Who's Going Dancing? Breaking down the favorites, contenders, and dark horses in each conference.

Regular season college lacrosse games are a matter of weeks away. These are the prime times to get your predictions out there, so that you can be held accountable for being loud wrong in a matter of months. Some conferences feel wide open. Some have a clear favorite and a roster of challengers who may have what it takes to steal the crown. 

Conference by conference, who is the favorite for the AQ (except in the ACC), who has the best chance to spoil the script, and who is that team that’ll grab the headlines between now and tournament time. 

ACC

The Favorite: Notre Dame

The Runner Up: Syracuse

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: North Carolina

The back to back champ remains the conference favorite until proven otherwise. Make no mistake, the Irish graduated a ton of talent. Two first round PLL picks and a Tewaaraton winner and finalist respectively, Pat Kavanagh and Liam Entenmann aren’t in South Bend anymore. Midfield weapon Eric Dobson moved on to the pros, as did defenders Chris Conlin and Marco Napolitano. For most programs these losses would signal a down season as they reloaded with younger talent. For Notre Dame, it might be just another year. Chris Kavanagh, Shawn Lyght, Ben Ramsey, Will Donovan, Will Lynch, Jake Taylor, Jordan Faison, this returning crew is enough to get Notre Dame back to not just the top of the conference, but back to Memorial Day weekend. Add in portal additions like Greg Campisi, and it’s once again really hard to pick against the Irish. Syracuse will be a trendy Final Four pick this year, as their freshman phenom class from two years ago are now juniors. With experience, a few years together, further growth and development, and elite players all over the field. While in previous years, Cuse may have gotten a bit of a pass because they were young, this year the expectations for the Orange will be real. And quite high. North Carolina once again has a roster loaded with top ranked recruits, including last year’s top freshman Owen Duffy. They added top tier talent from the portal in goalie Michael Gianforcaro, SSDM Andrew O’Berry, and attackmen Nick Dupuis and Spencer Wirtheim. They’ll be excellent facing off, the Petro boys both look like dynamic weapons in the making. UNC really has no excuse. The talent is there, it’s time to win with it. Another .500 season in Chapel Hill would be a let down.

AMERICA EAST

The Favorite: Albany

The Runner Up: Vermont

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: NJIT

The Great Danes were a young team a year ago, and still won the America East and an NCAA tournament play in game. Silas Richmond is one of the brightest young stars in college lacrosse. Albany had seven players with 20+ points last year, five of them were freshmen or sophomores. Two big losses from the senior class, Jake Piseno and Graydon Hogg, will be hard to replace. Not many programs can withstand losing two pros. But the amount of young talent back with Albany, especially Landon Whitney in net who played well as a freshman starter, makes Albany the America East team to beat.  Vermont might have a bit of a bumpy ride this year, but they have the pieces to win the conference. Charlie Pope returns off a 40+ goal season. Tristan Whitaker, one of their best midfield dodgers, is back. Henry Dodge returns at the faceoff spot after a 58.7% season, which can tilt the field and protect their defense. I think Eddie Schwasnick could have a breakout year defensively. Like Albany, Vermont only has a few losses to graduation, but they’re big losses like Brock Haley. If the young players step into leadership roles and elevate their game early in the year, particularly in February games against Syracuse and Utah, the Cats could get back to the big dance. 

ASUN

The Favorite: Utah

The Runner Up: Jacksonville

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: Air Force

The Utes are a slim favorite. Ryan Stines is one of the best young attackmen in American, scoring 48 goals as a sophomore after an explosive freshman year. He’ll be the headliner on offense. The defense returns a bevy of poles, along with Colin Lenskold in net. Tyler Bradbury’s graduation could make for some early season speed bumps on offense, but the defense can carry the day and Stines will fill the net plenty. Jacksonville graduated Jacob Greiner, one of the more productive and impactful players to play at Jacksonville. The alpha mantle should pass to Jackson Intrieri, who had 68 points a year ago. Nicky Brown could be in line for a breakout season. The Dolphins once again found weapons in the transfer portal. Lucas Osborne joins from Yale, and LSM Chris Darminio had an excellent career at DIII Lynchburg. Jacksonville has a way of putting games together every year that remind you they can hang with anyone. They’ll have to find their form early, their first two games of the year are at Syracuse and against Duke. Air Force returns top scorer Josh Yago and the very impressive Caelan Diggs at attack. Air Force started three different goalies in 2024, which can be difficult for a defense who gets used to a certain voice in goal. The defense also has to deal with the loss of Chris Bardak. There are some quality pieces for the Falcons, but it’s a very difficult conference that can be top heavy. 

ATLANTIC 10

The Favorite: Richmond

The Runner Up: Saint Joseph’s

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: High Point

Even with heavy graduation losses, Richmond feels like the team to beat in the A-10. Dalton Young is playing in the PLL, Lance Madonna and Luke Grayum graduated, that’s three of the fop four scorers from last year. Aidan O’Neill will be the new player to watch on the offensive end. I’m a believer in Gavin Creo as a young player who could break out. Mitchell Dunham joins Richmond as a grad transfer, he has pro potential. Richmond also returns an All American in net, Zach Vigue. Saint Joseph’s like Richmond, got hit hard by graduation. Two league pro Levi Anderson is gone. Carter Page, Matt Bohmer, grad transfer Toron Eccelston, all graduated. Richie LaCalandra is a player to watch as a grad student coming off from a brief stay at Ohio State after a solid career at LIU. Levi Verch is a human tornado, he’ll be disruptive and win the middle of the field for the Hawks, they’ll just need to get comfortable without their superstars of the last few years. High Point has a new coach at the helm as John Crawley takes over for Jon Torpey. Torpey was arguably the best in the nation at making diamonds out of coal, regularly taking recruiting classes without four or five star players and turning them into DI stars, even pros. Crawley has long been regarded as a rising star in the coaching ranks with a great mind for offense. There’s an opportunity for Crawley to take some under the radar weapons in year one and surprise people. The struggle is that both Brayden Mayea and Jack VanOverbeke, last year’s top scorers, have both moved on to pro careers. A lot of complementary players will be asked to do star player things this year for the Panthers. 

