23 Arizona State are keeping them out of the Top 10. Besides their four remaining SLC games, they also play Virginia Tech and Liberty in Virginia.

12. Brigham Young

With CUI losing to ASU, their eight goal loss to CUI is looking even worse. They are 7-2 in DI, with ranked wins over #15 Boise State and #23 Arizona State.

13. Northeastern

The Huskies are 5-2, but haven’t played in almost a month now. They now have two ranked wins with Arizona staying ranked and Arizona State moving up to #23.

14. Arizona

The Wildcats also haven’t played in almost a month, but have a big weekend against #7 San Diego State and #20 Oregon. Their only ranked win is against #22 Cal.

15. Boise State

The Broncos are now 5-1 in DII after they beat Oregon State and Sonoma State this weekend. They have a big OOC game against #4 Utah Valley, before finishing the season against PNCLL opponents Oregon, SFU, and Washington.

16. UC Santa Barbara

Another team that hasn’t played in a while. They’re 5-3 with their three losses coming from #3 BC, #7 SDSU, and #11 CUI. This weekend they have a big OOC game against #10 Chapman.

17. Colorado

The Buffs have no ranked wins, but have a chance to change that this weekend when they travel to Florida to play #5 Florida and #9 Florida State. They don’t play their first RMLC game until 4/6.

18. Simon Fraser

The only undefeated DI besides SDSU, this weekend they play #12 BYU, which should show were SFU really belongs considering they have only played three games so far.

19. Cal Poly

The Mustangs got a huge ranked win over #22 Cal this weekend in what was a rematch of last year’s WCLL Championship. They are now 5-3 with games against Utah Valley and BYU, both in Utah coming up.

20. Oregon

Got back in the rankings after Arizona State, who they beat earlier in the year, got back in the rankings. Their two losses are to #18 Simon Fraser and #19 Cal Poly, both games were lost in OT. This weekend they play Arizona and Utah.

21. Colorado State

The Rams stay above .500 with a home win over a solid UNH team. They have no ranked wins, but all four of their losses are to Top 10 teams. They play Texas next before playing all four of their RMLC games in a row to finish the season.

22. Cal

The Bears lost to #19 Cal Poly this weekend to fall to 3-6, however they have wins over #10 Chapman and #11 Concordia which is keeping them ranked at least. This weekend they play rival Stanford.

23. Arizona State

ASU keeps their SLC playoff hopes alive with a win over #11 Concordia. They are 3-2 in SLC DI with Arizona and Grand Canyon remaining on their schedule. They most likely need to win both just to make the SLC Playoffs.

24. South Carolina

They are 2-7, however gave #6 Virginia Tech just their second loss of the season. All seven of their losses are to ranked teams and they have never lost by more than five.

25. SMU

SMU is 7-2 with a ranked win over #22 Cal on the road which is why they’re still ranked. Their losses are to Temple at home and a 13 goal loss to 2-6 Santa Clara. Their five remaining games are all LSA DI games, four of which are at home.

Division II

1. Rhode Island

The Rams didn’t play this weekend, so they remain #1. They have wins over #9 Kennesaw State and #14 Grand Valley State, but do not play any more teams that are currently ranked.

2. St. Thomas

The Tommies also didn’t play so they stay at #2. They only have one ranked win over #3 Montana State, but 6 of their next 7 DII games are against teams that are ranked in this poll.

3. Montana State

MSU beat MSU Denver by nine to solidify their spot at #3 still.

4. Montana

They got their fifth ranked win this weekend after beating #11 UC San Diego by two on the road. They have a huge game this weekend against #6 Cal State San Marcos.

5. Missouri State

The Bears didn’t play this weekend, but their wins over North Dakota State, Dayton, and Florida Atlantic are all ranked wins now. They play Washington (Mo.) this weekend.

6. San Marcos

They got their fourth straight win in which they scored 19 or more points. This Tuesday, they play #4 Montana at home in just their second out of conference game.

7. Charlotte

The 49ers are 3-0 in DII with no ranked wins. That could change this weekend however, when they host #10 FGCU as well as a pretty good Bridgewater State team.

8. Utah State

The Aggies are 6-0 in DII with ranked wins over Saint John’s and College of Idaho. They still have Northern Arizona, UCSD, Montana State and Montana left on their schedule.

10. Florida Gulf Coast

The Eagles stayed undefeated over the weekend with a close win over now ranked Minnesota – Duluth. They have a huge weekend this week with games against #7 Charlotte and Bridgewater State, both in Charlotte.

11. UC San Diego

Got their second ranked win over Northern Arizona, but followed it up with their first lost against #4 Montana at home. Next game they have #8 Utah State, and still have conference rival and #6 San Marcos left as well.

12. Dayton

The Flyers had the weekend off, and will now face #14 Grand Valley State and #23 North Dakota State this upcoming weekend, both conference games.

13. Wake Forest

After beating a solid Baylor team, the Deacs remain undefeated in DII. This weekend they host two ranked opponents in #9 Kennesaw State and #25 Coastal Carolina, the latter of which is a conference game.

14. Grand Valley State

The Lakers have still only played three games, but this weekend they host #12 Dayton and #23 North Dakota State, and the following they host #2 St. Thomas and #5 Missouri State.

15. Air Force

They have no ranked wins, but in all five of their wins they scored at least 19 points. Their remaining three games are against unranked opponents, but are all conference games which will affect their RMLC playoffs chances.

16. UC Davis

Undefeated, but have only played three DII games. They have this week off for games, but the following week they play a solid Northwest Nazarene and #4 Montana.

17. College of Idaho

A tough team to rank because they have only played three DII games. Their one win is a big one over Claremont, but they also have two 1 goal losses to Utah State and UCSD. They play their first PNCLL DII South conference game this weekend against Pacific Lutheran. 

18. Western Washington

The Vikings’ one DII loss is to #4 Montana, which was a close one. If they can beat Central Washington they’ll get a spot in the PNCLL DII tournament.

19. Saint John’s

The Johnnies are 2-1 in DII with a close loss to #8 Utah State. They have this weekend off, but get a chance to get their first UMLC DII South win against Duluth in two weekends.

20. Duluth

This weekend UMD traveled to Florida and went 2-1 against all ranked teams. They lost by one to #10 FGCU, but bounced back with wins over #21 FAU and #22 Miami. They finished their season against #2 St. Thomas, #5 Missouri State, and #then #1 Georgia Tech, however their loss to Virginia Tech at home makes them second to the Hokies. They play #8 BYU and #11 Utah Valley this weekend in Utah.

21. Florida Atlantic

FAU now has four losses all to ranked teams, and one ranked win over #23 North Dakota State. They’re still undefeated in SELC DII and their remaining two games are against conference opponents #10 FGCU and #22 Miami.

22. Miami

Almost the same situation as FAU, they have three ranked losses, but no ranked wins. They have one game left against #21 FAU, which will have huge SELC DII Playoff implications.

23. North Dakota State

The Bison are 2-4 with losses to #3, #4, #5, and #21, but an early win against now #20 UMD gets them back in the rankings.

24. North Arizona

Went 1-2 this past week in San Diego, with the two losses coming from #7 San Marcos and #11 UCSD. They have one remaining ranked game against Utah State

25. Coastal Carolina

Lost to #10 Kennesaw State this weekend to fall to 5-2. They have a chance to bounce back this weekend against #13 Wake Forest.

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

Last week was certainly interesting to say the least. We are starting to get a sense of where teams stand in the national rankings, but there is still some uncertainty teams outside the top five. Florida State looks to be a serious contender with multiple ranked wins over quality programs. Liberty sits comfortably towards the top of the MCLA lacrosse pack due to recent big wins. Boston College could potentially win out the rest of the season with momentum. There are still many storylines and things to look out for in the MCLA.

Division I

1. Virginia Tech

Lost to Georgia Tech last week, but beat Liberty earlier in the season, who just beat Georgia Tech this past weekend. Virginia Tech gets the #1 seed over the other two because their win over Liberty was on the road.

2. Liberty

Beat then #1 Georgia Tech, however their loss to Virginia Tech at home makes them second to the Hokies. They play #8 BYU and #11 Utah Valley this weekend in Utah.

3. Georgia Tech

They have a win over Virginia Tech at home, and a loss to Liberty at a neutral site, so I put them at #3, but you could make a case for them at #2 and #1.

4. Florida State

The highest ranked undefeated team, with wins over #5 BC, #21 Colorado State, and #24 Tennessee. Put them at #4 because they beat Colorado State by less than Liberty and Virginia Tech did. They play #18 Pitt and #14 Georgia this weekend.

5. Boston College

Just completed a huge road trip beating #16 UCSB, #11 Chapman, and a very good unranked Southern California. Their only loss is to #4 FSU, and they also have a win over #6 Florida.

6. Florida

Got their second ranked win this weekend after beating #21 Colorado State, they have #17 Colorado and #4 FSU remaining for ranked games.

7. Concordia

Their loss to #19 Cal is looking a little worse after Cal dropped some games recently, but they still have wins over #8 BYU and #16 UCSB. They’ll play a very good unranked GCU team this weekend.

8. BYU

The Cougars are 7-1 with they’re only loss being to #7 CUI. They only have one ranked win (#15 Boise State) but a couple of those teams could be ranked soon. They host #2 Liberty this weekend.

9. Utah Valley

The highest ranked undefeated team after FSU. None of the seven teams they beat are ranked anymore, but they have a chance to prove they belong this weekend against Liberty.

10. San Diego State

5-0 with one ranked win over #16 UCSB, they play Washington this weekend, before ending the season with five straight SLC DI games.

11. Chapman

Lost to #5 BC this past week, but beat South Carolina and #23 Cal Poly. Their win over #12 Northeastern is looking better their loss to #19 Cal is starting to look a little bit with Cal’s recent losses.

12. Northeastern

Ended their AZ roadtrip with an OT loss to a very good unranked GCU. They don’t start CLC play until April and have three out-of-conference games coming up including one against #3 GT on 4/2.

13. Arizona

The Wildcats have one ranked win over #19 Cal and one ranked loss to #12 Northeastern at home.

14. Georgia

The highest ranked team with no ranked wins, they have a chance to change that this weekend when they play #4 FSU and #18 Pitt.

15. Boise State

The next highest ranked team with zero ranked wins, they play two pretty good unranked teams in Oregon State and Sonoma State this weekend.

16. UC Santa Barbara

Ended their losing streak with a commanding win over Santa Clara. They still have a ranked win over #19 Cal and all three of their losses are to ranked teams (BC, CUI, SDSU).

17. Colorado

They have losses to #1 and #2, and no ranked wins. They’ll play a solid UNH team this week, but don’t get into their RMLC schedule until April.

18. Pitt

Undefeated and now with a ranked win over #24 Tennessee, they have a huge test this weekend when they head to Athens to play #4 FSU and #14 UGA.

19. Cal

The Bears are 3-5, which does not look to good at the surface, but they still have wins over #7 CUI, and #11 Chapman which is keeping them ranked. Their losses are to #1, #3, #13, #16, and #24 SMU. Their five remaining games are all against WCLL opponents.

20. Simon Fraser

Have only played three games, all three wins over unranked, but very good teams. Their biggest game of the year is in two weeks against #8 BYU.

21. Colorado State

They now have four losses, all to ranked teams (#1, #2, #4, and #6), and just two DI wins (Nebraska and Texas A&M). They have chance to bounce back this week when they host UNH.

22. Southern Methodist

They got their first ranked win on the road, when they beat #19 Cal, but couldn’t keep the momentum going the next day when they lost to Santa Clara. They’re 7-2 with another unranked loss to Temple.

23. Cal Poly

None of their wins are over ranked teams anymore, but they have a chance to change that this weekend when they play #19 Cal. Their three losses are to an unranked USC, #7 CUI, and #11 Chapman.

24. Tennessee

The Vols are 6-3, with one ranked win over #25 West Virginia and losses to Clemson, #4 FSU by one, and #18 Pitt by two.

25. West Virginia

Started the season with a loss to #24 Tennessee, but followed it up with five straight wins over Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, James Madison, and NC State. They play #2 Liberty in two weekends.

