2025 Preseason Top 20 Lookahead

[ClvrUsrnm]

millon
r. colsey
sunderland
schutz
hackett
balsamo

is that uva's worst top 6 on offense since starsia's last year that was led by...JAMES pannell?

dont get me wrong it's still better than 90% of teams but it's been awhile since a uva offense has looked that underwhelming on paper... they better get that goalie situation figured out...

I thought Millon was supposed to be the second coming?

 

[JeremyCuse]

I thought Millon was supposed to be the second coming?

He was pretty good as a true frosh last year put up some big numbers. However, now he goes from drawing a teams third and in some cases probably 4th best defender to drawing every teams #1. Massive change in the amount of attention he is about to draw.

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

He was pretty good as a true frosh last year put up some big numbers. However, now he goes from drawing a teams third and in some cases probably 4th best defender to drawing every teams #1. Massive change in the amount of attention he is about to draw.

Fair point

 

[JeremyCuse]

millon
r. colsey
sunderland
schutz
hackett
balsamo

is that uva's worst top 6 on offense since starsia's last year that was led by...JAMES pannell?

dont get me wrong it's still better than 90% of teams but it's been awhile since a uva offense has looked that underwhelming on paper... they better get that goalie situation figured out...

Still a lot of talent for sure but ya as you noted by UVA standards that's probably the least scary top 6 on paper UVA has put out there in a while. They have lost a ton to graduation the last two years and last year it wasn't as much quantity as it was quality by losing two of the top O players in their history. I don't see anyone remotely ready to step in for Shelly or Cormier which would be a tall task even if everyone was health. Tiffany is a good coach and there's so much talent there I am sure they will figure it out for the most part but if they get uenven goalie play again and Ghobriel can't stay healthy again things could spiral quickly.

Also on an unrelated note UVA has to be on some crazy streak of top O players having to redshirt either by injury or UVA direction. This has to be like year 5 or 6 in a row. The Duenkel one is hardly surprising, poor kid hasn't been healthy in literally years and may never be.

 

[Zack80]

UVa also has senior Thomas Menke, who has been stuck behind Cormier the last 3 years.

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

For whatever this is worth

 

[LaxFactor]

Ted Hust of LaxFactor said on his pod today he ranked them #3 in his IL vote.

I was stupid torn on that one. I couldn't see bumping theTerps below teams they beat by seasons end. Princeton, UVA and Virginia all lost to Maryland. They pretty much won the portal this season as well adding 5 or 6 quality guys that are good enough to step right into high level roles.

What matters is I had Cuse at #2.

Who's the dude that gave Cornell a #1 nod haha. To each their own, but that was an eyebrow raiser. Foy and Kinnear at IL have always been clear, your vote is your vote and they don't judge so going rouge happens sometimes haha.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Tewaaraton​

Casey Vock: Joey Spallina, Syracuse
This should be really competitive this year, and some contenders could come right out of the rhubarb, but this guy's played as much high-level lacrosse as humanly possible by this point in his life. That should be quite obvious this season. What's festering around him could become a kind of horror movie for opposing defenses. "We are here encountering the Orange. ... Cuseferatu."

Craig McMichael: Joey Spallina, Syracuse
The second time is a charm for my pick. Spallina has reenergized the Orange and led them back to the quarterfinals last year. That is something that Syracuse hasn't done in a while; that's progress. Spallina can beat you, shooting or passing; pick your poison. Spallina spent the summer playing box in Ontario and at the World Lacrosse Championships to continue to refine and tinker his craft. Look for those results to pay dividends as he continues to draw the toughest matchups and helps lead the Orange back to Championship Weekend.

Final Four​

Matt Kinnear: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia, Cornell
Virginia is the outlier from the group here. The Cavs will have some growing pains replacing their alphas, but I like McCabe Millon taking charge and I think the cultural spillover from the last several years of UVA lacrosse carries them.

Kevin Brown: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Penn, Cornell
Defense wins in May and the Quakers and Irish have two of the best. Joey Spallina is ready for his NCAA Tournament breakthrough to Championship Weekend and CJ Kirst and Co. have some '23 Notre Dame vibes after being left out of the big dance last year.

Terry Foy: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cornell, Yale
I went 1-for-4 last year, with three teams I picked losing in the Quarterfinals. I’m picking these four because I had a Top 10 assistant tell me this week he thought these were the four best teams, and I don’t have a better reason to pick anyone else.

Dan Aburn: Syracuse, Cornell, Princeton, Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish look once again too strong to be denied a spot on Championship Weekend. I think a much more experienced Syracuse squad finds a way to get there as well. Princeton and Cornell have elite offenses and depth capable of getting past tough opponents.

