Way too early 2025 top 5

[keno in reno]

I am going to buck the trend in on Maryland. I don’t see a top 5 team there. They rode about 70% faceoff clip to make this run. Weirman and Ajax are not replaceable.

I generally agree, but it all depends on who pops up in the portal now (for all teams). These Terps had a magical run on great coaching, 2 hall of famers, and a bunch of complementary guys who really stepped up.

But they can, and need to, upgrade at every position on offense. Some of it can be done by individual improvements on the existing roster and some maybe by a freshman or 2 (pretty rare), but they need a proven difference maker from the portal. No idea who that could be.

Then on D, not only do the lose (possibly) the best Maryland defender ever, but they lost the 3 Vermonters who ended up being great additions to the team. That's a lot. The good news is, it shouldn't be hard to improve the offense; but I think it's really hard to think the defense will be better.

[jrn19]

After leaning some things on who people are losing (UMD) and others, I am going

1. Princeton
2. Cornell
3. ND
4. UMD
5. UVA

For any Maryland fans here, I just want to know for sure: does Ruppel start in goal next year, or is there someone else? I assume Keethler is the fogo? And is that a concern? He was .615 this year, which isn’t bad, but on only 26 attempts.

McNaney is back

How is he back? Covid year plus injury year? Would he really want to come back or get going with life?

He played in 2021, 2022, and 2024. You get 4 years

I see that now. He got a game or two in ‘23, but definitely not half a season.

If I’m Maryland, I hate to say this, but it’s time to move on. That was a dreadful performance in the championship game. I realize ND had great looks, but you have to stop at least one shot in a half.

I’m sure they’ll take your opinion under advisement

[jrn19]

I am going to buck the trend in on Maryland. I don’t see a top 5 team there. They rode about 70% faceoff clip to make this run. Weirman and Ajax are not replaceable.

I generally agree, but it all depends on who pops up in the portal now (for all teams). These Terps had a magical run on great coaching, 2 hall of famers, and a bunch of complementary guys who really stepped up.

But they can, and need to, upgrade at every position on offense. Some of it can be done by individual improvements on the existing roster and some maybe by a freshman or 2 (pretty rare), but they need a proven difference maker from the portal. No idea who that could be.

Then on D, not only do the lose (possibly) the best Maryland defender ever, but they lost the 3 Vermonters who ended up being great additions to the team. That's a lot. The good news is, it shouldn't be hard to improve the offense; but I think it's really hard to think the defense will be better.

Canfield is back. So they return 3 guys who all started games.

[norcalhop]

Hopkins loses half their starting faceoff unit, top goalie, leading scorer on attack, second midfield, one starting defenseman, and majority of SSDM unit. I'm not ready to say they are top 5 pre-season.

[coda]

I am going to buck the trend in on Maryland. I don’t see a top 5 team there. They rode about 70% faceoff clip to make this run. Weirman and Ajax are not replaceable.

I generally agree, but it all depends on who pops up in the portal now (for all teams). These Terps had a magical run on great coaching, 2 hall of famers, and a bunch of complementary guys who really stepped up.

But they can, and need to, upgrade at every position on offense. Some of it can be done by individual improvements on the existing roster and some maybe by a freshman or 2 (pretty rare), but they need a proven difference maker from the portal. No idea who that could be.

Then on D, not only do the lose (possibly) the best Maryland defender ever, but they lost the 3 Vermonters who ended up being great additions to the team. That's a lot. The good news is, it shouldn't be hard to improve the offense; but I think it's really hard to think the defense will be better.

I think they can eventually get to top 5, but right now they have awful lot of questions to put in the top

[HopFan16]

Hopkins loses half their starting faceoff unit, top goalie, leading scorer on attack, second midfield, one starting defenseman, and majority of SSDM unit. I'm not ready to say they are top 5 pre-season.