Division II

1. Rhode Island

Undefeated with ranked wins over #9 Kennesaw State, #13 Grand Valley State, and #18 Miami. The rest of their season consists of five straight CLC DII games, and one CLC DI game. None of those teams are ranked so it might be tough to keep them #1 even if they go undefeated depending on how many ranked wins the teams behind them can rack up.

2. St. Thomas

The Tommies have a win over #3 Montana State and a loss to #4 Montana. They don’t play a game until 4/1 so there shouldn’t be much movement in this part of the rankings.

3. Montana State

They have a win over #4 Montana and a loss to #2 St. Thomas, no other ranked wins, but all other wins are against solid teams, and they won by a decent amount each game.

4. Montana

A loss to Montana State keeps them ranked under them, however they do have ranked wins over #2 St. Thomas and #21 Western Washington. They’re taking a trip to CA to play #6 San Marcos, #11 UCSD, and Loyola.

5. Missouri State

The Bears are 3-0 with wins over #12 Dayton, #16 FAU, and NDSU. They get a chance to meet ranked teams again in three weekends when they play #2 St. Thomas and #13 GVSU.

6. San Marcos

They have a ranked win over #15 Air Force, and two big conference wins over San Diego and Long Beach State. Their upcoming games are against #17 NAU, which could end up being an SLC DII finals game, Loyola, and #4 Montana.

7. Charlotte

Moved them below CSUSM and MSU just because those two teams have ranked wins and they do not, however they have a chance to earn one at the end of the month against #10 FGCU.

8. Utah State

The Aggies have two ranked wins over #22 Saint John’s and #20 College of Idaho. They still have 4 ranked DII games left, as well as two DI games in BYU and Utah.

9. Kennesaw State

They lost by one to #1 URI earlier in the year, and have a huge ranked win over #23 Georgia Southern. This weekend they have a ranked SELC DII game against #24 Coastal Carolina.

10. Florida Gulf Coast

They’ve only played on DII game against #18 Miami, which they won by eight. They play a solid unranked team in Duluth this weekend, but don’t finish SELC DII play until April.

11. UC San Diego

Started the season with a ranked in over #20 College of Idaho, and followed it up with five straight 20+ point SLC DII wins. This Thursday they play #17 NAU in what could be a SLC DII finals matchup.

12. Dayton

They have a ranked win over #16 FAU and a close loss to #5 Missouri State. They started conference play in two weeks against #13 GVSU and NDSU.

13. Grand Valley State

Started their season with wins over solid Bridgewater State and Central Connecticut State teams, but lost to #1 URI by six. They’ll try and bounce back this week against Butler and Louisville.

14. Wake Forest

Undefeated with a ranked win over #16 FAU, they’ll play another team undefeated in DII in Baylor this weekend.

15. Air Force

They lost to #6 San Marcos earlier in the year, but besides that they have five wins in which they scored 19 or more points. Their remaining three games are all against unranked RMLC DII teams.

16. Florida Atlantic

They have the most losses out of any ranked DII team, but they were all by two goals or less to #5, #12, and #14. Their remaining games are Duluth, #18 Miami, and #10 FGCU.

17. Northern Arizona

They’re 3-0 and will play #6 San Marcos and #11 UCSD this week for their first ranked games.

18. Miami

They have a ranked win over #23 Georgia Southern, and ranked losses to #1 URI and #10 FGCU. Their only remaining games are against Duluth and #16 FAU.

19. UC Davis

They are the only ranked WCLL team and have only played three DII games, all wins over unranked teams, so it is hard to judge how good they really are. They play Northwest Nazarene and #4 Montana at the end of the month.

20. College of Idaho

Have unfortunately had to cancel some games, so they’ve only played three DII games, a win over Claremont and two one goal losses to #7 Utah State and #11 UCSD.

21. Western Washington

No ranked wins, but a DI win over Washington State and a close ranked loss to #4 Montana. They could end up being a sleeper team in the PNCLL DII come April.

22. Saint John’s

No ranked wins, but two over two solid DII teams in Colorado Mines and Northwest Nazarene. They play Minnesota Duluth next.

23. Georgia Southern

Two ranked losses to #18 Miami and #9 Kennesaw State keep them ranked this low, but a ranked win over #24 Coastal Carolina keeps them ranked. Their remaining schedule includes, a DI team, an NAIA team, and a ranked DI team in FGCU.

24. Coastal Carolina

5-1 with the only loss being to #24 Georgia Southern. They dominated in all five wins, however the five teams they beat have three DII wins between them, all three wins are one of the five teams beating another. Their next three games against #9 Kennesaw State, #14 Wake Forest, and #7 UNCC should give a better look at where the Chants belong.

25. Tulane

They are undefeated against DII teams, and just beat DI Illinois the day after the Illini took down then #18 LSU.

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

Following a week of chaos, this past week of club lacrosse brought even more storylines and movement amongst the Varsity Club Lacrosse MCLA Week 6 Rankings. With Georgia Tech now sitting at the top of the MCLA lacrosse throne, can the Yellow Jackets go the distance this year? Can Liberty take down the new No.1 this week? How will Virginia Tech recover from their heartbreaking loss? So many questions with so little answers.

Division I

1. Georgia Tech

The Yellow Jackets have been in the Top 5 all year, they just needed a chance to prove they were #1. They did just that this weekend when they beat then #1 Virginia Tech at home. They then confirmed they #1 overall by beating one of the best teams on the West Coast, Cal, 16-11. 

2. Virginia Tech

Only lost to Georgia Tech by one, which was they’re first lost, so they’re right up there with GT. They also beat Cal by seven really showing that they’re #2. 

3. Florida State

Only beat unranked Tennessee by one, and unranked Vanderbilt by two, which doesn’t look to good from a #3. Wins are still wins and they’re still undefeated with a win over #5 Boston College. 

4. Liberty

Had the weekend off, but face #1 GT this weekend. They have wins over #19 Colorado, #20 Colorado State, and Temple who just upset SMU. They have also played VT the closest besides GT, only losing by four and leading for some of the game.

5. Boston College

Beat Florida and then took a month off, they then beat #16 UCSB in Santa Barbara and will play Chapman and Southern California this week. Their loss to FSU was only by one so they have the potential to overtake them in the rankings depending on how each of their schedules go.

6. Florida

Beat TCU and WMU at a neutral Florida location. Neither are ranked wins, but they’re still good teams that they beat by a good amount. Only loss is to BC by two which is why they are right behind them. Their six goal win over #13 UGA earlier in the season keeps looking better. 

7. Concordia

The loss to Cal definitely hurt them a lot, but since then they beat Cal Poly by 19 and #16 UCSB by five, and now play #25 South Carolina on Tuesday. They beat #12 BYU by eight earlier in the year, which is looking really good right now.

8. Chapman

They beat a good Clemson team by five over the weekend, but the really reason they moved up is because of #9 Northeastern, a team they beat, beat Arizona and Arizona State in back to back days. 

9. Northeastern

Flew across the country to play back-to-back games outside after playing every game inside domes in Minnesota and Massachusetts. They came away with a big win over #10 Arizona and an OT win over an unranked, but very good ASU team. These will probably end up being some of the top road wins any team has. 

10. Arizona

Lost their first game to Northeastern at home by three, but followed it up with an 11 goal win against a good Southern California team. They have a win over #11 Cal and all but one of their remaining games are against ranked opponents. 

11. Cal

They have two huge wins (#7 CUI, and #8 Chapman), but also two losses keeping them from being higher (#10 Arizona and #16 UCSB). This weekend they faced #1 GT and #2 VT in Atlanta, two games they ultimately lost, but they kept it relatively close. 

12. BYU

An eight goal loss is never good to have on your schedule, but it’s looking better now that CUI is moving up. They have wins against UCLA, USC, ASU, GCU, and Michigan State. All unranked teams, but all some of the best unranked teams. They host Boise State and UNH this weekend. 

13. Georgia

Didn’t play this past weekend, and won’t play this upcoming weekend. They have wins over Clemson and Auburn, two unranked, but rising teams. They don’t get to the tougher games of their schedule until late March/April.

14. Utah Valley

The Wolverines beat Oregon State by ten to move to 5-0. Their only ranked win is #25 South Carolina, but they have a good chance to prove themselves this weekend against USC and GCU.

15. San Diego State

Beat UCSB to get their first ranked win, and third road win to move to 4-0. The Aztecs will look to keep it going this weekend against UCLA.  

16. UC Santa Barbara

Started off strong, but now have three straight losses to #7 CUI, #5 BC, and #15 SDSU, all three close losses to very good teams. They also still have a win over #11 Cal keeping them ranked this high and a chance to redeem themselves this weekend against Santa Clara. 

17. Boise State

Move to 4-0 with a 14-5 win over Nevada. A team that has been doubted a lot will have a chance to really prove themselves when they play BYU in Provo this weekend. They also play a very good DII in College of Idaho a couple days before. 

18. LSU

Beat Ole Miss by six, and then a very good Kansas team by one. They are 8-0 overall and are looking like the favorites in the LSA so far, however they still need to play SMU and Texas to get there. 

19. Colorado

Beat a solid Texas A&M team by four and will host UNH this upcoming weekend. Losses to VT and GT aren’t looking as bad. 

20. Colorado State

Have played the exact schedule, and have had almost the exact results as Colorado, but will play Florida instead of UNH this weekend, which should give a better look at where the team is at. 

21. Simon Fraser

Beat their rival #24 Oregon in OT over the weekend to move to 3-0. They have a couple weekends off before going to Provo to play BYU.

22. Pitt

5-0 with no ranked wins, but all over solid opponents and they’re still undefeated. Biggest win is against #5 Penn State (NCLL). In two weekends they face a huge test when they play UGA and FSU in Athens.

23. Cal Poly

The Mustangs are 4-2 with wins over #24 Oregon and #25 South Carolina. They also have a seven goal loss to unranked USC and a 19 point loss to CUI, which is definitely keeping them this low. They play at #8 Chapman this weekend.

24. Oregon

Two wins over Dominican and Arizona State and two over losses to #21 SFU and #23 Cal Poly meaning they could easily be 4-0 and ranked a lot higher. They host Washington State and Texas State next.

25. South Carolina

The best 1-5 team out there. They have losses to #6 Florida by one, #3 FSU by two, #1 GT by five, #16 UVU by one, and now #23 Cal Poly by one. They’re next four games are against #7, #8, #2, #5, so they have plenty of chances to redeem themselves.

Division II

1. Rhode Island

Beat Maine this weekend and have ranked wins over #10 Kennesaw State and #18 Miami. They have a huge game this weekend against #6 GVSU, which will be the Lakers first weekend of games.

2. St. Thomas

Lost to #4 Montana by two, but beat #3 Montana State by four. They have the entire month of March off and then play #8 Missouri State and #5 GVSU he first weekend of April. 

3. Montana State

Beat #4 Montana to win their sixth straight Copper Cup. They are 3-1 and play #21 NDSU and MSU Denver this weekend. 

4. Montana

They’re 6-1 with a win over #2 St. Thomas and a loss to #3 Montana State. They’ll play #21 NDSU and MSU Denver this weekend as well. 

5. Charlotte

Have only played two games, both unranked, but they won both by a decent amount. First ranked game will be FGCU on the last week of March 

6. Grand Valley State

The Lakers haven’t played a game yet, but we’re keeping with their Week 0 ranking. They will travel to New England to play #1 Rhode Island and #25 Bridgewater State this weekend. 

7. San Marcos

They beat San Diego 26-9 and Long Beach State 30-4. Their preseason win over DI #16 San Diego State is looking better and better each week. 

8. Missouri State

The Bears beats #15 Dayton, #16 FAU, and #21 NDSU in the span of two days. A weekend opening weekend for them, but I also don’t know how to justify ranking them higher than every other team when they don’t have any common opponents. 

9. Utah State

Now 5-0 in DII with one ranked win over #24 Northwest Nazarene. They’ll play another ranked opponent in #17 Saint John’s this week. 

10. Kennesaw State

Beat then ranked Georgia Southern by 10 over the weekend. They have two ranked wins, but a loss to #1 URI which is holding them back from being higher. 

11. UC San Diego

This weekend they beat UC Irvine 29-1 for their 3rd straight 20+ point game. They have ranked wins over #23 College of Idaho and #24 Northwest Nazarene. 