Casey Vock: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cornell, Maryland
It feels like this season could bring some major surprises. I don't have a crystal ball handy to predict them, but there's plenty of sensible evidence to support why these four teams could be considered preseason contenders. Any matchup between highly-ranked teams should be not only decisive but revealing.

Craig McMichael: Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Yale
The ACC, Big Ten, and Ivy League secured 15 of the 20 spots in the initial media poll. The Terps and the Jays will be the class of the Big Ten. They will be joined by a lone representative from the ACC, Syracuse, and Yale from the Ivy League. The road to Boston will be tough, with a very deep and even field. My list doesn't even include the teams ranked 1, 3, 4, 6, or 7. Maybe I'm wrong; either way, it will make for a fantastic season and tournament.

Dan Kaplan: Army, Princeton, Cornell, Notre Dame
Notre Dame returns a ton of talent on a quest to three-peat that doesn't seem particularly improbable. While they have some questions to answer and a Tewaaraton winner to replace, the returning pieces should be plenty capable of rising to the occasion. Cornell and Princeton both have opportunities out of the Ivy League to make strong postseason pushes should they remain healthy. With the talent level from top to bottom at Princeton and the offensive firepower at Cornell, I could see each of them enter the NCAA field a battle-tested championship-level team. Army was in my selection to make the final four last year, and they remain there for 2025. With more parity than we have seen in previous years, the opportunity for a team like Army to check every box and walk away with a title feels more possible than ever.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Tewaaraton​

Casey Vock: Joey Spallina, Syracuse
This should be really competitive this year, and some contenders could come right out of the rhubarb, but this guy's played as much high-level lacrosse as humanly possible by this point in his life. That should be quite obvious this season. What's festering around him could become a kind of horror movie for opposing defenses. "We are here encountering the Orange. ... Cuseferatu."

Craig McMichael: Joey Spallina, Syracuse
The second time is a charm for my pick. Spallina has reenergized the Orange and led them back to the quarterfinals last year. That is something that Syracuse hasn't done in a while; that's progress. Spallina can beat you, shooting or passing; pick your poison. Spallina spent the summer playing box in Ontario and at the World Lacrosse Championships to continue to refine and tinker his craft. Look for those results to pay dividends as he continues to draw the toughest matchups and helps lead the Orange back to Championship Weekend.

Final Four​

Matt Kinnear: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia, Cornell
Virginia is the outlier from the group here. The Cavs will have some growing pains replacing their alphas, but I like McCabe Millon taking charge and I think the cultural spillover from the last several years of UVA lacrosse carries them.

Kevin Brown: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Penn, Cornell
Defense wins in May and the Quakers and Irish have two of the best. Joey Spallina is ready for his NCAA Tournament breakthrough to Championship Weekend and CJ Kirst and Co. have some '23 Notre Dame vibes after being left out of the big dance last year.

Terry Foy: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cornell, Yale
I went 1-for-4 last year, with three teams I picked losing in the Quarterfinals. I’m picking these four because I had a Top 10 assistant tell me this week he thought these were the four best teams, and I don’t have a better reason to pick anyone else.

Dan Aburn: Syracuse, Cornell, Princeton, Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish look once again too strong to be denied a spot on Championship Weekend. I think a much more experienced Syracuse squad finds a way to get there as well. Princeton and Cornell have elite offenses and depth capable of getting past tough opponents.

Casey Vock: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cornell, Maryland
It feels like this season could bring some major surprises. I don't have a crystal ball handy to predict them, but there's plenty of sensible evidence to support why these four teams could be considered preseason contenders. Any matchup between highly-ranked teams should be not only decisive but revealing.

Craig McMichael: Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Yale
The ACC, Big Ten, and Ivy League secured 15 of the 20 spots in the initial media poll. The Terps and the Jays will be the class of the Big Ten. They will be joined by a lone representative from the ACC, Syracuse, and Yale from the Ivy League. The road to Boston will be tough, with a very deep and even field. My list doesn't even include the teams ranked 1, 3, 4, 6, or 7. Maybe I'm wrong; either way, it will make for a fantastic season and tournament.

Dan Kaplan: Army, Princeton, Cornell, Notre Dame
Notre Dame returns a ton of talent on a quest to three-peat that doesn't seem particularly improbable. While they have some questions to answer and a Tewaaraton winner to replace, the returning pieces should be plenty capable of rising to the occasion. Cornell and Princeton both have opportunities out of the Ivy League to make strong postseason pushes should they remain healthy. With the talent level from top to bottom at Princeton and the offensive firepower at Cornell, I could see each of them enter the NCAA field a battle-tested championship-level team. Army was in my selection to make the final four last year, and they remain there for 2025. With more parity than we have seen in previous years, the opportunity for a team like Army to check every box and walk away with a title feels more possible than ever.

