The 2019 season begins in less than two weeks and like everyone else, we’re really excited to get things going here at College Crosse. To christen the new season, here is our 2019 College Crosse Preseason Top 20 Poll. Chris, Ryan, Adam, Jake, Skyler & myself all participated in the vote over the weekend. We all will also be participating in the weekly College Crosse Top 20 Poll as well, so make sure to be on the look out for those posts every Monday during the season, which Jake will be spearheading this year. Special shout out to Chris, as he will be voting alongside me in the weekly Media Top 20 Poll run by Inside Lacrosse after being granted a vote during the offseason.
For your convenience, here’s a link to our 2019 NCAA men’s lacrosse Matrix, which has everything you need to be prepared for the season. You can find 2019 rosters and schedules, as well as every NCAA Division I Year in Review post by The Kid Chris in the “2018 Record” column.
Directly below you can find each of our top 20 ballots for this year’s College Crosse Preseason Top 20. Below the ballots you can find the official 2019 College Crosse Preseason Top 20 Poll. Below both graphs please find comments from Jake and Adam about their ballots. Additionally, we have a special two-part Crossecast at the bottom of this page to go along with the post. Please let us know your thoughts about our picks and who you’d choose for your top 20 in the comments section.
2019 College Crosse Preseason Top 20 Ballots
2019 College Crosse Preseason Top 20 Ballots
Rank | Jake | Adam | Chris | Safe | Ryan | Skyler |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Jake | Adam | Chris | Safe | Ryan | Skyler |
1 | Yale | Yale | Yale | Yale | Yale | Yale |
2 | Duke | Duke | Duke | Maryland | Duke | Duke |
3 | Maryland | Cornell | Maryland | Duke | Maryland | Loyola |
4 | Loyola | Maryland | Cornell | Cornell | Loyola | Maryland |
5 | Cornell | Loyola | Loyola | Loyola | Cornell | Virginia |
6 | Johns Hopkins | Virginia | Virginia | Virginia | Johns Hopkins | Johns Hopkins |
7 | Penn State | Penn State | Penn State | Johns Hopkins | Virginia | Cornell |
8 | Virginia | Johns Hopkins | Johns Hopkins | Penn State | Denver | Penn State |
9 | Syracuse | Lehigh | Denver | Denver | Penn State | Princeton |
10 | Denver | Denver | Syracuse | Syracuse | Lehigh | Syracuse |
11 | Robert Morris | Syracuse | Lehigh | Michigan | Syracuse | Denver |
12 | UMass | Notre Dame | Rutgers | Rutgers | Notre Dame | Notre Dame |
13 | Notre Dame | Ohio State | Notre Dame | Lehigh | Princeton | Georgetown |
14 | Georgetown | Georgetown | Michigan | Georgetown | Rutgers | Lehigh |
15 | Michigan | Rutgers | Princeton | Notre Dame | Michigan | Ohio State |
16 | Rutgers | Princeton | Georgetown | UMass | Ohio State | Rutgers |
17 | Albany | Michigan | Ohio State | Robert Morris | Georgetown | Albany |
18 | Lehigh | North Carolina | Albany | Ohio State | Robert Morris | Bucknell |
19 | Ohio State | UMass | UMass | Albany | Albany | Michigan |
20 | Vermont | Albany | Vermont | Vermont | UMass | Hofstra |
2019 College Crosse Preseason Top 20 Poll
2019 College Crosse Preseason Top 20 Poll
Rank | College Crosse |
---|---|
Rank | College Crosse |
1 | Yale |
2 | Duke |
3 | Maryland |
4 | Loyola |
5 | Cornell |
6 | Virginia |
7 | Johns Hopkins |
8 | Penn State |
9 | Denver |
10 | Syracuse |
11 | Lehigh |
12 | Notre Dame |
13 | Rutgers |
14 | Georgetown |
15 | Michigan |
16 | Princeton |
17 | Ohio State |
18 | UMass |
19 | Robert Morris |
20 | Albany |
Comments
Adam
- Yale - Do I think they ultimately repeat as champs? No. But it’s hard to knock them out of the #1 preseason spot after getting the best FOGO in the country, who should help mitigate the loss of Ben Reeves.
