Polls for Feb 24: Media #11 / Coaches #11

[OrangeXtreme]

With four weekends of the 2025 season in the books, North Carolina is in the Top 5, Syracuse is out of the Top 10, Yale is out of the Top 20 and Virginia is dangerously close to joining the unranked.

The Tar Heels took down Johns Hopkins on Homewood to rise to No. 4 in the KANE Men’s DI Media Poll for Week 3. They are behind a core of teams that have met and exceeded high early expectations in top-ranked Notre Dame, No. 2 Maryland and No. 3 Cornell. All three earned Top 20 wins Saturday.

Army is 4-0 and into the Top 5, while the Blue Jays come in at No. 6.

Syracuse, which came in with high expectations as the No. 2 team in the preseason poll, is down to No. 11 after back-to-back losses. They are grouped alongside Harvard, which beat them in the Dome, and Penn, which dominated Delaware in a Top 20 win.

Yale fell out of the Top 20 after its 0-2 start, and Virginia is down to 19.

There were several other big risers in Week 3:

• Colgate has been putting up gaudy numbers and beat a pair of Top 20 teams, Harvard and Villanova, in the span of a few days. They are up to No. 16
• Ohio State has won five-straight games, most handing beating Virginia, to come in at 17.
• Fairfield continues its unbeaten start with an OT win and a No. 18 ranking.
• Boston U makes its first appearance in the Top 20 on the heels of a 4-0 start.

The full KANE Men's DI Media Poll is here.

Rank	Team	Points	Prev
1	Notre Dame (3 - 0)	440 (22)	1
2	Maryland (4 - 0)	415	2
3	Cornell (2 - 0)	398	4
4	North Carolina (3 - 0)	356	9
5	Army (4 - 0)	338	8
11	Syracuse (3 - 2)	198	6

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Rank​	Team​	W-L​	Prev​
1	Notre Dame	3-0	1
2	Maryland	4-0	3
3	Cornell	2-0	5
4	North Carolina	3-0	8
5	Duke	4-0	6
13	Syracuse	3-2	7

 

[OrangeXtreme]

14) Syracuse
It’s better to hit a rough patch now and learn from it than to coast through a bunch of cupcakes. I was part of a national championship team that began the season at (3-2). Syracuse fans, hope that the pair of sobering setbacks to Maryland and Harvard lead to growth.

I see too many wasted or empty possessions. Careless turnovers have become a problem. Impatience and poor shot selection have been common themes. It appears as if the strategy doesn’t vary much from week to week. Halftime adjustments? SU lost a game against Cornell in 2024 after building a seven-goal lead. They led Harvard by five. Where’s the killer instinct?

Dissecting the Maryland film, it was evident that the Terps played an A-level game, and SU I would give a C+. The conditions were not ideal at 37° and raining, and the Dome team clearly was not comfortable with their stick work and shooting. Shooting 7 for 41 never wins. Rain and cold are not an excuse. Against a goalie of that quality, you cannot shoot low-to-low and expect the ball to go in.

Maryland scored three rebound goals, a pole goal, and two on extra man. So the SU defense was not bad in settled sets.

After the home loss to the Crimson, it’s apparent that SU lacks dodgers on attack. When Harvard switched on picks and Joey Spallina was not able to beat a short-stick defender, you’ve got problems. They’re highly skilled but don’t have a go-to dodger when they need to draw a slide or attack the goal.

Utah is up next for SU.

 

[Cuse All-In]

As disappointing as it is to see us ranked 11, 13 and 14 in the polls, I cannot argue at this point that we are better than the teams above us. It's hard to accept that we now look questionable on defense, questionable in goal and soft on offense with a bright spot at fogo. A long way to go but...

We could have used Mullen a few years ago when we struggled there.

 

[JeremyCuse]

14) Syracuse
It’s better to hit a rough patch now and learn from it than to coast through a bunch of cupcakes. I was part of a national championship team that began the season at (3-2). Syracuse fans, hope that the pair of sobering setbacks to Maryland and Harvard lead to growth.

I see too many wasted or empty possessions. Careless turnovers have become a problem. Impatience and poor shot selection have been common themes. It appears as if the strategy doesn’t vary much from week to week. Halftime adjustments? SU lost a game against Cornell in 2024 after building a seven-goal lead. They led Harvard by five. Where’s the killer instinct?

Dissecting the Maryland film, it was evident that the Terps played an A-level game, and SU I would give a C+. The conditions were not ideal at 37° and raining, and the Dome team clearly was not comfortable with their stick work and shooting. Shooting 7 for 41 never wins. Rain and cold are not an excuse. Against a goalie of that quality, you cannot shoot low-to-low and expect the ball to go in.

