2026 Division I Preseason Top 20 Rankings

[OrangeXtreme]

NCAA 2026 Countdown: No. 6 Cornell Ready to Surprise

Connor Buczek has players waiting in the wings ready to replace a star-studded graduating class.

www.usalacrosse.com

 

[Powellfan]

NCAA 2026 Countdown: No. 7 Notre Dame Not Banking on 'Wishes and Memories'

The sun has set on the Kavanagh dynasty and the Faison brothers fantasy lasted less than a month. But the Notre Dame lacrosse pedigree stretches well beyond its famously fraternal ties.

www.usalacrosse.com

Seems like Josh Yago and Brock Behrman are two of the predicted starters on attack. Behrman is a bit of a surprise (just eight points in two years), I thought they might go young with all their five star recruits. Believe he is a lefty. No mention of five star Cam Kelly being involved in the third remaining spot, which is a bit surprising. Might just be coach speak though.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

NCAA 2026 Countdown: No. 5 North Carolina and the Midfield Renaissance

Most teams would kill to have a conference player of the year, a two-year ACC starter and a top-50 recruit comprise their first midfield. At North Carolina, it’s the third line. That’s the talent with which the Tar Heels are operating.

www.usalacrosse.com

 

[nyclax]

NCAA 2026 Countdown: No. 5 North Carolina and the Midfield Renaissance

Most teams would kill to have a conference player of the year, a two-year ACC starter and a top-50 recruit comprise their first midfield. At North Carolina, it’s the third line. That’s the talent with which the Tar Heels are operating.

www.usalacrosse.com

that first middie line of matan, sczewyk, and harshbarger still doesnt sound that good to me..but the freshman line of raio, merrill, and bair could be deadly if those guys live up to expectations...

3rd attack spot looks iffy as well...meaning it could be another season where duffy and dom petro have to carry a lot of the load...theyre definitely deeper if everyone stays healthy...but cant help but wonder if their vaunted talent on offense is a tad overrated?

 

[Powellfan]

IL focuses on the left handed attack spot for the Orange. They still seem to have it in their heads that Deere was going to be the starter this season before his injury. No offense to Deere, but that obviously wasn't going to be the case (he played midfield in the Fall from all reports). Just hope we don't have to hear that talking point all season.

 

[Hawknate144]

This teams biggest question is undoubtably what the SSDM room looks like.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

NCAA 2026 Countdown: No. 4 Georgetown Using May as Springboard

Georgetown upended Duke for the program’s first road victory in the NCAA tournament since 2003.

www.usalacrosse.com

 

[nyclax]

quints poll is awesome. osu 4th, towson 11th, albany 12th, psu 15th, army 18th

 

[Powellfan]

#2 Syracuse
The NCAA Semifinalists from 2025 appear loaded for a title run. FOGO John Mullen was 64% last year. Defenders Riley Figueiras and Billy Dwan III return as starters. I worry about the SSDM group. There’s plenty of juice on offense surrounding Joey Spallina with guys like Payton Anderson, Michael Leo, Luke Rhoa, Wyatt Hottle and Tyler McCarthy. Offensive piece Trey Deere will not play this year after being injured in a car accident. The Orange need to show better situational awareness at clutch time against legit competition. Too often they were their own worst enemy. Boston U and St. Joe’s are on deck before hosting Maryland on Feb. 13 from the Dome.

 

[DoctahLexus]

#2 Syracuse
The NCAA Semifinalists from 2025 appear loaded for a title run. FOGO John Mullen was 64% last year. Defenders Riley Figueiras and Billy Dwan III return as starters. I worry about the SSDM group. There’s plenty of juice on offense surrounding Joey Spallina with guys like Payton Anderson, Michael Leo, Luke Rhoa, Wyatt Hottle and Tyler McCarthy. Offensive piece Trey Deere will not play this year after being injured in a car accident. The Orange need to show better situational awareness at clutch time against legit competition. Too often they were their own worst enemy. Boston U and St. Joe’s are on deck before hosting Maryland on Feb. 13 from the Dome.

