:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45144124/usa-today-7276011.0.jpg)
It's starting to feel like lacrosse, pals and gal pals.
Inside Lacrosse released the initial media poll today and Denver, a national semifinalist in 2014 and the preseason favorite in the USILA coaches poll, led the way with 14 of 26 first-place votes. Notre Dame, the national runner-up last season, tucked in behind the Pioneers with four first-place votes while Duke rounded out the top three with eight first-place tallies. Here's the full poll:
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | 1ST-PLACE VOTES |
| 1. | Denver | 506 | 14 |
| 2. | Notre Dame | 485 | 4 |
| 3. | Duke | 467 | 8 |
| 4. | Syracuse | 436 | |
| 5. | North Carolina | 404 | |
| 6. | Johns Hopkins | 398 | |
| 7. | Loyola | 348 | |
| 8. | Cornell | 325 | |
| 9. | Virginia | 313 | |
| 10. | Maryland | 312 | |
| 11. | Albany | 230 | |
| 12. | Harvard | 216 | |
| 13. | Pennsylvania | 174 | |
| 14. | Bryant | 138 | |
| 15. | Yale | 126 | |
| 16. | Lehigh | 120 | |
| 17. | Penn State | 91 | |
| 18. | Drexel | 90 | |
| 19. | Hofstra | 81 | |
| 20. | Army | 68 |
Also receiving votes: Princeton, Ohio State, Towson, Fairfield, Massachusetts, Colgate, Brown, Villanova, Navy, UMBC, Air Force.
The conference breakdown was as follows: ACC (five); Ivy League (four); Patriot League, Big Ten (three); CAA (two); and Big East, America East, and Northeast (one). The ACC -- the most dominant conference in college lacrosse -- put all five of its members in the top nine of this poll. The average ranking position of an ACC team is just a shade under fifth.