Callahan took twice as many faceoffs this year (261) as Dunn (132). Not sure it's accurate to call them co-starters. Dunn was the back-up/change of pace for most of the season. He had some good moments but finished the year at 42% — that's not exactly a debilitating loss from a production standpoint. In fact there is reason to believe that unit will improve with the addition of a FOGO in the transfer portal. McKee was 61% in D3 — that's not going to carry over to D1 but I expect he'll be over 50%.

Also, losing your second midfield isn't that big of a deal, especially when you're getting a first liner back from injury. That's the type of production that on a good team you'd expect guys waiting in the wings to be able to replicate or even surpass. The big losses for Hopkins are the SSDM corps (already helped by the addition of the Yale guys), Ierlan, Angelus, and Degnon. Goalie is the big question mark right now.

[Hoxwurth]

Like ND, Cuse, Princeton, and Cornell in to be top-5 contenders in the early season.

Notre Dame has been organized and efficient for the past few years, and Chris Kavanaugh looks poised to lead the offense. For Cuse, I really like their offense and they don't need to get better on defense given the losses so many of their competitors are suffering. As for Princeton and Cornell, each has enough returning pieces and coaching success to compete for the IL championship next year. I'd almost add Yale, but many here think Brandau was the best lacrosse player this year, so they couldn't possibly overcome his loss.

Also considering: Duke, Maryland, and UVA.

Duke always seems to reload and the portal benefits them as much as anyone. The talent will be there even if the early season performance will not.

I'm less sold on Maryland. Losing Wierman and Ajax are huge pieces for this team. The offense doesn't look to markedly improve and will see fewer possessions without the human cheat code that has been Wierman for this recent Maryland run. I think Maryland less succeeded than Duke and UVA melted down this year, and next year will test my theory.

UVA has two separate issues. The defense is talented on ball but couldn't slide correctly to save its life. That can be fixed, although I don't expect Lars to get it straight given the run of mediocre defenses during his Charlottesville tenure. The offense loses a ton, but there is an argument that UVA has enough talent in the pipeline to reload. Of these three, I'm most skeptical of UVA returning to top-5 status. In particular, the pipeline seems two years away from bearing fruit. UVA could be a monster in '26 and '27, however.

[JerrysWorld]

Cornell
ND
Maryland
Syracuse
Princeton

That’s my best guess? With Hopkins, Va, Duke, UNC, Yale all possible?

Can’t recall a season where it has been this wide open. That’s pretty exciting.

[Laxter]

Cornell
ND
Maryland
Syracuse
Princeton

That’s my best guess? With Hopkins, Va, Duke, UNC, Yale all possible?

Can’t recall a season where it has been this wide open. That’s pretty exciting.

1) ND
2) Maryland
3) Cuse
4) Princeton
5) Cornell

[The Orfling]

Like ND, Cuse, Princeton, and Cornell in to be top-5 contenders in the early season.

Notre Dame has been organized and efficient for the past few years, and Chris Kavanaugh looks poised to lead the offense. For Cuse, I really like their offense and they don't need to get better on defense given the losses so many of their competitors are suffering. As for Princeton and Cornell, each has enough returning pieces and coaching success to compete for the IL championship next year. I'd almost add Yale, but many here think Brandau was the best lacrosse player this year, so they couldn't possibly overcome his loss.

Also considering: Duke, Maryland, and UVA.

Duke always seems to reload and the portal benefits them as much as anyone. The talent will be there even if the early season performance will not.

I'm less sold on Maryland. Losing Wierman and Ajax are huge pieces for this team. The offense doesn't look to markedly improve and will see fewer possessions without the human cheat code that has been Wierman for this recent Maryland run. I think Maryland less succeeded than Duke and UVA melted down this year, and next year will test my theory.

