Lenoir-Rhyne No. 1 in Final Nike/USA Lacrosse Division II Men's Top 20

Lenoir-Rhyne, a first-time national champion, is unsurprisingly No. 1 in the final Nike/USA Lacrosse Division II Men’s Top 20 of 2023.

The Bears steamrolled Mercyhurst, No. 2 in the final ranking, in the national championship game. Le Moyne is No. 3 after concluding its final Division II season, and a trio of southern teams — Limestone, Rollins and Tampa — follow at Nos. 4, 5 and 6, respectively.

Nike/USA Lacrosse Rankings

Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women

Nike/USA Lacrosse
Division II Men’s Top 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Belmont Abbey, Chestnut Hill, Georgian Court, Lander, Lewis, Rockhurst

IN CLOSING

A quick look at some of the biggest storylines of 2023.

BIGGEST UPSET

Frostburg State beating Tampa was memorable. Early in the year, trying to find the team that might knock off Tampa wasn’t easy. The Spartans returned multiple USILA positional players of the year in Matt Beddow and Blake Ulmer. Canyon Birch, a former top-20 recruit and Penn State attackman, transferred into the program. There were weapons abound, and the defending champs were an easy pick to get back to Championship Weekend. Frostburg wasn’t anyone’s pick to be the team that upset the order. But barely into March, Frostburg let us know that the preseason Division II script could be thrown out. They beat Tampa 14-12, introduced everyone to Bubba Love, Austin Spies and Jake Bowmen and vaulted into the Top 20. Suddenly, pundits looked up and down polls, and all over the nation, at who else might be vulnerable. Frostburg set the tone in that game for a season that saw rapid risers and fallers in the Top 20 as programs tried to claw their way toward a championship. 

BIGGEST STATEMENT

Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you. And on May 29, Mercyhurst got eaten. Lenoir-Rhyne played like downright bullies from the opening whistle. Victor Powell had four caused turnovers, and some of them without throwing a stick check. He simply shoved his man to the ground and picked up the loose ball. Toron Eccleston knocked a Mercyhurst clearing midfielder to the ground and took the ball away in the late game in a play that felt indicative of the entire afternoon. Mercyhurst tried to get itself going with speed, and Lenoir-Rhyne used physicality to stop the train in its tracks.

EXPAND THE FIELD

As Division III has shown us, a regional system of playoffs can work. If the field is expanded, more teams will get a crack at a national championship, and it won’t just fall into the hands of the top teams in the north and the south. It’s time to put in the logistical work and financial investment to construct a more accurate representation of the playoffs.

FAREWELL TO LE MOYNE

While there are many, many, teams that won’t mind never seeing the Dolphins on the field again — most of which are in the NE-10 — there is a level of respect that must be shown to the now-former Division II gatekeepers. For decades, the path to Memorial Day Weekend has been blocked by Coach Sheehan and his Upstate squad of hard-hitting, tactically adept squads. Year in and year out, Le Moyne represented the best of what Division II could be. The Dolphins will join the likes of recent Division II ascendants Merrimack, Queens and Lindenwood. The ultimate goal of every D-II team is not to make that move, but it does seem like it’s trending upward.