Dan Kaplans fascination with Army is a bit odd. To pick them for the final four is one thing to win it all seems odd to say the least. Forget the fact that they didn't even make the tourney last year, they lost multiple high end O pieces and as good as Pilate is (he's really good) he can't guard more then 1 player. Colletti is an excellent FOGO but he was last year to and it didn't matter.

 

[Zack80]

I'd just go with the top 4 from my rankings somewhere above:
Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cornell, Maryland

Virginia is pretty close to Maryland, but having their 3 star freshmen attackmen all red-shirting takes away a lot of depth from their offense.

I see they are also picking champions over on Insnide lacrosse.
I'll go with Syracuse. I like Syracuse's offensive group.

 

[Powellfan]

Tewaaraton​

Casey Vock: Joey Spallina, Syracuse
This should be really competitive this year, and some contenders could come right out of the rhubarb, but this guy's played as much high-level lacrosse as humanly possible by this point in his life. That should be quite obvious this season. What's festering around him could become a kind of horror movie for opposing defenses. "We are here encountering the Orange. ... Cuseferatu."

Craig McMichael: Joey Spallina, Syracuse
The second time is a charm for my pick. Spallina has reenergized the Orange and led them back to the quarterfinals last year. That is something that Syracuse hasn't done in a while; that's progress. Spallina can beat you, shooting or passing; pick your poison. Spallina spent the summer playing box in Ontario and at the World Lacrosse Championships to continue to refine and tinker his craft. Look for those results to pay dividends as he continues to draw the toughest matchups and helps lead the Orange back to Championship Weekend.

Final Four​

Matt Kinnear: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia, Cornell
Virginia is the outlier from the group here. The Cavs will have some growing pains replacing their alphas, but I like McCabe Millon taking charge and I think the cultural spillover from the last several years of UVA lacrosse carries them.

Kevin Brown: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Penn, Cornell
Defense wins in May and the Quakers and Irish have two of the best. Joey Spallina is ready for his NCAA Tournament breakthrough to Championship Weekend and CJ Kirst and Co. have some '23 Notre Dame vibes after being left out of the big dance last year.

Terry Foy: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cornell, Yale
I went 1-for-4 last year, with three teams I picked losing in the Quarterfinals. I’m picking these four because I had a Top 10 assistant tell me this week he thought these were the four best teams, and I don’t have a better reason to pick anyone else.

Dan Aburn: Syracuse, Cornell, Princeton, Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish look once again too strong to be denied a spot on Championship Weekend. I think a much more experienced Syracuse squad finds a way to get there as well. Princeton and Cornell have elite offenses and depth capable of getting past tough opponents.

Casey Vock: Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cornell, Maryland
It feels like this season could bring some major surprises. I don't have a crystal ball handy to predict them, but there's plenty of sensible evidence to support why these four teams could be considered preseason contenders. Any matchup between highly-ranked teams should be not only decisive but revealing.

Craig McMichael: Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Yale
The ACC, Big Ten, and Ivy League secured 15 of the 20 spots in the initial media poll. The Terps and the Jays will be the class of the Big Ten. They will be joined by a lone representative from the ACC, Syracuse, and Yale from the Ivy League. The road to Boston will be tough, with a very deep and even field. My list doesn't even include the teams ranked 1, 3, 4, 6, or 7. Maybe I'm wrong; either way, it will make for a fantastic season and tournament.

Dan Kaplan: Army, Princeton, Cornell, Notre Dame
Notre Dame returns a ton of talent on a quest to three-peat that doesn't seem particularly improbable. While they have some questions to answer and a Tewaaraton winner to replace, the returning pieces should be plenty capable of rising to the occasion. Cornell and Princeton both have opportunities out of the Ivy League to make strong postseason pushes should they remain healthy. With the talent level from top to bottom at Princeton and the offensive firepower at Cornell, I could see each of them enter the NCAA field a battle-tested championship-level team. Army was in my selection to make the final four last year, and they remain there for 2025. With more parity than we have seen in previous years, the opportunity for a team like Army to check every box and walk away with a title feels more possible than ever.

Good to see Casey Vock back on the beat!

 

[DMVCuseLax]

Good to see Casey Vock back on the beat!

Very good. He has been photographing some DMV HS lax for a couple of years since his incident. Lucky to be alive.