Not the worst analysis from Quint, but I thought we did waaay better in the 4th quarter/end of games as the season went on, if that is what he means by "clutch time." Harvard/Princeton in the tourney, the two ACC tourney games, UVA/Hop, even though it was too little too late we had a pretty furious comeback against UNC late in that game. If anything a bigger problem for us was digging ourselves into a hole earlier in the games. I guess the first Harvard game would be an exception, but I can't think of any others where we choked it away late in the game.

 

[FloridaCuse]

#2 Syracuse
The NCAA Semifinalists from 2025 appear loaded for a title run. FOGO John Mullen was 64% last year. Defenders Riley Figueiras and Billy Dwan III return as starters. I worry about the SSDM group. There’s plenty of juice on offense surrounding Joey Spallina with guys like Payton Anderson, Michael Leo, Luke Rhoa, Wyatt Hottle and Tyler McCarthy. Offensive piece Trey Deere will not play this year after being injured in a car accident. The Orange need to show better situational awareness at clutch time against legit competition. Too often they were their own worst enemy. Boston U and St. Joe’s are on deck before hosting Maryland on Feb. 13 from the Dome.

No mention of co-captain Finn Thomson on offense? I hope it fires him up.

 

[bjred]

Not the worst analysis from Quint, but I thought we did waaay better in the 4th quarter/end of games as the season went on, if that is what he means by "clutch time." Harvard/Princeton in the tourney, the two ACC tourney games, UVA/Hop, even though it was too little too late we had a pretty furious comeback against UNC late in that game. If anything a bigger problem for us was digging ourselves into a hole earlier in the games. I guess the first Harvard game would be an exception, but I can't think of any others where we choked it away late in the game.

I think he's referring to some of the late game mistakes that SU had, like Hiltz turning it over against Duke giving them a last second shot to tie the game in the ACC championship game or English turning it over allowing Harvard to tie it up in the first round. I wanna say Princeton also had a chance late after a turnover as well.

Could also be talking about shot selection, how many times did we see them shoot at the same spot over and over for the opposing goalie to make easy saves. I feel like it was McNaney they kept shooting high on and he just kept making those saves.

Though I do agree, there was a bigger issue of trying to dig out of a holes last year in the losses.

 

[Zack80]

quints poll is awesome. osu 4th, towson 11th, albany 12th, psu 15th, army 18th

PSU at #15 seems rather questionable. One wonders about his research on the team. Hunter Aquino started on the first midfield last year.

 

[Powellfan]

PSU at #15 seems rather questionable. One wonders about his research on the team. Hunter Aquino started on the first midfield last year.

True. He probably thinks that Aquino will move to attack, but they reloaded their midfield pretty heavily in the portal with some nice players. Quint has never been the most consistent. He dings Penn State for losing their midfield, but doesn't do the same for Ohio State.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

No mention of co-captain Finn Thomson on offense? I hope it fires him up.

No idea how every article doesn't mention these top returners. Seems to be intentional to me.

 

[nocohalo]

No idea how every article doesn't mention these top returners. Seems to be intentional to me.

It's obviously intentional. They've repeatedly downplayed Spallina.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Not the worst analysis from Quint, but I thought we did waaay better in the 4th quarter/end of games as the season went on, if that is what he means by "clutch time." Harvard/Princeton in the tourney, the two ACC tourney games, UVA/Hop, even though it was too little too late we had a pretty furious comeback against UNC late in that game. If anything a bigger problem for us was digging ourselves into a hole earlier in the games. I guess the first Harvard game would be an exception, but I can't think of any others where we choked it away late in the game.

Think Quint is mostly right here but he's got it a bit flipped with the self inflicted wounds. If you look back at SU's losses there is usually a period in the 1st half where things just seem to fall apart on both sides of the ball and SU's struggling to clear, not to turn it over, sliding all over the place, penalties etc. Gait teams rarely play a full 60 min games which is odd because they have had some very impressive performances but they do seem to hit a stretch be it a half quarter or sometimes a quarter + where they just can't get out of their own way. I think SU has been better late in games but as someone noted he maybe referencing some late turnovers in a few games but that honestly happens to most teams.