12. Florida Gulf Coast

Beat #18 Miami by eight in their first DII game. Could have them higher, but again every team above them is also winning so it’s tough to justify moving them over any of them. 

13. Wake Forest

Had the weekend off, but are still 5-0 including a ranked win over #16 FAU.

14. Air Force

Blew out UTSA in their 4th 20+ point game, with their other win being 19-8. Their only loss is #7 San Marcos. 

15. Dayton

Beat #16 FAU by two, but lost in OT to #8 Missouri State in their first weekend of games. Have the next two weekends off before playing NDSU and GVSU. 

16. FAU

4-3 with a ranked win over #21 NDSU, three ranked losses by two points are less to #8 Missouri State, #15 Dayton, and #13 Wake Forest, so they could easily be 7-0 with four ranked wins.  

17. Saint John’s

The Johnnies are now 3-0 with a ranked win over #24 NNU and will now play #9 Utah State this week. 

18. Miami

Miami is 5-3, with losses to DI FSU, #1 URI and #12 FGCU. They no longer have ranked win after Georgia Southern dropped out. They only have two games left against Minnesota Duluth and Florida Atlantic.

19. Northern Arizona

Beat Southern Utah 31-3 and Fort Lewis 10-5. These are the only games the Lumberjacks have played so it’s still kinda hard to judge them. They play #7 San Marcos next week. 

20. UC Davis

Another team that’s only played two games so it’s hard to know how good they really are. They’ll play their second DI game this weekend against Sonoma State.

21. North Dakota State

Lost to Missouri State and FAU, but finished the weekend with a solid win over Drury.

22. Western Washington

Got their fifth win of the season this week against Gonzaga. Their only losses are to DI Washington State, and #4 Montana. They are looking like a sleep team to win PNCLL DII. 

23. College of Idaho

1-2 record, but two losses are one goal each to #9 Utah State and #11 UCSD. Their next game is against DI Boise State. 

24. Northwest Nazarene

Lost back to back games against #17 Saint John’s and #8 Utah State. They have a chance to redeem themselves against Humboldt and Central Washington this weekend. 

25. Bridgewater State

Had a solid comeback to tie NCAA DIII Mass Maritime in a scrimmage. They’ll play their first DII game this weekend against #6 GVSU. 

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

The Montana Men’s Lacrosse program had a huge weekend after taking down previous #1 St. Thomas and Minnesota Duluth. They jump to top ranked spot in D2 with other schools jumping all over the place across both polls.

Division I

1. Virginia Tech 

After beating Colorado and Colorado State by 10 and 12, they’re a pretty obvious #1. They play in what could be the game of the year this year when they head to Atlanta to play #2 Georgia Tech. 

2. Georgia Tech 

Not that far back from Virginia Tech, they had a scare over the weekend when they were down to unranked Clemson at half, but they came back and won by four. They will host #1 seed Virginia Tech, in what will be there first #1 vs #2 game this year.

3. Florida State 

Beating DII teams in pretty expected by ranked DI teams, but 19-5 and 20-4 wins over DII ranked #22 Georgia Southern and #15 Miami are very good wins for FSU. They head to Nashville this weekend to play Tennessee and Vanderbilt. 

4. Arizona 

The Wildcats had the weekend off, but have tough home matchups against #14 Northeastern and USC. They only play ranked or formerly ranked teams from now on. 

5. UC Santa Barbara 

The Gauchos have had some doubters after winning all of their games by five or less goals, but they have a huge chance to prove themselves this week when they host #10 Concordia.  

6. Liberty 

Best one loss team out there considering it was to Virginia Tech, they swept Colorado teams this weekend beating the Buffs by one and the Rams by five. They’re off this weekend but get Georgia Tech on the 11th. 

7. Boston College 

Haven’t played in two weekends and have also played the least amount of games out of Top 10 teams. This weekend will be huge for the Eagles when they head west to play at #5 UCSB and at #11 Chapman. 

8. Florida 

The Gators beat Auburn to start 1-0 in the SELC South, and now play two unranked, but very solid teams in Western Michigan and TCU in Pensacola. 

9. Cal 

After a somewhat slow start, Cal bounced back and has really proved to be a Top 10 team with their win over Chapman. Now they have the toughest weekend any team might have this year. They will be flying cross country to Atlanta to play the #1 and #2 teams in the country back-to-back days. 

10. Concordia 

The Golden Eagles were heavily favored to win it all this year, possibly even more now since the news of them going NCAA DII dropped, but some of the hype went away after their loss to Cal. However they are looking likely championship favorites again after beating a very good Cal Poly team 21-2, and now have a chance to keep it going when they play UCSB on Tuesday. 

11. Chapman 

Beat a solid Santa Clara team by seven to solidify they’re spot in the Top 15. They have a chance to prove it even more this weekend at home against an unranked but rising Clemson team and #7 Boston College. 

12. BYU

The Cougars haven’t played since their eight goal loss to CUI on 2/11, but get a chance to show where they really stand this week. They travel to Tempe to play three very good unranked teams in Arizona State, Grand Canyon, and Michigan State.  

13. Georgia 

The Dawgs completed the turkey 20-burger this weekend after beating rival Alabama 21-7. A big thing holding them back however is a six goal loss to Florida from earlier in the season. They get the next two weekends off before playing again. 

14. Northeastern 

The Huskies are taking their second flight of the year, this time to Arizona to play the #4 Wildcats and unranked, but possibly soon to be ranked Sun Devils. They’ve still only played two DI games, this a good chance to show they belong in the Top 15. 

15. Utah Valley 

They were one of the last ranked teams to play a DI game so it was pretty hard to tell just how good they were, but this weekend showed they should have been ranked higher all this time. They beat a solid unranked NC State by eight and then upset defending champs South Carolina on a last second goal, both games on the road, and now play in-state rival Utah in SLC this weekend. 

16. LSU

The Tigers beat rival Tulane by 12 and then beat defending LSA Champions TCU by one. They look to move to 5-0 in LSA DI this weekend when they play Kansas and Ole Miss. 

17. SMU

Were unranked up until now and proved everyone wrong by beating #18 Texas by nine goals in Austin. Now 3-0 in the LSA, they look to keep it going this weekend against Oklahoma and Temple. 

18. Boise State 

A team that was only ranked by us so far, and even we only had them in the bottom three of the rankings. They proved everyone wrong, beating Utah by three goals. This weekend they host Washington State and Nevada. 

19. Utah 

The Utes lost a close one to Boise State and get to redeem themselves this weekend against in-state rival Utah Valley. Last year when the two met Utah Valley won by three, but it was also Utah’s first ever game, so it should be interesting to see how this game goes. 

20. South Carolina 

Possibly the only team to start 1-4 and still be ranked in any sport at any level. They stayed ranked despite the record considering how close the losses were, and how good the teams are. They have losses to #8 by one, #3 by two, #2 by five, and #15 by one goal they let up in the last 20 seconds. Their season somehow gets even tougher this weekend, when they travel to California to play at CP and CUI.  

21. San Diego State 

After starting the season with a loss to DII CSUSM, the Aztecs stayed unranked, but have since proved everyone wrong by beating Arizona State by nine, and then beating Sonoma St. and Dominican on the road. They have a huge game this weekend against UCSB. 

22. Colorado 

Lost to #6 Liberty by just one goal before losing to #1 Virginia Tech by 10. Tough to know if they should be ranked right behind Liberty or pretty far away from VT. They host Texas A&M this weekend which should give a better idea of where they’re at.

23. Colorado State 

Lost to Liberty and VT by a little bit more than Colorado did which is why they’re right behind them. Also tough to know where they really stand so this weekend against Texas A&M should help. 

24. Simon Fraser

Beat a solid Nevada team by 20 and a really good Santa Clara team by one. Have a huge rivalry game this weekend against Oregon. 

25. Oregon 

Their win against Arizona State is looking better as the Sun Devils are rising, but their loss to Cal Poly and win over Dominican aren’t looking as good after both teams lost this week. They have a chance to really prove themselves this weekend against rival Simon Fraser. 

Division II

1. Montana

Took over the #1 spot after beating past #1 St. Thomas, and then solidified it with a win over Minnesota Duluth. This weekend they have a huge rivalry game against #12 Montana State. 

2. Rhode Island 

Not that far off from Montana, they mainly got the #1 spot for beating St. Thomas. They had the week off this weekend, but play their first CLC DII game against Iona this weekend. 

3. St. Thomas 

Lost a tough one to Montana to move out of #1, but beat #12 Montana State to keep them in the Top 3. The Tommies have the entire month of March off then play Missouri State and GVSU the first week of April. 

4. Charlotte 

Easily handled conference opponent Davidson 19-6, and now have the weekend off from games.

5. Grand Valley State 

Still don’t play until 3/9, but still confident they’re a Top 5 team which is why they’re staying. 

6. San Marcos

Had the weekend off, but now play two SLC DII opponents in a surging San Diego team and a solid Long Beach team.

7. Missouri State 

The Bears play their first games this weekend against North Dakota State, Dayton, and Florida Atlantic, which should be a huge test for them.

8. Utah State 

They beat two new, but pretty good Utah teams in Utah Tech and Southern Utah. They have two more solid DII games this weekend against Northwest Nazarene and Colorado Mines. 

9. Kennesaw State 

They beat DI Vanderbilt and Mizzou this weekend, and now head to Statesboro to play a ranked conference opponent in Georgia Southern.

10. UC San Diego 

They beat Claremont 23-7 last week and play two more SLC DII teams in Point Loma Nazarene and Arizona Christian. Good chance they could move higher than #10 after this weekend. 

11. Florida Gulf Coast 

The Eagles are 2-0 against DI teams and now play their 1st DII game against ranked conference opponent #16 Miami at home. 

12. Montana State 

Split this past weekend beating Duluth and losing to St. Thomas by four. They play in one of the best rivalry games this weekend against now #1 Montana. 

13. Wake Forest 

Have quietly moved up in the rankings every week and made another case for themselves to be even higher after beating UNCW 14-9. They take on DI Auburn and a solid DII team in Baylor this weekend. 

14. Florida Atlantic 

The Owls have a huge test this weekend in Springfield when they play Missouri St, Dayton, and North Dakota St in the span of two days. None of the games are conference ones, but wins against these teams could solidify an at-large bid come April. 

15. Miami 

Started ranked low, but have proven themselves every week. This week they beat ranked conference opponent, Georgia Southern, by six at a neutral location. They have an even bigger test this weekend against #11 FGCU. 

16. Air Force

Won three conference games by a combined 68-24, and now play out-of-conference opponent UTSA at home, before getting a month off.

17. Saint John’s 

Probably should have been ranked all along, but it was tough to tell if they should be considering this weekend was their first time playing MCLA teams. They beat DI Iowa State by two and head to Utah this weekend to play Northwest Nazarene, Mines, and USU. 

18. North Dakota State 

Put them right behind SJU since they lost to Iowa State by one. Huge weekend ahead of them when they play Missouri State, Florida Atlantic, and Drury in Springfield.  

19. Dayton 

Kept them around here so far just because they had a good season last year and they haven’t played at all yet, but have heard from people that they are going to be a Top 10 or even Top 5 team. They play Drury, Missouri State, and FAU this weekend. A sweep would for sure put them in the Top 10.  

20. UC Davis 

Beat Humboldt 21-3 and then took a month off from games. They’re back this weekend with one game against WCLL DII foe Saint Mary’s 

21. Northern Arizona 

Haven’t played yet so kept them ranked low, but have faith they’ll stay ranked after they play Southern Utah and Fort Lewis this weekend.

22. Georgia Southern 

Lost a tough one to Miami this weekend, but their win against CCU is looking better and better which is keeping them ranked. They have a huge game this weekend against Kennesaw State. 

23. Coastal Carolina 

The Chants beat Elon 14-3 this weekend to move to 5-1. The one loss is to GSU which is keeping them ranked this low, but they have time to keep rising.

24. College of Idaho 

Should have probably stayed ranked last week, so they’re back after realizing that. They play Boise State and Cal Poly Humboldt in two weeks.

25. Northwest Nazarene

The Nighthawks got two good wins this weekend against Idaho and Chico State. This weekend they have #8 Utah State and #17 Saint John’s, both in Logan. 

