Maryland Beats Out UVA for No. 1 Ranking in USILA Preseason Poll

January 31, 2023

Matt DaSilva

Maryland Athletics

The reigning NCAA champions are No. 1 until proven otherwise.

That is, at least, according to the USILA preseason coaches polls that came out Tuesday.

Despite losing considerable talent from an undefeated team some considered one of the best in NCAA history, Maryland earned 17 of 25 first-place votes to take the top spot in the USILA Division I Preseason Coaches Poll.

Virginia received the remaining eight first-place votes to come in at No. 2. The Cavaliers are currently ranked ahead of Maryland atop the Nike/USA Lacrosse and Inside Lacrosse media rankings.

Georgetown, Cornell and Notre Dame round out the top five of the USILA poll.

In Division II and Division III, meanwhile, the No. 1 teams were nearly unanimous. Tampa swept all 21 first-place votes in Division II and RIT got 18 of 19 first-place votes in Division III.

USILA DIVISION I PRESEASON POLL

RK	TEAM	PTS	1ST
1	Maryland	490	17
2	Virginia	469	8
3	Georgetown	431	—
4	Cornell	399	—
5	Notre Dame	391	—
6	Princeton	368	—
7	Duke	354	—
8	Yale	319	—
9	Penn	310	—
10	Rutgers	295	—
11	Ohio State	271	—
12	Delaware	188	—
13	Saint Joseph's	129	—
14	Boston University	128	—
15	Harvard	122	—
16	Brown	120	—
17	Jacksonville	96	—
18	Denver	75	—
19	Richmond	61	—
20	North Carolina	60	—

Also receiving votes: Army, Johns Hopkins, Loyola, Navy, Villanova, Lehigh, Syracuse, High Point, Utah, Vermont, Albany, UMass, Michigan, Air Force

USILA DIVISION II PRESEASON POLL

RK	TEAM	PTS	1ST
1	Tampa	420	21
2	Mercy	377	—
3	Lenior-Rhyne	349	—
4	Le Moyne	336	—
5	Adelphi	331	—
6	Wingate	321	—
7	Mercyhurst	311	—
8	UIndy	271	—
9	Limestone	261	—
10	St. Anselm	218	—
11	Seton Hill	197	—
12	Rollins	194	—
13	Pace	163	—
14	Florida Southern	137	—
15	Florida Tech	110	—
16	Belmont Abbey	92	—
17	Bentley	68	—
18	Wilmington (Del.)	67	—
19	Colorado Mesa	57	—
20	Frostburg State	30	—

Also receiving votes: Newbury, Lynn, Lewis, Chestnut Hill, Mount Olive, Montevallo, Anderson (S.C.), Maryville (Mo.), Westminster (Utah), Dominican (N.Y.), Lake Erie, Lander, Rockhurst

USILA DIVISION III PRESEASON POLL

RK	TEAM	PTS	1ST
1	RIT	378	18
2	Salisbury	340	1
3	Tufts	336	—
4	Christopher Newport	306	—
5	York	296	—
6	Union	288	—
7	Bowdoin	263	—
8	Gettysburg	234	—
9	Dickinson	209	—
10	St. Lawrence	162	—
11	Lynchburg	161	—
11	Wesleyan	161	—
13	Cabrini	154	—
14	St. John Fisher	147	—
15	Amherst	122	—
16	Denison	78	—
17	Stevenson	64	—
18	RPI	56	—
19	Washington and Lee	51	—
20	Ursinus	30	—

Also receiving votes: Franklin & Marshall, Hampden-Sydney, Ithaca, Stevens, Western New England, Cortland, Grove City, MIT, Roanoke, Muhlenberg, Middlebury, Norwich, Stockton, Endicott, Albion, Catholic, Coast Guard

Written By

Matt DaSilva

Matt DaSilva is the editor in chief of USA Lacrosse Magazine. He played LSM at Sachem (N.Y.) and for the club team at Delaware. Somewhere on the dark web resides a GIF of him getting beat for the game-winning goal in the 2002 NCLL final.