UVA has two separate issues. The defense is talented on ball but couldn't slide correctly to save its life. That can be fixed, although I don't expect Lars to get it straight given the run of mediocre defenses during his Charlottesville tenure. The offense loses a ton, but there is an argument that UVA has enough talent in the pipeline to reload. Of these three, I'm most skeptical of UVA returning to top-5 status. In particular, the pipeline seems two years away from bearing fruit. UVA could be a monster in '26 and '27, however.

On Yale (side note: I'm not sure why you need to throw in a shot at Matt Brandau) the Bulldogs' defense, not the offense, is what is the pre-season concern. On offense they should get back Chris Lyons and Leo Johnson, both excellent players, on attack, and they have some nice options at the third attack position and lots of good offensive midfielders coming back (including, hopefully, Brad Sharp who missed all of 2024 with an injury). Defense is another story. The defense was below #50 in adjusted efficiency for the third straight year and they are losing 3 out of the top 4 ssdms in the rotation.

[bearlaxfan]

Who follows Penn St? Lots of talent the last few years.
Who do they lose? Someone made the point that with the free-flow offense they've been running they're more effective with jr/sr/gs players who have experience together and can "read" the guys' next moves. If the O is young they could be less effective.

[10stone5]

TJ Malone.

They're stacked though, Tambroni during the down years was stacking talent on both sides of the ball.
Matt Traynor could take over some of that load that Malone had been carrying.

Tambroni with still a struggle to consistently bring in those 5-star recruits, though Fracyon is one.

[Hoxwurth]

Like ND, Cuse, Princeton, and Cornell in to be top-5 contenders in the early season.

I'd almost add Yale, but many here think Brandau was the best lacrosse player this year, so they couldn't possibly overcome his loss.

On Yale (side note: I'm not sure why you need to throw in a shot at Matt Brandau) the Bulldogs' defense, not the offense, is what is the pre-season concern. On offense they should get back Chris Lyons and Leo Johnson, both excellent players, on attack, and they have some nice options at the third attack position and lots of good offensive midfielders coming back (including, hopefully, Brad Sharp who missed all of 2024 with an injury). Defense is another story. The defense was below #50 in adjusted efficiency for the third straight year and they are losing 3 out of the top 4 ssdms in the rotation.

That was not meant to be a shot at Brandau, who was a fantastic player, so much as a shot at the folks here who believe he should receive the Tewey based on his Ivy-inflated numbers. I didn't include Yale as a top-5 contender because, like you apparently, I don't see the defense getting better. We both expect Yale to score a ton of goals next year.

[Finster]

Like ND, Cuse, Princeton, and Cornell in to be top-5 contenders in the early season.

I'd almost add Yale, but many here think Brandau was the best lacrosse player this year, so they couldn't possibly overcome his loss.

On Yale (side note: I'm not sure why you need to throw in a shot at Matt Brandau) the Bulldogs' defense, not the offense, is what is the pre-season concern. On offense they should get back Chris Lyons and Leo Johnson, both excellent players, on attack, and they have some nice options at the third attack position and lots of good offensive midfielders coming back (including, hopefully, Brad Sharp who missed all of 2024 with an injury). Defense is another story. The defense was below #50 in adjusted efficiency for the third straight year and they are losing 3 out of the top 4 ssdms in the rotation.

That was not meant to be a shot at Brandau, who was a fantastic player, so much as a shot at the folks here who believe he should receive the Tewey based on his Ivy-inflated numbers. I didn't include Yale as a top-5 contender because, like you apparently, I don't see the defense getting better. We both expect Yale to score a ton of goals next year.

Next year will be an upstate New York final: Cornell versus Syracuse.

[StephenBaldwin]

Early prediction is Cuse misses MDW once again despite everyone having to hear how theyre so back for the 10th consecutive year. Losing english, mark, alexo, kohn and more. Program has little discipline and doesnt play good situational lacrosse i.e. coaching isnt there.

[Bmk2222]

Like ND, Cuse, Princeton, and Cornell in to be top-5 contenders in the early season.

I'd almost add Yale, but many here think Brandau was the best lacrosse player this year, so they couldn't possibly overcome his loss.