Maryland scored three rebound goals, a pole goal, and two on extra man. So the SU defense was not bad in settled sets.

After the home loss to the Crimson, it’s apparent that SU lacks dodgers on attack. When Harvard switched on picks and Joey Spallina was not able to beat a short-stick defender, you’ve got problems. They’re highly skilled but don’t have a go-to dodger when they need to draw a slide or attack the goal.

Utah is up next for SU.

Brutal assessment but 100% accurate.

 

[DoctahLexus]

14) Syracuse
It’s better to hit a rough patch now and learn from it than to coast through a bunch of cupcakes. I was part of a national championship team that began the season at (3-2). Syracuse fans, hope that the pair of sobering setbacks to Maryland and Harvard lead to growth.

I see too many wasted or empty possessions. Careless turnovers have become a problem. Impatience and poor shot selection have been common themes. It appears as if the strategy doesn’t vary much from week to week. Halftime adjustments? SU lost a game against Cornell in 2024 after building a seven-goal lead. They led Harvard by five. Where’s the killer instinct?

Dissecting the Maryland film, it was evident that the Terps played an A-level game, and SU I would give a C+. The conditions were not ideal at 37° and raining, and the Dome team clearly was not comfortable with their stick work and shooting. Shooting 7 for 41 never wins. Rain and cold are not an excuse. Against a goalie of that quality, you cannot shoot low-to-low and expect the ball to go in.

Maryland scored three rebound goals, a pole goal, and two on extra man. So the SU defense was not bad in settled sets.

After the home loss to the Crimson, it’s apparent that SU lacks dodgers on attack. When Harvard switched on picks and Joey Spallina was not able to beat a short-stick defender, you’ve got problems. They’re highly skilled but don’t have a go-to dodger when they need to draw a slide or attack the goal.

Utah is up next for SU.

Agree with almost all of this from Quint. Certainly correct to call out the lack of killer instinct and shooting in the Maryland game (really think it applies to both games at times). With that specific Spallina on a short stick example, I do not really agree since he chose to get in a two man game play with English instead, and we instantly scored. Its not like he was full on testing the matchup off the dodge 1v1. I still think he makes enough happen with the ball in his stick on the attack line. He had two feeds in the fourth quarter that should have been goals but Hiltz and Thomson both got stuffed. I was more disappointed with a couple impatient shots he took from poor angles earlier in the game.

Hiltz has proven to be our more traditional speed dodging attack who can draw slides off a longpole. I really wish we had the confidence to put the ball in his stick and put him on an island in some of these later game scenarios. Put his speed with his feeding/shooting ability and it seems like a no brainer. Staff seems too committed to initiating from the midfield in these tight late game spots, but Hiltz is up to the task off the dodge on the left wing. It's not like we tried a couple times with him and he got bottled up. We did not even try. Especially with Rhoa out, we should have gone to him more late in the game.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

Agree with almost all of this from Quint. Certainly correct to call out the lack of killer instinct and shooting in the Maryland game (really think it applies to both games at times). With that specific Spallina on a short stick example, I do not really agree since he chose to get in a two man game play with English instead, and we instantly scored. Its not like he was full on testing the matchup off the dodge 1v1. I still think he makes enough happen with the ball in his stick on the attack line. He had two feeds in the fourth quarter that should have been goals but Hiltz and Thomson both got stuffed. I was more disappointed with a couple impatient shots he took from poor angles earlier in the game.

Hiltz has proven to be our more traditional speed dodging attack who can draw slides off a longpole. I really wish we had the confidence to put the ball in his stick and put him on an island in some of these later game scenarios. Put his speed with his feeding/shooting ability and it seems like a no brainer. Staff seems too committed to initiating from the midfield in these tight late game spots, but Hiltz is up to the task off the dodge on the left wing. It's not like we tried a couple times with him and he got bottled up. We did not even try. Especially with Rhoa out, we should have gone to him more late in the game.

Hiltz had the goalie guessing. He should have taken that shot instead of Leo on the man-up from the point. Leo has developed a long windup type of a release which has been a problem along with telegraphing the location.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Hiltz had the goalie guessing. He should have taken that shot instead of Leo on the man-up from the point. Leo has developed a long windup type of a release which has been a problem along with telegraphing the location.

100% on Leo, it's why he's been struggling for much of this season. He's not getting that quick release and as you noted on some of his shots its clear to me in the stands where it's going so these goalies are going to make the save most of the time.