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

Concordia University Irvine is a private Lutheran school of about 4,000 students located in Irvine, California with a very successful men’s lacrosse program. In the span of 15 years they were able to start an MCLA DII lacrosse program from scratch, win five conference championships, a national Championship, move up to MCLA DI, have multiple players play professionally, and move up to NCAA Division 2.

Their inaugural season was 2009 when they joined the MCLA to play in the SLC DII. They had 22 players, and went 1-8 with their only win being over Occidental, a school a fourth of the size of theirs which no longer has a team. Their first head coach was Will McMinn who played at UC Santa Barbara. 

After a first tough season, the Golden Eagles never looked back and started their SLC dominance. The next two seasons they went 10-4 and 13-3, and in 2012 they qualified for the national tournament in just their fourth season. 

In 2013, Ryan Brent, another former UCSB player took over as HC and they won their first SLC Tournament and made the national tournament again where they ultimately lost in the first round. They continued to win the SLC DII Championship every year until 2017. In that year they captured their first national championship with a 13-10 win over St. Thomas, which also happened to be played 30 minutes from their campus. 

After winning the Division II National Championship, they moved up to SLC DI, and Ryan Brent stepped down as HC and former Maryland and Bayhawks defenseman Brian Cooper took over. They found immediate success going 12-1 before losing to Chapman in the SLC finals and Liberty at nationals. 

Former Stony Brook midfielder Jesse Foss took over in 2019 and saw the same results of 12 wins, an SLC finals loss, and a first round of nationals loss. This past season they finished the regular season with 13 wins, but again finished with an SLC tournament loss and first round of nationals loss. Despite the recent playoff struggles, the Golden Eagles proved without a doubt they are one of the top MCLA DI teams. Now in their final MCLA season they hope to win it all and also become the first team to win a DII and DI MCLA National Championship. 

The switch to the NCAA may come as a surprise to a lot of people, but the Golden Eagles were definitely well prepared for it. On the field, they practice more often and harder than the average MCLA team, and off the field they have already been recruiting DII and above caliber players as well as bringing in NCAA DI and DII transfers every year. 

Their new conference, the RMAC, features two other former MCLA teams in Westminster and CSU Pueblo, as well as Adams State and Colorado Mesa. Adams State lost in scrimmages to Colorado and Air Force this year, and Utah Valley and BYU played close scrimmages against Westminster recently. Concordia University Irvine has already beaten BYU this year by eight, and are currently ranked higher than the other three MCLA teams mentioned so I think the Golden Eagles will do just fine next year. 

Another factor that can lead to success is that Concordia University Irvine will have the only NCAA Men’s Lacrosse team in California. Whittier, an NCAA DIII team located about an hour away has seen consistent success at that level recruiting California players. Unfortunately, Whittier will no longer be NCAA, which means a lot of DII/DIII level recruits out of California will now look to Concordia as a top choice. 

A lot of new NCAA teams struggle initially mainly because they have to start from scratch. Concordia has a huge advantage going into NCAA already having a great coaching staff, solid roster, and a culture of winning, so I’d say they are definitely ready for next season in the NCAA.

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

Florida State Lacrosse had a big weekend upsetting multiple top ten teams! These Week 4 rankings include the most amount of movement we have seen due to most teams really diving into their schedules now.

Division I

1. Virginia Tech

After beating all of their first four opponents by at least 13 points, they proved they should be the #1 seed after beating #5 Liberty in Lynchburg. Next weekend they get to host Colorado and Colorado State. 

2. Florida State

An unranked team to start the season, they have defeated #8 Boston College, #1 South Carolina, and a solid UCF team by 25. The Noles host two DII teams next week in Georgia Southern and Miami. 

3. Georgia Tech

The Jackets went into the fourth quarter of their first game tied with Auburn, and came out with a three goal win. Since then, they won their next three games by 19, 16, and 20. This upcoming Friday will be a rematch of last year’s national championship when South Carolina comes to Atlanta. 

4. Arizona

The Wildcats started off hot beating UCLA by three and Cal by four. They get the weekend off, but then have another tough weekend with Northeastern and Southern California back to back days. 

5. UC Santa Barbara

Another team that started unranked and quickly moved into the top of the rankings. The Gauchos have four wins, three of them being conference wins including a comeback from being down 9-1 in the 1st against Dominican.  

6. Liberty

The Flames started the game up 4-1, but Virginia Tech came back to win the highest ranked game of the season so far. They get a chance to bounce back this weekend at home against Colorado and Colorado State. 

7. Boston College

The Eagles didn’t play this week, but their one goal loss to FSU and win over UF are looking very good after both teams defeated South Carolina.  

8. Florida

Bounced back in a huge way by beating #1 South Carolina at home. They look to move to 5-1 and get their first SELC South win when they play Auburn this weekend.  

9. Cal

Started the season with a tough five goal loss to UCSB but bounced back with wins over Santa Clara and Concordia Irvine, to get them a conference win and a huge out of conference win to help their playoff resume. Then the next day they lost to Arizona however, which is why they fell behind them in the polls. 

10. Concordia

Moved up to #3 after beating a very good BYU team by 8, but then lost to unranked Cal by three at home this weekend. They host a surging Cal Poly team this upcoming weekend. The Eagles only have two opponents left on their schedule that are currently not ranked, but both very good. 

11. South Carolina

Lost to Florida by one and Florida State by two, neither of which affect their SELC North record however.  Next weekend they have a National Championship rematch against Georgia Tech in Atlanta and then play Utah Valley at home the next day.

12. Chapman

Were ranked #16 last week mainly because they hadn’t played yet. They showed were they really belong after beating a solid Minnesota team on the road by 21, then beating #9 Northeastern by 3. This upcoming weekend they travel Northern California to play Cal and Santa Clara. 

13. Brigham Young

The Cougars did not play this week and will not play this upcoming weekend, but play Arizona State, Grand Canyon, and Michigan State the first weekend of March. The loss to Concordia is looking a little worse since they also have a loss now, but they have plenty of time to move back up to the Top 5. 

14. Georgia

A team that started unranked and has now climbed their way up to the Top 15, They’re only loss is to Florida, and in three of their five wins they’ve scored 20+ points including on Auburn and UNH, who’ve both received votes in the MCLA Coaches Poll. They have a rivalry game against Alabama this weekend.

15. Grand Canyon

The Lopes still haven’t played yet, so we just moved them back to around their preseason poll place. They head to SoCal to play USC and UCLA this weekend, two teams right outside the Top 25. 

16. Northeastern

Lost a close one to Chapman, then followed it up with a win against a solid Minnesota team to finish their MN trip. They play Bridgewater State at home, before taking another long trip to AZ to play Arizona, Arizona State, and Grand Canyon. 

17. Colorado

Beat Nebraska 19-1 to start the season, and now travel to Virginia to play Virginia Tech and Liberty back to back days. After this weekend they still have four more very tough out of conference opponents before RMLC play starts. 

18. Texas

The Longhorns beat a Texas A&M team by one that LSU beat by seven, but it’s still too early to let something like that affect the rankings that much. This weekend they play an SMU team that went 3-0 this past weekend. 

19. Colorado State

Same situation as Colorado. They beat Nebraska 25-1, travel to play Virginia Tech and Liberty this weekend, and then have four more really good out of conference games to play. This weekend should show where the Rams really belong in the poll after they got off to a later start than most teams. 

20. Utah Valley

Haven’t played an MCLA DI game yet, but they did keep it close against NCAA DII Westminster last weekend. They travel to play NC State and South Carolina this weekend, which like the three teams above them should give a more accurate look at where they stand. 

21. LSU

Had the weekend off, but get ready to play in-state rival Tulane and LSA DI opponent TCU, both games at home. 

22. Utah

Stayed unranked up until now mainly just because they hadn’t played a game yet. Beat Washington by seven and then USC the next day by one at the Pac-12 Shootout. The defending DII Champs are looking just fine in DI and play Utah Valley next on 3/3. 

23. Cal Poly

Started ranked, but dropped out after losing to USC. Are back in again after beating Stanford, Oregon, and Washington. They look to keep it going this weekend in a huge game against Concordia. 

24. Oregon

First entered the rankings after beating Dominican two weekends ago. This past weekend they lost in OT to Cal Poly and then beat Arizona State to drop a little in the rankings, but still stay ranked. 

25. Boise State

Beat DII Utah State by two, a team Utah Valley beat by 15. They get a chance to really prove themselves when they host Utah this weekend. 

Division II

1. St. Thomas

The Tommies haven’t played since they beat Minnesota on 2/4, but have a huge test this weekend against Montana and Montana State at a neutral location. It’s likely they’ll have to won both games in order to keep the #1 seed. 

2. Rhode Island

Finished their Alabama trip 3-0 with wins over #16 Miami, #9 Kennesaw State, North Texas, and Texas A&M (DII). The Rams don’t play again until March 5th when they travel to Iona for their first conference game. 

3. Montana

Started off the season 3-0 win 20, and 19 point wins over Pacific Lutheran and Central Washington, and had a close win over a solid Western Washington team. They’ll head to ND this weekend to play St. Thomas and Duluth. 

4. Charlotte

Won their first DII game 26-2 against SCSU, and play Davidson this weekend for their first ALC North game. 

5. Grand Valley State

They haven’t played yet so just keeping them at 5. They play their first games in three weekends against CCSU and URI. 

6. San Marcos

Beat a very good Air Force team 11-7 and now have the weekend off. Their win against San Diego State is looking very good now after SDSU beat Arizona State this weekend. 

7. Missouri State

Another team that’s just staying where they are since they haven’t played yet. The first weekend of March should be a good one when they host Dayton, NDSU, and FAU. 

8. Utah State

The Aggies got their first DII win against College of Idaho and then almost beat DI Boise State. They have a big in-state game this weekend against #25 Utah Tech.  

9. Kennesaw State

Had 20 point wins over Dallas Baptist and East Texas Baptist, but then lost in OT to #2 URI. They play two DI opponents in Nashville in Vanderbilt and Mizzou. 

10. UC San Diego

The Tritons are now 3-0 with ranked wins over Northwest Nazarene and College of Idaho. They have conference opponent Point Loma Nazarene up next. 

11. Florida Gulf Coast

The Eagles beat DI South Florida 7-5 last weekend and play DI Central Florida next weekend. They will play their first DII game in two weekends against Miami. 

12. North Dakota State

Finished the weekend with a ranked conference win over Duluth, they play DI Iowa State this upcoming weekend. 

13. Montana State

Will play their first games this weekend against Duluth and St. Thomas, the same two teams they opened their season with last year. 

14. Wake Forest

A team that started ranked low, but has been climbing each week. They are now 4-0, one of which is an ALC North win and one of which is a ranked win over FAU. They play another ALC game this week against UNC Wilmington.

15. Florida Atlantic

The Owls lost a close one to Wake Forest this weekend, but only moved down a little for it. They’re still 3-1 however and have a scrimmage this weekend against UTampa. 

16. Miami

Lost a close one to URI, but followed it up with big wins over North Texas and Texas A&M (DII). They have a huge ranked conference game this weekend against a surging Georgia Southern team. 

17. Dayton

Want to rank them higher based on what people have been saying, but just waiting until they start playing. Their first games are in two weekends against Drury and Missouri State. 

18. UC Davis

Haven’t play since 2/4 when they beat Cal Poly-Humboldt and don’t pay again until 3/5 so just keeping them where they are for now. 

19. Georgia Southern

After starting unranked they’ve slowly been moving up. They beat Elon 18-5 this past weekend and travel to Tallahassee this weekend to play a ranked SELC opponent in Miami and then DI FSU right after.  

20. Northern Arizona

Their game against GCU was canceled so we still really have no idea how good they are so just keeping them at 20 for now. Their first game is the first weekend of March against Southern Utah.  

21. Northwest Nazarene

The Nighthawks beat Idaho and Chico State to get to above .500. They have the weekend off, but then have a big weekend upcoming where they will play Utah State and Saint John’s. 

22. Air Force

Probably moved them down a little too much after they beat Loyola Marymount and lost to #7 San Marcos by four. They play Denver at home for DU’s first MCLA game ever. 