On Yale (side note: I'm not sure why you need to throw in a shot at Matt Brandau) the Bulldogs' defense, not the offense, is what is the pre-season concern. On offense they should get back Chris Lyons and Leo Johnson, both excellent players, on attack, and they have some nice options at the third attack position and lots of good offensive midfielders coming back (including, hopefully, Brad Sharp who missed all of 2024 with an injury). Defense is another story. The defense was below #50 in adjusted efficiency for the third straight year and they are losing 3 out of the top 4 ssdms in the rotation.

That was not meant to be a shot at Brandau, who was a fantastic player, so much as a shot at the folks here who believe he should receive the Tewey based on his Ivy-inflated numbers. I didn't include Yale as a top-5 contender because, like you apparently, I don't see the defense getting better. We both expect Yale to score a ton of goals next year.

Next year will be an upstate New York final: Cornell versus Syracuse.

Maybe just an impression, but Syracuse looks uncoached. Like they are following the Lars plan, throw talent on the field and hope for the best.

[StephenBaldwin]

Like ND, Cuse, Princeton, and Cornell in to be top-5 contenders in the early season.

I'd almost add Yale, but many here think Brandau was the best lacrosse player this year, so they couldn't possibly overcome his loss.

On Yale (side note: I'm not sure why you need to throw in a shot at Matt Brandau) the Bulldogs' defense, not the offense, is what is the pre-season concern. On offense they should get back Chris Lyons and Leo Johnson, both excellent players, on attack, and they have some nice options at the third attack position and lots of good offensive midfielders coming back (including, hopefully, Brad Sharp who missed all of 2024 with an injury). Defense is another story. The defense was below #50 in adjusted efficiency for the third straight year and they are losing 3 out of the top 4 ssdms in the rotation.

That was not meant to be a shot at Brandau, who was a fantastic player, so much as a shot at the folks here who believe he should receive the Tewey based on his Ivy-inflated numbers. I didn't include Yale as a top-5 contender because, like you apparently, I don't see the defense getting better. We both expect Yale to score a ton of goals next year.

Next year will be an upstate New York final: Cornell versus Syracuse.

Maybe just an impression, but Syracuse looks uncoached. Like they are following the Lars plan, throw talent on the field and hope for the best.

Accurate. They act like its still 1990 and they can just out talent teams. They are far from the most talented team for the past decade and play an undisciplined brand of lacrosse and dont execute in situations well. Great example is Saam Alexo running down and taking a shot on the run from 15 while up 1 with 2-3 minutes left against UNC after playing 2 minutes of defense. And thats their captain. Bad decision making all over the field.

[Laxitup21]

Early prediction is Cuse misses MDW once again despite everyone having to hear how theyre so back for the 10th consecutive year. Losing english, mark, alexo, kohn and more. Program has little discipline and doesnt play good situational lacrosse i.e. coaching isnt there.

I really agree here.

You have to think Spallina will continue to be blanketed vs really good teams. Furthermore, Hiltz is not a true dodging threat either. So with all of those losses, and the fact your attackmen rely on ball movement to beat good teams, and a team of just two really good defenders, leo, and english, I don't see them as this unicorn team. I thin 2025 has a lot of parity but they can certainly miss MDW but they are a fringe top 5 team. Not only that they have not recruited well beyond the Spallina class. And I agree, Gait's in game adjustments have been bad.

[Laxitup21]

The more I think about it, the more I like ND to 3 peat.

[JeremyCuse]

Early prediction is Cuse misses MDW once again despite everyone having to hear how theyre so back for the 10th consecutive year. Losing english, mark, alexo, kohn and more. Program has little discipline and doesnt play good situational lacrosse i.e. coaching isnt there.

Once again English is returning next year and I must have missed all the Cuse is back articles from 2013-2023. There was on article in January from IL about Cuse being back. If your gonna troll at least try and get accurate info.