I will say the offsides issues continue to absolutely haunt this team and is something that I keep thinking will get cleared up but has been issue his entire tenure.

 

[Powellfan]

Three out of the seven IL guys pick Syracuse to win the title. Two pick Maryland, one picks Georgetown and one picks UNC.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

NCAA 2026 Countdown: No. 3 Princeton Should Be Just as Potent

This could be Princeton's best team in 20 years if all goes according to plan.

www.usalacrosse.com

 

[Zack80]

Three out of the seven IL guys pick Syracuse to win the title. Two pick Maryland, one picks Georgetown and one picks UNC.

and none picked Syracuse #1 in their media poll.

 

[Hawknate144]

and none picked Syracuse #1 in their media poll.

Don't question their logic

 

[Lax Mouse]

Any fun predictions of our own for the season as a whole?

I've got:

Georgetown breaking through and making the Final 4
UNC being a year behind Cuse and losing in the semifinals
Army making the tournament with a less heralded roster
Virginia returning to the NCAAT
Hopkins finishing with the same record as a year ago and missing the tournament
Duke missing the tournament
And perhaps most optimistically - Cuse taking down Princeton in the championship (revenge for what I imagine will be a mid-season stumble)

For what it's worth - I've got a Princeton/UNC + Syracuse/Georgetown final four

 

[Zack80]

Inside Lacrosse tells us "Things are wide open," but looking at the picks of their 7 final fours:
Maryland 6, Princeton 6, Syracuse 5, Georgetown 5,
Cornell 2, Ohio State 2, UNC 1, Richmond 1.

 

[Hawknate144]

Inside Lacrosse tells us "Things are wide open," but looking at the picks of their 7 final fours:
Maryland 6, Princeton 6, Syracuse 5, Georgetown 5,
Cornell 2, Ohio State 2, UNC 1, Richmond 1.

Compared to previous season having 8 teams that could realistically make it kind of is Wide Open

 

[Zack80]

My Final Four:
Maryland - Lots of depth on the offense. 3 attackmen on IL's Preseason All-American, then you still have Chris Lyons. Whittier had 33 ots on the 1st midfield last year, and Stobaugh and Schultz showed nice signs on the 2nd. Then you have a number of top young players like Spencer Ford, Johnny Gardiner, and Matt Higgins. Defense is perhaps not as deep, but the starters look strong with Will Schaller back on the close and transfer Alexander and Laake step up to fill in. Larkin back at LSM. Kolar, Stamos, and Gravino return at SSDM. Transfer Dodge and sophomore Jonah Carrier man the face-offs. Ruppel, who started as a freshman 2 years ago moves in as the new goalie, backed up by top recruit Seibel.

Syracuse - I like all the seniors coming together. Joey Spallina, Thomson, Leo, and Rhoa on the offense. Losing Deere hurts, but Anderson looked nice and could take over as lefty attack. Dwan and Figueiras leading the defense. Of course, Mullen is a top face-off man and McCool is solid in goal. I don't think Syracuse has the depth of Maryland, but they do have the top attackman to lead the team in Joey Spallina.

Penn State - This just looks like the sort of team Tambroni will get to the final four. Aquino, Lehman and Matthews look to step things up offensively. Walstrum also scored over 30 last year. I like the midfield transfers Robertson and Watters. Ross, Costin and O'Connor are back to lead the defense, and LSM Lucca DiBartolomeo looked nice as a freshman last year. Gill and Baldwin on the face-offs. Question mark in goal.

Virginia - Struggled with injuries last year, but such teams often come roaring back. Had trouble with scoring depth last year. They get entire attack back: M.Millon, Sunderland and Colsey. To fill in the depth on offense they add top recruit Brendan Millon and 2 talented sophomores Dunkel and Browne return from injury. Terenzi returns as a top 2-way midfielder and to go with Erdmann. Robby Hopper seems like a particularly special recruit at LSM. Virginia added some transfers to bolster the close defense with Schroter. Face-offs and goalie look a little questionable at the moment, but if Tiffany can fill them in, he certainly knows the road to the final four.

As you'd expect, I'll pick Maryland over Syracuse in the final.