23. Coastal Carolina

Dropped out of the rankings after losing to Georgia Southern, but are back in after a huge weekend in Alabama where they beat East Texas Baptist, Texas A&M (DII), North Texas, and Dallas Baptist. They play Elon this weekend. 

24. Minnesota Duluth

Probably moved them down a little too much too. They lost to NDSU by one, and get to bounce back this weekend against Montana State and Montana. 

25. Utah Tech

Tied a very good DI UCLA team, and then beat UC Irvine by 22 on the road. The Trailblazers have a huge game this weekend against RMLC and in-state opponent Utah State in St. George. 

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

After an eventful Week 2 of MCLA lacrosse, the Varsity Club Lacrosse boys are breaking down their rankings for Week 3. These rankings are separate from what we see in the MCLA Coaches’ Poll.

Division I

1. South Carolina

Beat James Madison at home 11-5. Can’t move the number #1 team down until they lose, even if their wins are kinda close. 

2. Virginia Tech

Another weekend of dominating teams after beating ECU 18-5 and Miami (OH) 17-2. They beat Auburn by more than Georgia Tech did and Georgia Tech beat James Madison by more than South Carolina, so could argue they should be one. However, like just stated you can’t move #1 team down before they lose. 

3. Concordia Irvine

After beating BYU 18-10, Concordia Irvine could also be ranked #1 in this lacrosse ranking. Ranking them third only because USC is staying #1 and VT has common opponents with USC to make a case for them to be #1. Tough to tell since they don’t have a common opponent with either team, but just think of them as tied for 1st at this point. 

4. Georgia Tech 

Only beat Auburn by three after VT beat them by 15, but also beat James Madison 17-1 after USC beat them by 6 and were tied for a lot of the game, so this makes it pretty hard. Can also just think of them as tied for 1st, it’s just still too early to separate the teams. 

5. Liberty 

They beat Temple 19-7 and NC State 17-7. The Flames play Virginia Tech at home this Saturday which should give a better idea of how the rankings should look. 

6. Brigham Young

Beat UCLA 16-5, USC 14-7, and then lost to Concordia 18-10. Losing by eight isn’t a good look, but considering it was their third game in 4 days while on an out-of-state road trip doesn’t make it look as bad. They don’t play again until 3/2 against Arizona State. 

7. Arizona  

They beat Texas Tech 27-1 over the weekend. Will play UCLA and Cal in the PAC-12 Shootout this weekend. 

8. Grand Canyon

Will play their first game this weekend against Northern Arizona.  

9. Northeastern  

The Huskies beat DII Runner Up Rhode Island at home 18-12 and will travel to Minnesota to play the Gophers as well as Chapman this weekend to start off a tough stretch of out of conference games.

10. Arizona State

They travel to San Diego to play SDSU then up to Westwood to play Oregon at the Pac-12 Shootout. 

11. Florida State

Patrick Dickson’s 1st win comes against #8 Boston College 11-10, followed by a 28-3 win over Central Florida. They play South Carolina this Saturday at home.   

12. Oregon 

After starting the season unranked they beat #13 Dominican at home and look to stay hot this weekend against Cal Poly and Arizona State at the Pac-12 Shootout. 

13. Boston College

Lost to unranked Florida State by one, but followed it up with a two goal win over Florida in Gainesville. The Eagles get a week off before flying out to play UC Santa Barbara and Chapman in California.

14. Florida

Had a 19-6 win over DII North Florida to move to 3-0, before dropping a close one to BC at home. They look to bounce back this weekend against South Carolina and Auburn. 

15. Dominican 

After beating Oregon State 19-7, they traveled up to Eugene where they lost to the Ducks 18-12. This weekend they have a huge conference game at home against UCSB. 

16. Chapman 

Grit team of the week for traveling all the way to Minnesota to play the Gophers as well as Northeastern for their first games of the season. 

17. Colorado

The Buffs host former Big 12 rival Nebraska at home this weekend before traveling to VA to play Virginia Tech and Liberty in two weeks. 

18. Texas 

Beat a solid Southwestern (NCAA DIII) team so moving up slightly. They will play their first game this Sunday against Texas A&M.  

19. Colorado State

Dropped a tough one to NCAA DIII Colorado College, but get to stay home and play Nebraska this weekend.

20. UC Santa Barbara 

Started off unranked, but are slowly moving up after beating Cal and UCLA. They faceoff against Dominican and Sonoma State which are both must wins in what could be a tight WCLL race. 

21. Utah Valley 

Beat DII Utah State 22-7 and have a big scrimmage against NCAA DII Westminster this weekend. 

22. Louisiana State

Another team that started unranked and is slowly moving up. They beat Texas State to get their 2nd conference win and have this weekend off. 

23. Southern California

Dropped a midweek game to BYU 14-7, but recovered with a 13-8 win over Sonoma State. They have Oregon State and Utah this weekend in the Pac-12 Shootout. 

24. Georgia  

Dawgs got a huge 23-9 win over Auburn then beat Clemson 9-8 to move to 3-1 on the year. This weekend they head to Oxford to play Ole Miss and a New Hampshire team that could be breaking into the rankings soon. 

25. Boise State 

They haven’t played yet and started ranked so just staying at #25. First game is Saturday at home.

Division II

1. St. Thomas

The DI win over Minnesota earned them the number one spot after Rhode Island lost to DI Northeastern. They don’t play until 2/25 when they head to ND to meet Montana and Montana State. 

2. Rhode Island

Moved them down to two just because of the 18-12 loss to DI Northeastern, but they’re still right up there with UST. They head down to Alabama this weekend to play Miami, North Texas, Kennesaw State, and Rice in the span of two days. 

3. Montana 

Have their first games this weekend against Pacific Lutheran, Western Washington, and Central Washington, all three are conference games. 

4. Charlotte

The 49ers will have their first DII game this weekend against Southern Connecticut State at home. 

5. Grand Valley State  

The Lakers still don’t play until 3/9 so just staying where they are for now. 

6. San Marcos

They play their first DII game against #18 Air Force at home. 

7. Missouri State

Another team that just hasn’t played yet. First weekend of March the Bears host North Dakota State and Dayton. 

8. Utah State 

Dropped a tough one to DI Utah Valley, but get to play their first DII game against COI, before playing another DI opponent in Boise State. 

9. Kennesaw State

Another team that starts their season in Alabama, they’ll play their four games against Dallas Baptist, Rice, Rhode Island, and East Texas Baptist. 

10. Florida Gulf Coast

 The Eagles play South Florida this weekend, and don’t play a DII game until March 5th against Miami. 

11. North Dakota State  

Start off their season with a conference game against Duluth in Minneapolis. 

12. Montana State 

Have played a game yet, so they keep the #1 spot. Their first game is 2/10 against James Madison at home, and their first ranked game is Florida on 2/17. They got new helmets that look cool. 

13. Florida Atlantic

After beating DI Central Florida, they get to play two DII teams in Wake Forest and the Citadel in the Carolinas. 

14. UC San Diego 

Had two ranked wins this past weekend of Northwest Nazarene and College of Idaho so probably should have moved them up more, but I’ll get them this week. 

15. College of Idaho

Beat a solid Claremont team 19-7, before falling to a very good UCSD team 9-8. They get a chance to bounce back this week at home against Utah State. 

16. Duluth

Lost to Minnesota 20-9, but started their DII schedule this weekend against conference opponent North Dakota State. 

17. Dayton

Another team that just hasn’t played yet so can’t get an accurate ranking of them. I did hear from an unnamed UMLC DII coach that they are a Top 5 team this year. They’ll be able to back that up on March 3rd and 4th when they play Drury and Missouri State in SpringVegas. 

18. Air Force

Made the most movement in the rankings after beating NCAA DII Adams State. They now get to play two ranked DII teams in Loyola Marymount and San Marcos this weekend. 

19. Wake Forest

Wake Forest won their third straight CLC DII game against App State and have a huge OOC game this weekend against FAU. 

20. UC Davis  

Haven’t played since February 4th and won’t play again until March 5th when they play WCLL foe Saint Mary’s. 

21. Miami  

Had the past weekend off, but will get three games in this weekend against Rhode Island, North Texas, and Texas A&M (DII). 

22. Georgia Southern

Dropped one in OT to DI Vanderbilt, but go back to DII play this weekend against Elon. 

23. Northern Arizona  

Have played a game yet, so they keep the #1 spot. Their first game is 2/10 against James Madison at home, and their first ranked game is Florida on 2/17. They got new helmets that look cool. 

24. Northwest Nazarene

Lost their first game to UCSD 14-8, but recovered with a 13-11 win over Claremont the next day. Have a conference game against Idaho and an OCC game against Chico State this weekend.

25. Loyola Marymount 

Have dominated so far, beating Long Beach 17-5 and Moorpark 17-0. They get a good test this weekend against Air Force and San Diego.

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

2023 SLC D1 Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Concordia
2. USC
3. Grand Canyon
4. Arizona State
5. Arizona
6. Chapman
7. San Diego State
8. UCLA

Concordia 

Overall Record: 13-3

Conference Record: 7-0

Result of 2022 Season: First Round of Nationals

Head Coach: Jesse Foss (5th Season)

A heavy national championship favorite almost all year. Their only loss going into the SLC D1 Tournament was to BYU on the road by just one goal, but lost in the first round of the conference tournament to Grand Canyon. They received the No.9 seed at nationals and lost to eventual runner-up Georgia Tech in the first round.

This season they have one of the hardest schedules in the league. BYU, Cal, Cal Poly, UCSB, and South Carolina all in a row to start the season then Virginia Tech and Liberty in Virginia at the end of the season on top of an already tough conference schedule. They will be without their first and fourth leading scorers Troy Hofer and PBLA player James Chadwick, and without First Team SLC Goalie Tyler Schweickert. However other than those guys listed, most of last year’s team is back. This includes First Team SLC players Jake Cloutier (D), Braden Schnerider (D), and Cade Poe (FOS). 

USC

Overall Record: 13-5

Conference Record: 5-2

Result of 2022 Season: SLC D1 Champions, Second Round of Nationals

Head Coach: Jake Van Nostrand (5th Season)

One of the best seasons in team history, they only lost to Cal Poly, Arizona State, Concordia, and Nevada before going on a run to win the SLC and then make it to the Elite Eight at nationals. This season they have another tough schedule which includes BYU, BC, and Utah Valley. Biggest losses are Second Team SLC Midfield players Jack Watters and Ryder Mora. However leading scorer Antonie Moats as well as First Team SLC Defender Donovan Econn and midfielder Harri Hetrick will be back. The team should be big again giving the Spartans plenty of depth.

Grand Canyon 

Overall Record: 7-7

Conference Record: 4-3

Result of 2022 Season: First Round of Nationals

Head Coach: Jeff Guy (4th Season)

The Lopes had some ups and downs all season, however they came alive when it mattered most by upsetting Concordia in the first round of the SLC D1 Tournament to earn themselves an at-large bid to the national tournament where they lost to Liberty in the first round. This year they only have to travel as far as LA and San Diego and play Northeastern, BYU, Utah, and Oregon all at home. They keep their top four scorers including 60 point attackman Nick Whittall as well as Second Team SLC Goalie Jack Hives and Matt Hartig at faceoff. Their biggest loss is First Team SLC Defensive Midfielder Griffin Rodas.

Arizona State 

Overall Record: 7-6

Conference Record: 3-4

Result of 2022 Season: Ineligible for SLC, MCLA Tournaments

Head Coach: Justin Straker (2nd Season)

Had some huge wins over Clemson and USC, and were primed to make a run at the SLC Tournament, but were unfortunately disqualified due to an ineligible player on the roster. They get to stay in Tempe all year except for two trips to LA and San Diego. They also host BYU, Northeastern, and Michigan State in one weekend in March. An extremely young team, they only lost a couple seniors last year and return First Team SLC Midfielder Jack Rogers as well as their five other top scorers behind Rogers.

Arizona 

Overall Record: 9-6

Conference Record: 5-2

Result of 2022 Season: First Round of Nationals

Head Coach: Matt Blamey (6th Season)

The Wildcats had wins over Chapman, UCLA, SDSU, and GCU which got them into the SLC Tournament where they lost a close one to USC. In the national tournament they lost in the first round to eventual champions South Carolina. This year they host TCU, Oregon, Northeastern, and also play Cal in LA. Leading score Max Bergamo will be back however the next five scorers on the team graduated. On defense, starting goalie Tommy Atella, First Team SLC LSM Ian Takas, and Second Team SLC Defenseman Connor Willihnganz return along with plenty of freshman and NCAA transfers.