- Duke - Even without Justin Guterding, they return a ton of firepower on offense, as well as two excellent poles in Van Raaphorst and Giles-Harris. Danowski is the best in the business.
- Cornell - They bring back almost everyone from a team that won 13 games and beat Yale by six goals in May, but they’ve got to figure out a better strategy for when Teat is shut off.
- Maryland - The Terps might experience some growing pains with a young offense in the post-Connor Kelly era, but you never doubt Tillman, and there’s still plenty of talent on that roster to play with.
- Loyola - They have the best player in the country in Pat Spencer and some intriguing young options around him, but I’m a little worried about all of their losses on the defensive end.
- Virginia - The most loaded offense in the country should thrive in year three of Tiffanyball, but they need better goaltending and simply must stop blowing big leads.
- Penn State - Quietly one of the most balanced rosters in the country. Excellent in goal and at the faceoff dot. Grant Ament is back. Can’t really find a weakness on this Nittany Lions squad.
- Johns Hopkins - Losing Stanwick and Tinney is tough, but they return two formidable attackmen in Marr and Williams as well as a very experienced defense, led by Pat Foley and the perennially underappreciated Danny Jones. Oh, and the #1 recruit in the country.
- Lehigh - The best senior class in the country. They were good in 2018 and should be even better in 2019. I see Lehigh as a legit playoff team this year.
- Denver - I’m lower on Denver than most. Ethan Walker leads a talented offense and Tierney always finds a way to capitalize on talent but Baptiste was such an enormous built-in advantage that can’t be reproduced.
- Syracuse - The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays waltzed into the Carrier Dome and stuffed the Syracuse Orange in a locker, to the tune of an 18-7 throttling. People forget that. But in all seriousness, the Orange were super young in 2018 and are likely to be better this year, but they need to find answers in goal and at the faceoff X.
- Notre Dame - This is two spots lower than where I had them before the Garnsey news. The defense should be solid as usual, but it goes without saying that the offense must be more consistent, and I’m just not sure where the scoring is going to come from. John Sexton will also prove to be a big, big loss.
- Ohio State - The Buckeyes were playing well at the end of last year before narrowly losing to Hopkins in the B1G semis, otherwise known as #TheFight game. I like their young pieces on offense and I think Justin Inacio could join Ierlan and Arceri in that top tier of elite FOGOs.
- Georgetown - Dan Bucaro returns from injury to join Jake Carraway on a lethal attack unit, provided everyone’s healthy. Kevin Warne and co. proved last year that the Hoyas are back in the playoff picture.
- Rutgers - I think Jules Heningburg could prove to be one of the biggest losses out of anyone in the country. He was such a huge part of that offense. They also lose top middie Mazzone and “glue guys” Divitcos and Bronzo. But Charalambadindong is back to pair with Mullins, and Brian Brecht should have the Scarlet Knights in solid form come April.
- Princeton - Winners of five in a row to end 2018, including a victory over Cornell. Austin Sims will be tough to replace, but Michael Sowers remains unguardable and they return most other contributors on both sides of the field. Need to find a FOGO.
- Michigan - The team that beat Notre Dame and Penn State and lost to Hopkins by 1 returns pretty much everyone. People are sleeping on the Wolverines in year two under Kevin Conry. They’re going to ball out this year.
- North Carolina - I’d be lying if I said I knew what to expect from UNC this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if they finish as a top 10 team, nor would I be shocked if they have a losing record and miss the tournament again. Putting them toward the bottom of my top 20 to split the difference. One thing I do know is I will miss Chris Cloutier one-handed goals.
