12. DELAWARE
2022 record: 13-6 (3-2 Colonial)
Last seen: Using a seven-game winning streak to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007, only to run into a similarly stingy and poised Cornell bunch in a 10-8 quarterfinal loss.
Initial forecast: The Blue Hens’ roster isn’t completely intact after last year’s postseason push, but most of the key pieces are back. Just the fifth-year seniors alone are an impressive lot, a group that includes attackman Tye Kurtz (52 goals, 15 assists), midfielder Clay Miller (28 goals, 12 assists), goalie Matt Kilkeary (.530 save percentage) and defensemen Owen Grant and Kevin Lynch. That’s half of a starting lineup, and doesn’t even factor in holdovers like JP Ward (40 goals, 32 assists) and Mike Robinson (53 goals, 15 assists). The upset of Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament drew more attention than anything else to Delaware, but the Blue Hens had plowed through their three previous games in May by a 50-22 margin and looked very much like they were following coach Ben DeLuca’s blueprint. Between a slick offense with oodles of options and a defense highlighted by the exceptional 6-foot-3, 215-pound Grant, the Blue Hens won’t surprise anyone in 2023. But they should be quite good and the class of the reshuffled Colonial Athletic Association.
11. OHIO STATE
2022 record: 10-6 (3-2 Big Ten)
Last seen: Probably wishing foul weather had held off for a couple hours after Cornell, ahem, stormed past the Buckeyes 15-8 after a lightning delay in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Initial forecast: The Buckeyes will have one of the top attackmen in the country in Jack Myers (38 goals, 45 assists), and bringing back the best piece of an offense that applied more pressure than it had in past seasons is a good place for Nick Myers’ program to start. Ohio State leaned heavily on its best players last season, and by the time May arrived, there was only so much gas left in the tank. That was the obvious takeaway from the Big Ten semifinal loss to Rutgers, and it probably played a role a week later against Cornell in the NCAA tournament. Still, there’s help on the way, with the Buckeyes picking up Army defenseman Marcus Hudgins, attackmen Richie LaCalandra (32 goals, 38 assists at LIU) and Kyle Lewis (31 goals, 63 assists at Division III Lynchburg) and midfielder Kyle Borda (16 goals, 21 assists at Fairfield) through the portal. Year in and year out, Ohio State is a reliably hard-nosed bunch, and Myers’ attentiveness to scheduling paid dividends on Selection Sunday. With a little extra depth and improvement throughout the roster, the Buckeyes could be a team capable of pushing beyond the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. One question: Who replaces faceoff man Justin Inacio (.592), a five-year stalwart?