Chapman

Overall Record: 7-7

Conference Record: 3-4

Head Coach: Joel Kallas (1st Season)

Long time assistant and alumni of the program, Joel Kallas, takes over as head coach after MCLA HOFer Dallas Hartley retired. Had some good conference wins late to keep their postseason hopes alive, but were ultimately eliminated only because Arizona State had to forfeit games. It can be argued they have one of the hardest if not the hardest schedule in the league. They start the season flying to Minnesota in February to play UMN and Northeastern. They also play Cal, Santa Clara, Clemson, BC, South Carolina, Cal Poly, and UCSB on top of their conference schedule. SLC OPOTY Liam Nelson is back, and their only big loss is Fran Bonadies (17G/21A) at attack. 

San Diego State 

Overall Record: 3-9

Conference Record: 1-6

Head Coach: Bryan Bome (5th Season)

Best wins last year were over UCSB and Sonoma State. This season they play SLC DII Champions CSUSM to start the season and host Washington in March. They lost a decent amount of seniors, mainly on defense, but were able to bring in a lot of new guys to keep the roster big. Leading scorer from last year Brian Davito will be back for just his second season. 

UCLA

Overall Record: 4-8

Conference Record: 0-7 

Head Coach: Larry Turkheimer (1st Season)

The Bruins worked harder than anyone this past offseason hiring coaches, aligning their program as much as they can to a Division I program. They hired former UNC All-American Larry Turkheimer as HC, former UNC football and lacrosse player Jesse Cuccia as OC, and former Fort Lewis Captain Tim Topper as another assistant. They get to stay home for the first ten games and host BYU, UCSB, and Clemson before taking short trips to Orange County and San Diego. Only five players on the team are not seniors so there is plenty of experience. Lead Rhett Farmer who had 21 goals and 9 assists is among the senior group. 

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

Now that the MCLA season is here, the Varsity Club Lacrosse boys are breaking down their rankings every week. These rankings are separate from what we see in the MCLA Coaches’ Poll.

Division I

1. South Carolina

Have played a game yet, so they keep the #1 spot. Their first game is 2/10 against James Madison at home, and their first ranked game is Florida on 2/17. They got new helmets that look cool. 

2. Virginia Tech

Would be the #1 seed if not for South Carolina. Extremely dominant so far beating Alabama 20-3 and Auburn 17-2 both on the road. They play their first ranked game at Liberty on 2/18. 

3. BYU 

Lost to NCAA DII Westminster by two but it was a scrimmage so take it with a grain of salt either way. They play UCLA, USC, and CUI all in LA and Orange County this week.

4. Concordia

Handled NCAA DIII Whittier over the weekend. Play their first game at home against BYU this Saturday, which has the potential to be one of the best games of the year in just the 3rd week. 

5. Georgia Tech

Virginia Tech beat unranked Auburn by 15, while GT only beat them 3 and were tied in the 4th so we felt there should be a little space between them. If BYU and Concordia weren’t looking really good, we probably would have just kept them at #3.

6. Liberty

Lost to NCAA DIII Roanoke 22-11, then beat NCAA DIII Southern Virginia XXX, both were scrimmages so hard to gauge just where they’re at. They play Temple and NC State this weekend then Virginia Tech the following week. 

7. Florida

Probably had the best weekend out of every team after beating Clemson 11-4 and UGA 15-9. The Gators play BC at home this upcoming Sunday.

8. Boston College

Haven’t played yet, but moved up because of Minnesota and Clemson moving. 

9. Arizona

So far they’ve played New Mexico and will play Texas Tech this upcoming weekend in El Paso.

10. Grand Canyon

They won’t play their first game until 2/18 when they play Northern Arizona, so not moving them down at all.

11. Arizona State

Scrimmaged Santa Barbara CC, and play their first game on 2/18 at San Diego State so not moving them down either.

12. Northeastern

After beating NCAA DIII Wentworth 7-6, the Huskies are looking pretty good so far. They play URI this weekend in Boston.

13. Dominican

After having a successful offseason recruiting and returning some good players the Pangs are looking solid. They beat a very good USC and play Oregon and Oregon State this upcoming weekend.

14. Southern California 

Beat a solid Cal Poly team by seven, but lost to Dominican the next game by five. They play one of their biggest games of the year on Thursday against BYU at home.

15. Clemson

The Tigers graduated about 15 seniors, and got a new coach for the first time in about 20 years so it’s understandable their first game isn’t going to be the best. They play UGA and Auburn this weekend which should give a more accurate indication of where the team is.

16. Chapman

Haven’t played yet, but have a huge weekend on 2/17 when they play Minnesota and Northeastern in Minnesota.

17. Colorado

Beat Adams State (NCAA DII) by a couple goals in a scrimmage. Since it was a scrimmage I don’t know if starters were playing for either team, but this it’s a good look for Colorado either way.

18. Texas 

Another team that hasn’t played yet. They play Texas’ only NCAA team, DIII Southwestern, this upcoming weekend.

19. Santa Clara 

Their game against Nevada was canceled so can’t move them down any spots for that. The Broncos play Cal on Saturday. They won last year’s matchup in OT.

20. Colorado State 

Beat DII Wyoming 28-8 Week 1, and face off against NCAA DIII Colorado College in a scrimmage this weekend.

21. Texas Christian 

Beat Texas State, who are a decent team, 17-3, which shows how good the Frogs are. They play Texas A&M this weekend and try to stay undefeated in the LSA.

22. UC Santa Barbara

Had a big 10-5 conference win over Cal to start the season, and will look to keep it going against UCLA this weekend.

23. Utah Valley

Haven’t played yet, but host Utah State this weekend. They beat the Aggies last year 23-8.

24. Boise State

Still haven’t played yet so I’m not going to move them down. Their first game is 2/18 against Utah State.

25. Louisiana State

The first DI team to three wins. They beat Texas A&M Week 0, then USF and UCF Week 1, all on the road. They play their first ranked opponent in TCU on 2/25 in Baton Rouge

Division II

1. Rhode Island

Play against Northeastern in Boston on 2/11 so they keep the number one spot.

2. St. Thomas

They beat Minnesota, which could end up being the best DII over DI win this year. Would have them at #1 after this win, but can’t have them jump URI before they even play a game.

3. Montana 

Won’t play their first game until 2/17 at Pacific Lutheran.

4. Charlotte

Lost to a good DI team in NC State, 15-9. Will play Southern Conn. State for their first DII game on 2/18.

5. Grand Valley State

The Lakers won’t play their first game until 3/9 when they travel to New England to play Central Conn. State and URI, so they’ll probably just be staying in this spot for a couple weeks.

6. San Marcos 

Beat DI SDSU by four then lost to DI UCLA by three the next week. Their first DII game is 2/19 against Air Force at home.

7. Missouri State 

Another team that is not playing until March, so just going to keep them where they’re at for a little bit.

8. Utah State

Play their first game this weekend against Utah Valley and their first DII game the following week against College of Idaho.

9. College of Idaho

Travel to Vegas this weekend to play Claremont and UC San Diego, the latter of which will be the first ranked DII matchup this season.

10. Kennesaw State

The Owls have this weekend off, but the following week will play back to back doubleheaders in Alabama.

11. Florida Gulf Coast

Beat first year program UTampa and will face off against #7 ranked NAIA Webber International. 

12. North Dakota State

Long time assistant Mike Melchior takes over as Head Coach after Zach Bosh, who led the Bison to the 2018 National Championship retired. Their first game is 2/18 against Duluth.

13. Montana State

Will play Duluth and St. Thomas for their first games on 2/25 and 2/26.

14. Florida Atlantic

Handled North Florida easily to start off undefeated in SELC DII. They play DI South Florida this weekend in Tampa, which is located north of them.

15. UC San Diego

Will travel to Vegas to play the first DII ranked games of the season against Northwest Nazarene and College of Idaho.

16. Minnesota Duluth

First game of the weekend is this season against DI Minnesota and the first DII game is the following weekend against North Dakota State. 

17. Dayton 

A third team that isn’t playing until March. They’ll play Drury and Missouri State in Springfield the first weekend of the month.

18. UC Davis

Lost to DI Stanford by four, but followed it up with a 21-3 win over Cal Poly Humboldt.

19. Miami

Beat North Florida by two and will travel to Alabama in two weeks to play URI, North Texas, and Texas A&M (DII).

20. Wake Forest

Had very good wins over The Citadel and Charleston to start off in first of the ALC DI. Play another conference game against App State this weekend.

21. Georgia Southern

Beat Coastal by one at home, and will follow it up with a trip to Nashville to play Vanderbilt and Iowa State.

22. Northern Arizona 

Beat DIII New Mexico 28-2, and play Grand Canyon on 2/18. First DII game is 3/3 against Southern Utah

23. Air Force

First game is this weekend against NCAA DII Adams State.

24. Northwest Nazarene

First games are this weekend against Claremont and UC San Diego.

25. Bridgewater State

First DII game isn’t until 3/3 against Iona, but play DI UConn and Northeastern, and NCAA DIII Dean College and Mass Maritime before then.

Lacrosse All Stars - Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar

Now that the MCLA season is here, the Varsity Club Lacrosse boys are breaking down their rankings every week. These rankings are separate from what we see in the MCLA Coaches’ Poll.

Division I

1. South Carolina

Pretty easy to rank the defending champ No.1 in a preseason poll, especially when it was their second championship in a row. They lost their two leading scorers in Sam Weis and Connor Griffin, but brought back almost everyone else along with bringing in NCAA transfers with a solid freshmen class to bring to roster over 60 kids.

2. Georgia Tech 

They were only two goals away from winning their first national championship and now bring back almost their entire roster along with plenty of good new guys. Biggest losses are starting goalie, Gino Pagliaro, and 35 point scorer Zach Schenken.

3. Virginia Tech

Lost to South Carolina in February and then didn’t lose a game on their way to clinching the No.1 seed before getting upset in the second round by Georgia Tech. 2nd Team All-American Goalie Hunter LeClair graduated, but their top five scorers all return including 1st Team Attackman Aidan Smith 

4. Brigham Young

Entered tournament as the No.2 seed and lost in the Final Four to South Carolina by two. They will be without starting goalie and MCLA DI Player of the Year, Mason Moon, as well as their leading scorer last year, Seth Garff (43G/38A). Plenty of other good players will be back including Alton Taylor who had 57G/23A as a freshman last year.  

5. Concordia Irvine

Their only regular season loss was to BYU by one. The Eagles then lost to GCU in the SLC Tournament and fell to the No.9 seed at Nationals where they lost to Georgia Tech in the first round. 2nd Team All-American FOS Cade Poe as well as defenseman and Godekeraw Award winner Jake Cloutier return along with most of last year’s team along with some NCAA transfers.

6. Clemson 

Clemson’s top nine scores from last year graduated and their long-time head coach, Buff Grubb, retired. However, they do bring back some solid guys and got a couple NCAA DI transfers. New head coach, Andrew Tobias, was an assistant coach the past three seasons and has head coach experience at UNCC.

7. Liberty 

Only lost to Clemson and BYU by one last season, before losing to Clemson again by one in the ALC Tournament and then lost to South Carolina in the second round of the national tournament. Top attackman Carter Elliot (45G/13A) and Honorable Mention All-American goalie Ryan Reynolds graduated, but most other starters are back this season.

8. Minnesota 

Completed an undefeated regular season with wins over Arizona State, Arizona, and Colorado State. They beat Florida in the first round of nationals then lost to Clemson the next round by one goal. Biggest losses are on defense, Honorable Mention All-American Goalie Jack Courington, and non-faceoff groundball leaders Dmitri Roth and Alex Napgezek all graduated.

9. Southern California 

One of the best seasons in team history, they only lost to Cal Poly, Arizona State, Concordia, and Nevada before going on a run to win the SLC and then make it to the Elite Eight of nationals. This season they have another tough schedule which includes BYU, BC, and Utah Valley. Biggest losses are 2nd Team SLC Midfielders Jack Watters and Ryder Mora. However leading scorer Antonie Moats as well as 1st Team SLC pole Donovan Econn and middie Harri Hetrick will be back. The team should be big again giving the Spartans plenty of depth. 