 

[wgdsr]

Still a lot of talent for sure but ya as you noted by UVA standards that's probably the least scary top 6 on paper UVA has put out there in a while. They have lost a ton to graduation the last two years and last year it wasn't as much quantity as it was quality by losing two of the top O players in their history. I don't see anyone remotely ready to step in for Shelly or Cormier which would be a tall task even if everyone was health. Tiffany is a good coach and there's so much talent there I am sure they will figure it out for the most part but if they get uenven goalie play again and Ghobriel can't stay healthy again things could spiral quickly.

Also on an unrelated note UVA has to be on some crazy streak of top O players having to redshirt either by injury or UVA direction. This has to be like year 5 or 6 in a row. The Duenkel one is hardly surprising, poor kid hasn't been healthy in literally years and may never be.

i'd noted numerous times before, during and after last year that uva lost a lot more in 2023 than 2024.
maybe that was obfuscated by long term big contributors still being around and their WAR, to borrow from baseball.

but losing over half your lineup, double digits including at least 5 or 6 all-americans at some point, was a yuge lift.
and it was part of what took the team from an all-time scoring group (top 5?) to pedestrian in 2024.

they lost 3.5 gpg in scoring, and even worse they averaged 12 in the back half of the year (got figured out?) and the shooting was somehow worse than that. offense was really THE problem.

that's all to say with everyone else's losses as well, 2025 doesn't have a high bar to repeat or better '24 for them on O, even with old faces gone. i will say it would've been surprising to not cobble together a year with their stars around last year, and this year is more a crapshoot given 2 years of attrition. injuries become a problem if they fall on the wrong side of the fine line. they've been manageable so far, but of course they haven't even played a game yet.

 

[nyclax]

i was struck by this quote from dino in the us lacrosse preview for duke..

“This is a classic case where the sum has to be greater than the parts,” Danowski said. “We have no star players here. There’s nobody people would be afraid of come game day.”

“Everybody is just trying to fill their role, and it’s really fun to dig into coaching the fundamentals,” he said. “We are back to teaching and finding out if we can coach or not.”

"we're teaching again to see if we can still coach or not" is a rather ominous january quote...dino doesnt sound too confident in his team but we'll see...

 

[JeremyCuse]

i was struck by this quote from dino in the us lacrosse preview for duke..



"we're teaching again to see if we can still coach or not" is a rather ominous january quote...dino doesnt sound too confident in his team but we'll see...

Wow, that's some interesting comments to say the least. Some coach speak I am sure but some brutal honesty sprinkled in there though Duke's roster isn't exactly all 2 and 3 star players, there's some high end dudes still there.

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

Wow, that's some interesting comments to say the least. Some coach speak I am sure but some brutal honesty sprinkled in there though Duke's roster isn't exactly all 2 and 3 star players, there's some high end dudes still there.

It’s Dino being Dino. He is self-effacing in casual conversation. Duke’s coaches used to put on virtual coaches clinics every fall. I watched them for years. He was the same way, even after they won their titles.

 

[wgdsr]

i was struck by this quote from dino in the us lacrosse preview for duke..



"we're teaching again to see if we can still coach or not" is a rather ominous january quote...dino doesnt sound too confident in his team but we'll see...

wonder if he's going to be taking some of the reins from dino, jr. on offense.

 

[CuseAlum87]

wonder if he's going to be taking some of the reins from dino, jr. on offense.

I hope not for the sake of the Orange and Hoos.

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

No idea if this is any good because I hate podcasts, but thought I’d share.

 

[FloridaCuse]

No idea if this is any good because I hate podcasts, but thought I’d share.

Jonathan Donville is a Canadian former Cornell & then Maryland star who has played in the PLL & I believe the NLL. He stared in junior box lacrosse with the Orangeville Northmen. Last Summer he had a podcast on the OJLL & also was an analyst on the YouTube broadcasts of the OJLL.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[nyclax]

x.com

x.com

none of duke's starters on attack were on the team last year. wild!!

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

because I hate podcasts

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

Can’t stand listening to disembodied voices prattle on.

 

[Hoo's That]

Just as an FYI, UVa starters for last pre-season scrimmage vs. Drexel

Attack - Millon, Sunderland, Colsey
Midfield - Schutz, Mencke, Inderlied
Midfield2 - Hausmann, Balsamo, Hackett/Walshe
Defense - Schroter, Fulton, Kology
LSM - Wayer, McNeil
SSDM - Chizmar, Till, Burt, Hausmann
Goal - Morris
FO - Ghobriel, Grosso

Erdmann and Terenzi didn't dress.