- UMass - They won 12 games last year and gave Yale a real tough game in May. They’ll have to make up for the loss of top scorer Buddy Carr but Jeff Trainor and Isaac Paparo are legit. Excellent goalie Sean Sconone returns as well.
- Albany - People will cry about this ranking but, seriously, look at how much the Danes are losing. Fields, Ierlan, McClancy, both Rehs, Colarusso, Stone Sims. Even with Nanticoke back and Patterson emerging, I see this as more of a rebuilding year for Scott Marr. Still think they win the America East though.
Jake
- Yale - The defending champions for one, and of all the top contenders they bring back more from last season’s squad than anyone else.
- Duke - Long term I’m a bit skeptical of who replaces Guterding, but they return Smith and Robertson, CvR and Giles-Harris, plus a solid young core. They’ll be in the elite mix again.
- Maryland - Losing Kelly hurts, but most of what was the #1 offense in the country last year is back, the defense will be strong as always, and there’s lots of talent in place
- Loyola - Another team I have questions with, namely who can step up outside of Spencer at midfield and the defensive losses, but an all time attackmen and elite goalie go a long way.
- Cornell - Big Red are similar to Loyola in questions about attack outside their all-world attackmen and lose a key defensive piece, but they bring back loads of talent all over the field.
- Johns Hopkins - Losing Tinney and Stanwick is a blow, but the strength of Hopkins last year was a nasty defense that all returns, and they’ve got plenty of talent to continue to score
- Penn State - There is elite talent everywhere on this roster, with Ament and O’Keefe at attack, Spillane at midfield, Sabia and Aronow at defense, and Arceri at FOGO. On paper, no weaknesses.
- Virginia - In the same vein of PSU, it’s time to prove it. The whole All-ACC offense could be Cavs, and they have some good pieces on D, but they need to prove they can get stops and beat elite teams
- Syracuse - The bad publicity with recruiting around the program is easy to look at, but a good, young team brings back virtually everyone and should improve.
- Denver - The strength of this team last year was it’s defense, which returns it’s best players and adds an elite LSM in Matt Neufeldt, but there may be no bigger loss in the game than Baptiste.
- Robert Morris - A team that would have beaten several seeds in R1 last year brings back it’s 4 of it’s top 5 scorers and an elite goalie in Alex Heger
- UMass - Team that won 11 of 12 to end the year returns two studs in Connolly and Trainor and other young talent on offense, along with Isaac Paparo and Sean Sconone in goal
- Notre Dame - The Irish look like the Irish again, the defense will be elite and there’s high end talent on the roster, but until I see changes on offense, this is the ceiling.
- Georgetown - Defense and goalie will be the questions based on how the Hoyas want to play, but the nucleus for a real strong offense remains with Carraway, Bucaro, Wittenberg, and Clark
- Michigan - My dark horse for 2019, a team with legit ballers from last year returns it’s Top 5 scorers, it’s entire D, and a strong goalie in Tommy Heidt. Tournament team this year.
- Rutgers - Feels like they missed their boat, but they were in every game last year and have some really strong players at every spot returning. The X-factor is how good Adam Charalmbides is after 2 years out.
- Albany - They’re still the America East favorite, they still have elite players on offense, but they lose their best attack, midfielder, defender, FOGO, and goalie. Going to be some tough sledding early for them
- Lehigh - Probably the best attack unit in the country, all seniors, but they didn’t beat enough good teams last year. That’s the test for them this year.
- Ohio State - They were a very good team by the end of the year and when Myers has elite FOGO’s like Inacio the offense kicks up, but this is a defensive team that replaces a lot on defense.
- Vermont - Very solid team from last year loses Ian MacKay but brings back the rest on offense, midfield, and Nick Washuta in net.
Crossecast
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PART 1: Featuring Ryan, Safe, Jake, and Adam
:30 - Survey results
5:45- 20th-11th
53:50- Top 10
1:21:00- Top 5