10. Florida 

The Gators are looking very deep this year with a roster of almost 60 kids. Last year they made it to nationals but lost in the first round to Minnesota. They only have to leave the state three times to go to Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, but still play a tough schedule which includes BC, TCU, Clemson, Colorado State, and Colorado for out-of conference games. Their defense took a huge hit with the loss of 1st Team Defender Parker Beeson (DPOY) and Tyler Schafter, and 2nd Team Goalie Matt Corazon. However they returned 1st Team SSDM Stefan Mostovych and 2nd Team poles Kenny Geremia and Cole Fox. On offense, top scorers James Dugan, Nolan Testra, and Michael Fox return to Gainesville. 

11. Boston College

Defending CLC DI Champs, they had a huge win over South Carolina to start the season, and ended up losing to USC by one in the first round of nationals. They bring back a lot of good players as well as bring in some transfers. They have a tough out-of-conference schedule this year, traveling to Florida, California, and the Carolina to start the season. 

12. Arizona

The Wildcats had wins over Chapman, UCLA, SDSU, and GCU which got them into the SLC Tournament where they lost a close one to USC. In the national tournament they lost in the first round to eventual champions, South Carolina. This year they host TCU, Oregon, Northeastern, and also play Cal in LA. Leading score Max Bergamo will be back however the next five scorers on the team graduated. On defense, starting goalie Tommy Atella, 1st Team LSM Ian Takas, and 2nd Team Defenseman Connor Willihnganz return along with plenty of freshman and NCAA transfers.

13. Grand Canyon

The Lopes had some ups and downs all season, however they came alive when it mattered most by upsetting Concordia in the 1st round of the SLC Tournament to earn themselves an at-large bid to the national tournament where they lost to Liberty in the first round. This year they only have to travel as far as LA and San Diego and play Northeastern, BYU, Utah, and Oregon all at home. They keep their top four scorers including 60 point attackman Nick Whittall as well as 2nd Team Goalie along with faceoff Jack Hives and Matt Hartig.

14. Arizona State

Had some huge wins over Clemson and USC, and were primed to make a run at the SLC tournament, but were unfortunately disqualified due to an ineligible player on the roster. They get to stay in Tempe all year except for two trips to LA and San Diego. They also host BYU, Northeastern, and Michigan State in one weekend in March. An extremely young team, they only lost a couple seniors last year and return 1st Team Midfielder Jack Rogers as well as their five other top scorers behind Rogers.

15. Cal Poly 

Defending WCLL DI Champs, they have a new head coach in Morgan Weireter. They bring back leading scorer Luke Mikolajewski along with a lot of other talented players. They lost in the first round of nationals to Clemson by three goals last year. This season they are only playing three teams not currently ranked.  

16. Cal 

One of the last teams to not get an at-large bid to nationals last year. They only dropped three games all year, but lost in the WCLL finals by one to Cal Poly. The Bears will be without their top five scorers from last year, but have 31 point attackman Jacob Steensma returning as well as good kids coming in. 

17. Northeastern

Just like Cal, they lost their conference title game by one and missed out on one of the last at-large bids to Nationals. They beat TCU and BC last year and only lost to national runner-up Georgia Tech by two. They bring back multiple All-CLC guys and a couple of transfers. 

18. Chapman 

Long time assistant and alumni of the program, Joel Kallas, takes over as head coach after MCLA Hall of Famer Dallas Hartley retired. Had some good conference wins late to keep their postseason hopes alive, but were ultimately eliminated because Arizona State had to forfeit games. It can be argued they have one of the hardest if not the hardest schedule in the league. They start the season flying to Minnesota in February to play UMN and Northeastern. They also play Cal, Santa Clara, Clemson, BC, South Carolina, Cal Poly, and UCSB on top of their conference schedule. SLC OPOTY Liam Nelson is back, and their only big loss is Fran Bonadies (17G/21A) at attack. 

19. Colorado 

One more conference championship runner-up that was one of the last teams to miss an at-large bid. It was the first season with new head coach, Guy Cerasoli, after 2014 national champion and head coach since 2008, John Galvin, stepped down. They take two separate trips to Virginia to play Virginia Tech and Liberty and to Florida to play UF and FSU. 

20. Texas

Last year was Head Coach Kyle Hartzell’s first year, and this year will be their first back in the LSA. They went 4-0 against LSA teams and beat BYU while they were No.1. Christian Reno (34G/19A) and Ari Weiss (23G/8A) will be back at attack for the Longhorns. 

21. Santa Clara

The Broncos had big wins over Cal and Utah Valley and made it to the semifinals of the WCLL Championship. Top scores Thomas Bingham and Carson Lombardi who each had 43 points will both be back as well as 1st Team WCLL goalie Louis Harvey. 

22. Colorado State

Had good wins over UGA, Texas A&M, Utah Valley, and Michigan State. They have a decent amount of guys returning and should have some good freshmen and transfers.

23. Texas Christian

Defending LSA champs, they make a trip out to Arizona to play Arizona State and Arizona for their out of conference games. Their top four scorers will be back as well as LSA DPOTY, goalie Carter Schubert. 

24. Utah Valley

Had good wins over Boise State, Texas A&M, and Cal Poly. Top scorer Chad Renslow (50 points) graduated, but Preston Burbidge who was right behind him with 40 points and starting goalie Max Sturgill will be back.  

25. Boise State

Defending PNCLL champs, they unfortunately lose their top four scorers from last year as well as starting goalie Ethan Sepulveda. They play a tough out of conference schedule of BYU, Utah Valley, and Utah.

Division II

1. Rhode Island

They were the 2022 national runner-up, but get the number one spot since Utah moved up to DI. They beat five of the teams ranked in this poll and their only DII loss was the national championship. They bring back 70 point scorer Anthony Guarino and 50 point scorer Keegan Reilly, but lose Jack Duffy and Charlie White who each also had 50 points. They will play Miami, Kennesaw State, and Grand Valley State this year.  

2. St. Thomas

Lost in the Final Four to Utah, which is their worst finish to a season since 2015 when they also lost in the Final Four. They bring back most of last year’s team which includes 71 point scorer Cabe Maskevich and 1st Team UMLC Goalie, Gunner Arens. 

3. Montana

Lost in the Final Four to URI last year. 10 of their 18 games will be against teams on this list as they look to repeat as PNCLL Champs. They bring back 1st Team PNCLL Goalie Hunter Heaston and leading scorer Miles Hess (38G/40A). They also add Montana running back Marcus Knight who rushed for 1,000 yards in ‘19 and had NCAA DI lacrosse offers out of high school. 

4. Charlotte

Only DII loss last year was to URI in the second round of the tourney. One of the first 15 seeds to win their first game of the tournament. DII Player of the Year attackman Nick Ferens (56G/46A) and 1st Team ALC Goalie Noah Becker graduated, but they have plenty of guys ready to step up. 

5. Grand Valley State

Lost in second round of tourney to eventual champs Utah and were one goal away from winning the UMLC Championship. Beat Missouri St, NDSU twice, St. John’s, UMD, but lost to Purdue. They bring back most of their team including UMLC DII ROTY Luke Tardich who had 36 goals and 37 assists. 

6. Cal State San Marcos

Top scorer Jason Thibeault returns with Kobe Brown who had 32 goals and 24 assists on top of 92 groundballs. The Cougars bring back most of last year’s team and bring in some experienced assistant coaches. They look to win their second straight SLC DII Title. 

7. Missouri State

Won their third straight LSA Championship before losing in the second round of nationals. They lose top scorer Owen Kehoe who had 82 points last year, but bring back a good amount of starters and bring in some NCAA transfers.   

8. Utah State 

Had one of the most impressive stretches of games last year when they beat North Dakota State, St. John’s, St. Thomas, and Minnesota Duluth in the span of five days all in Minnesota. They bring back last years leading scorer Cooper Williams and bring on a lot of good freshmen. 

9. College of Idaho

Only losses were in PNCLL Championship and first Round of National Tournament. They lose four of their top five scorers, but the one returning, Loy Howard, had 81 last year. Last year they had pretty low numbers, but have brought in a good sized freshman class this year. They play a tough schedule with a lot of ranked opponents this year. 

10. Kennesaw State

The Owls dominated last year only losing to Georgia in the preseason before going undefeated in the regular season and winning the SELC DII title. They scored 20+ points four different times including a 28-4 win over NAIA Point University. After getting the No.3 seed in the tournament they were upset in the first round by Cal State San Marcos. They play three DI games against Vanderbilt, Mizzou, and Georgia Tech. They lose leading scorers Dylan Polanski and Dylan Stanhope, but return 2nd Team SELC Attackman and 3rd Team Midfielder Chasen Champbell and Clayton Hamby. They also retained the 1st Team duo of LSM Scott Rzasa and FOS Adam Piejak as well as Second Team goalie Joe Shaub. 

11. Florida Gulf Coast 

Last season the Eagles only lost to Division I Florida and Kennesaw State before losing to Kennesaw State in the conference tourney and Montana at nationals. This year they have an out-of-conference schedule that includes Minnesota Duluth, Bridgewater State, and UNC Charlotte (all tournament teams). Their biggest loss is 3rd Team Attackman Carter Ayers, but other than that they didn’t lose many players. They return four 1st Team players in Jayson Andino (A), William Watson (D), Grant Shafer (G), and Max Perez (M) as well as a 50+ point scorer in Christian Cucinotta. 

12. North Dakota State

Lost in the first round of the national tournament to Utah. Played a tough schedule last year which featured all ranked DII teams. They get back UMLC DPOTY Ryan Donabauer as well as 2nd Team UMLC Goalie Zach Wollack. They play another tough schedule of almost all ranked teams.

13. Montana State

Biggest loss is last year’s leading scorer Alexander Brown, but other than that a lot of starters return. 1st Team All-American defenseman Joshua Wilson and 2nd Team RMLC Goalie Ethan Zwickey are names to look out for. They start the season against Minnesota Duluth and St. Thomas. 

14. Florida Atlantic 

Out in Boca Raton, the Owls had a great season only losing to national runner-up Rhode Island, Division I South Florida and FGCU before losing to Kennesaw State at the conference tournament and No.1 seed St. Thomas at nationals. This year they have a tough road trip to Springfield, MO, to play Missouri State, North Dakota State, and Dayton. Leading scorer and SELC DII OPOTY Kyle Romano (46G/29A) graduated. However the next five leading scorers including 1st Team Midfielder Colin Hunter, 2nd Team Attackman Drake Summers, and 60 point scorer Ryan Thomas are back. Gabriel Cirillo (1st Team Defense), Umberto Zammataro (2nd Team LSM), and Brandon Huff (2nd Team FO) all return as well giving FAU plenty of experience.

15. UC San Diego

Only DII loses were to Cal State San Marcos in the SLC Finals and to GVSU in the first round of nationals. An extremely young team, most starters will be back including Austin Ortel (81 points), 2nd Team SLC FOS Austin Weinshelbaum, and 1st Team SLC LSM Cameron Parsa. 

16. Minnesota-Duluth 

Played a tough out-of-conference schedule on top of an already tough UMLC schedule. Had big wins over Montana State, St. Thomas, and Dayton. They lose their top two scorers, but 24 point scorer Cole Herder is back for another year. 

17. Dayton 

Only losses were to St. Thomas, Minnesota Duluth, and Missouri State, Were looking like a tournament team, but being deemed ineligible for the postseason because of an ineligible player. Lost their two highest scorers, but have a lot of good guys returning. 

18. UC Davis 

Won the WCLL DII Championship, but the conference did not receive an AQ and they were not selected for an at-large bid to Nationals. Only DII loss was to UC San Diego. Most of the team’s starters are returning including LSM THomas Neill who had 21 goals and 4 assists as a long pole. 

19. Miami 

Miami did pretty well considering they were sort of in a rebuilding year and hadn’t played a full season since 2018. They beat Georgia Southern, North Florida, and Division I UCF and only lost to FAU and FGCU by a combined three goals. This year they have Rhode Island and Duluth as well as back-to-back DI games against FSU and UCF. Their own loss is LSM Billy Bice, and they return a roster of about 40+ kids. They return leading scorer and 3rd Team Attackman, Robert Westwater III and 3rd Team Defenseman Hunter Smith.

20. Wake Forest 

Only DII losses were to Coastal Carolina and UNC Charlotte. Led by Week 0 Varsity Club Lacrosse Performance of the Week Award Presented by Salty Lacrosse Jack Church in net. They beat UNC (NCLL) this past weekend and play Charleston and The Citadel this upcoming weekend.  

21. Coastal Carolina 

Went to the ALC Championship but lost to UNCC and missed out on and at-large bid. 1st Team All ALC Midfielder Cameron Fagan is coming back for a fifth year after scoring 28 points last year. 

22. Northern Arizona 

Had good wins over Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine. 1st Team All-SLC Goalie Louis Penaflor who had a 67.4% save percentage last year will be back. They beat DIII NEw Mexico this past weekend and face GCU next. 

23. Air Force 

Last season was their first ever. Had wins over Fort Lewis, Wyoming, and MSU Denver. Made RMLC DII tournament, but lost in the first round. 1st Team All-American Faceoff Nicholas Capannelli will return for his second season after going 86% along with seven goals and four assists. 

24. Northwest Nazarene 

First full season not affected by COVID. They had a big DI win over Washington State as well as Sierra Nevada. Were a very young team last year and return leading scorer Keaton Bean who had 58 points last year. 

25. Bridgewater State

Made the CLC Championship, but ultimately lost to Rhode Island. This season they play two NCAA DIII teams in Dean College and Mass Maritime, as well as UNCC and FGCU. Most their starters are returning.

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2023 SELC Division II Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Kennesaw State (4)
2. Florida Gulf Coast (1)
3. Florida Atlantic (2)
4. Miami
5. Georgia Southern
6. North Florida
7. Florida Poly

Kennesaw State

Overall Record: 10-1

Conference Record: 2-0

Result of 2022 Season: SELC DII Champs, 1st Round of Nationals

Head Coach: Connor Murphy (2nd Season)

The Owls dominated last year only losing to Georgia in the preseason before going undefeated in the regular season and winning the SELC DII title. They scored 20+ points four different times including a 28-4 win over NAIA Point University. After getting the No.3 seed in the tournament they were upset in the first round by Cal State San Marcos. They play three DI games against Vanderbilt, Mizzou, and Georgia Tech. They lose leading scorers Dylan Polanski and Dylan Stanhope, but return 2nd Team SELC Attack and 3rd Team Midfield Chasen Champbell and Clayton Hamby. They also retained the 1st Team duo of LSM Scott Rzasa and FOS Adam Piejak as well as 2nd Team Goalie Joe Shaub. 

Florida Gulf Coast 

Overall Record: 10-4

Conference Record: 3-0

Result of 2022 Season: 1st Round of Nationals

Head Coach: Vinny Valentine (4th Season)

Last season the Eagles only lost to Division I Florida and Kennesaw State before losing to Kennesaw State in the conference tourney and Montana at Nationals. This year they have an out-of-conference schedule that include Minnesota Duluth, Bridgewater State, and UNC Charlotte, all tournament teams. Their biggest loss is 3rd Team Attackman Carter Ayers, but other than that they didn’t lose many players. They return four 1st Team players in Jayson Andino (A), William Watson (D), Grant Shafer (G), and Max Perez (M) as well as a 50+ point scorer in Christian Cucinotta. 

Florida Atlantic 

Overall Record: 9-5

Conference Record: 2-1

Result of 2022 Season: 1st Round of Nationals

Head Coach: Stavros Neocleous (4th Season)

Out in Boca Raton, the Owls had a great season only losing to national runner-up Rhode Island, Division I South Florida, and FGCU before losing to Kennesaw State at the conference tournament then to No.1 seed St. Thomas at nationals. This year they have a tough road trip to Springfield, MO, to play Missouri State, North Dakota State, and Dayton. Leading scorer and SELC DII OPOTY Kyle Romano (46G/29A) graduated, however the next five leading scorers including 1st Team Midfield Colin Hunter, 2nd team Attack Drake Summers, and 60 point scorer Ryan Thomas are back. Gabriel Cirillo (1st Team Defense), Umberto Zammataro (2nd Team LSM), and Brandon Huff (2nd Team FO) all return as well giving FAU plenty of experience.

Miami 

Overall Record: 5-3

Conference Record: 1-2

Head Coach: Bryan Walsh (6th Season)

Miami did pretty well considering they were sort of in a rebuilding year and hadn’t played a full season since 2018. They beat Georgia Southern, North Florida, and Division I UCF and only lost to FAU and FGCU by a combined three goals. This year they have Rhode Island and Duluth as well as back-to-back Division I games against FSU and UCF. Their own loss is LSM Billy Bice, and they return a roster of about 40+ kids. They return leading scorer and 3rd Team Attack Robert Westwater III and 3rd Team Defense Hunter Smith.

Georgia Southern 

Overall Record: 2-7

Conference Record: 1-1

Result of 2022 Season: 1st Round of SELC DII Tournament

Head Coach: Chris Hendricks (2nd Season)

The Eagles had huge wins against Florida Poly and North Florida and made the SELC DII Tournament. Unfortunately they lost in the 1st round to Florida Gulf Coast. Luckily they get back leading scorer Henry Layman and starting goalie Ben Demchak as well as 2nd Team Defense Wesley Sowders and 3rd Team FO Andrew Mallard.

North Florida

Overall Record: 0-8

Conference Record: 0-2

Head Coach: Stan Williams (2nd Season)

Last season did not go how the Ospreys wanted, however this season they return most of the team and bring in some new guys as well. They return leading scorers Will Stanley and Ethan Schenck as well as 2nd Team Midfield Brian Baumann and 3rd Team Defense Sean Bennett. They play Dallas Baptist and East Texas Baptist and Division I UCF for out-of-conference games.

Florida Poly 

Overall Record: 0-8

Conference Record: 0-3

Head Coach: Steven Jeune (2nd Season)

It’s always tough being a first year team, especially when your school only has 1,200 students and was only founded 10 years ago. Despite these obstacles, Florida Poly still played a full season. This year they look to grow in numbers and get more competitive.

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2023 SELC Division I Preseason Coaches Poll

1. South Carolina (7)
2. Georgia Tech (3)
3. Florida
4. Auburn
5. Georgia
6. Florida State
7. South Florida
8. Alabama
9. Vanderbilt
10. Central Florida    

South Carolina 

Overall Record: 17-3

Conference Record: 3-1

Result of 2022 Season: National Champions

Head Coach: Peter Candela (2nd Season)

The Gamecocks only lost three games last season, all within the first six games of the season, en route to their 2nd straight MCLA National Championship after winning the last full season tournament before COVID in 2019. For the 2023 season, they have one of the toughest schedules in the league which includes 11 games against teams ranked in the final poll of the season. They take a trip to California to play Chapman, Cal Poly, and Concordia Irvine, but also get to play eight home games and three away games relatively close by. On offense they return 2nd Team All-SELC attackman Johnny Stanton, 2nd Team midfielder Gunnar Wilson, and 3rd Team attackman Pat Reilly. On defense All-SELC poles Thatcher Knox and Teddy Russell are back. They also return 1st Team FOS Will Frith and SSDM Will Lohoff-Gaida as well as bring in some NCAA transfers. 

Georgia Tech 

Overall Record: 16-4

Conference Record: 4-0

Result of 2022 Season: National Championship Runner-Up

Head Coach: Ken Lovic (15th Season)

After coming into the tournament as an at-large bid and a #8 seed, the Yellow Jackets managed to make a run to the National Championship game where they lost to USC by two. During the season they only lost two to Florida and Clemson early before losing to South Carolina in the SELC Championship. This season they open up with defending NAIA Champs Reinhardt and also play Clemson, Virginia Tech, Liberty, and Cal for out of conference games. They end the season with a trip to Utah to play BYU and Utah Valley. On offense 2nd Team SELC middies Sam Eck and Brooks Baro are back and 3rd Team attackman Devin Raun is back for a fifth year. The biggest loss is 1st Team SELC goalie, Gino Pagliaro. They also return two 40 point scorers in Nick Eliacin and Asher Wagnon as well as 2nd Team FOS Aaron Piszczek. 

Florida

Overall Record: 13-3

Conference Record: 4-0

Result of 2022 Season: 1st Round of Nationals

Head Coach: Garrett Hanrahan (7th Season)

The Gators are looking very deep this year with a roster of almost 60 kids. Last year they made the Nationals but lost in the 1st Round to Minnesota. They only have to leave the state three times to go to Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, but still play a tough schedule which includes BC, TCU, Clemson, Colorado State, and Colorado for out of conference games. Their defense took a huge hit with the loss of 1st Team poles Parker Beeson (DPOY) and Tyler Schafter, and 2nd Team goalie Matt Corazon, however they returned 1st Team SSDM Stefan Mostovych and 2nd Team poles Kenny Geremia and Cole Fox. On offense, top scorers James Dugan, Nolan Testra, and Michael Fox return to Gainesville. 

Auburn

Overall Record: 9-4

Conference Record: 2-2

Result of 2022 Season: 1st Round of SELC

Head Coach: JJ Arminio (6th Season)

The Tigers had a very good regular season which included a win over LSA Champs TCU, but ultimately lost in the 1st Round of the conference tournament to South Carolina. This season, they only have to travel three weekends to Clemson/UGA, Texas, and Tallahassee. For out of conference games they face Virginia Tech, Clemson, TCU, and Northeastern. They get back two 30 point scorers in Matt Oswald and Zach Jones. 

Georgia

Overall Record: 5-8

Conference Record: 2-2

Result of 2022 Season: 1st Round of SELC 

Head Coach: Holin Axley (3rd Season)

Georgia finished 5-8, but had some good wins including Florida State and Colorado both on the road. They start the season at Vanderbilt and then play mostly at home and close to home. They take on New Hampshire, Pittsburgh, and James Madison for out of conference games. They get back good players on all areas including 2nd Team SELC attackman Riley Walker, 3rd team pole Austin Trimble and 3rd team goalie Reed McCall.

Florida State 

Overall Record: 6-8

Conference Record: 3-1

Result of 2022 Season: 2nd Round of SELC

Head Coach: Patrick Dickson (1st Season) 

1st Season for Head Coach Parick Dickson, although they do return a lot of assistants from last year. Had good wins against New Hampshire and Colorado last year. The Noles stay in Tallahassee except for trips to Nashville/Knoxville and Athens. Out of conference schedule includes BC, Colorado State, and Tennessee. Leading scorers Alexander Gerdak and Andrew Zeman both return as well as 3rd Team SELC FOS and Varsity Club Lacrosse athlete, Vinny Mercadante.

South Florida

Overall Record: 4-9

Conference Record: 0-4

Head Coach: Joey Galuppi (4th Season)

Two 1st Team SELC players are back for the Bulls in Ryan Kerr at attack and Raymond Raefski at LSM. Besides trips to North Carolina and Auburn, they stay in Florida and have big out of conference games against East Carolina, Tennessee, FGCU, and FAU. 

Alabama

Overall Record: 1-11

Conference Record: 0-4

Head Coach: Shane Ryan (4th Season)

Pretty tough schedule for The Crimson Tide as they have to face South Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech. They also play Kentucky and Mississippi State which are both NCLL teams. They finish their season with two rivalry games against LSU and Auburn. They only lost a couple seniors last year so they should have plenty of depth. 

Vanderbilt

Overall Record: 4-6

Conference Record: 1-3

Head Coach: Tim Semisch (2nd Season)

Former NFL tight end Tim Semisch returns for his second season in Nashville. The Commodores play a solid out of conference schedule of Iowa State, Middle Tennessee (NCLL), Alabama Birmingham (NCLL), Tennessee, and Missouri. 

Central Florida

Overall Record: 2-8

Conference Record: 0-4

Head Coach: Austin Ricci (5th Season)

The Knights had a tough season last year, but came out with wins against Illinois and rival South Florida. This year they play LSU and NC State along with an always tough SELC schedule. Most of their roster returns including leading scorer Kyle Hasenfus. 

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