BIG EAST

The Favorite: Denver

The Runner Up: Georgetown

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: Providence

Denver loses a lot to graduation, but still has enough firepower to be considered the favorite. Jack Di Benedetto graduates on defense, but Jimmy Freehill is a returning All American. JJ Sillstrop and Michael Lampert graduate, the attack still has Cody Malawsky and Noah Manning. Mic Kelly is an under the radar stud in the midfield. Casey Wilson is one of the best two way midfielders in the nation. The Pios have Malcolm Kleban back in net to steady things; the Big East goes through Denver. Georgetown is built in a similar way. Mega stars have graduated as Graham Bundy Jr and Alex Vardaro now play in the PLL. Young weapons will step into larger roles. Aidan Carroll led the team in scoring a year ago and is back. Ty Banks was sensational down low as a freshman. The Hoyas are a worthy 1B to the Pios 1A in the conference.  I’ve been high on Providence the past couple years, and a breakthrough may finally be coming. I’m sold on Bobby Benson as a head coach, and the Friars are going in the right direction. Ryan Bell may find himself at a PLL camp after this season. They took Saint Joseph’s to OT a year ago, they played Denver to a 7-4 game, they lost to Georgetown in OT in the Big East Championship. They’ll have to find consistent play in goal and improve at the faceoff spot, two big ifs, but if they can, the Friars can be dangerous. 

BIG TEN

The Favorite: Johns Hopkins

The Runner Up: Maryland

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: Ohio State

You can arrange the Big Ten any which way you want. In fact, it was hard for me to not make Maryland the Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse, just for comedy sake. We all know Coach Tillman will have this team back in the tournament, probably the Final Four, because it’s just what Maryland does. I will be in the minority by making Hopkins the Big Ten favorite and not Maryland. They graduated a ton, including their top two scorers in Jacob Angelus and Garrett Degnon. I happen to really like Hopkins' back end. Quentin Kilrain had an excellent freshman year, and they return Scott Smith and Patrick Deans. The defensive midfield gets a massive boost in Yale transfer Patrick Hackler. Luke Staudt comes over from Loyola to take over in net. And I’m high on freshman faceoff man Joe Hobot. I’m forecasting a huge year for Matt Collison on offense, Jimmy Ayers is ready for a larger role at attack. Hopkins is well coached can put it all together. Maryland crushed the portal with players I love, including DIII kings Jack Dowd and Zack Goorno. They return Eric Spanos and Braden Erksa. I’m very high on freshman Spencer Ford. We should all know better than to bet against Maryland, regardless of who they graduated, who is on the roster, any of it. Ohio State had a rough W-L record last year, but they were inches away from a great season in conference. They played Notre Dame, Penn State, and Denver to three goal games. They lost by one to Maryland, lost in OT to Hopkins, and lost by one to Michigan. The Buckeyes were right on the edge of being a world beater, and that’s with Bobby Van Buren being banged up most of the year. The Buckeyes return a ton of that roster. I'm a fan of Jack Oldman at the faceoff spot in a conference where faceoff play is a question mark this year. Ohio State could flip the script. 

CAA

The Favorite: Towson

The Runner Up: Delaware

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: Fairfield

The Tigers will be a heavy favorite in the conference. They return Mikey Weisshaar, one of the best midfielders in the country, off a 42 goal season. The Tigers are brutal to match up with physically. Joaquin Villagomez, who is 6’6 and 215 lbs and had 33 goals last year, returns at attack. They’re great facing off with Matt Constantinedes; he went 57% last year and is the CAA’s best specialist. The losses of Colby Barsz and Nick DeMaio are big, but Towson is by the most loaded team in the CAA. Delaware still has plenty of talent, but the losses are enormous. JP Ward and Mike Robinson, both of whom appear in the Delaware scoring record books at this point, are gone. The Hens had five players with 20+ points last year, three graduated. Kevin Ellington in net will have to put another great season together as the Hens rebuild their offense. It’s possible, but a rebuild in Delaware looks likely. The Stags took Delaware to OT in the CAA tournament last year. They return a wealth of young talent on both ends. Will Consoli and Jake Gilbert are excellent players, and the Stags got some DIII weapons in the portal in Luke Fisher, Jack Savarese, and KJ Delane. Julian Radossich is one of the best young defenders in the conference, he’ll move down low this. The offense is in year two of the Adrian Torok-Orban offense and year six of Andrew Baxter at the helm, and with so many returning pieces, more consistent scoring should be possible. Fairfield is dangerous.

IVY LEAGUE

The Favorite: Cornell

The Runner Up: Princeton

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: Harvard

This is just a mad lib. The favorite could be Cornell, could be Princeton, could be Yale, could be Penn. Any of them winning the league would not be a surprise. Cornell has the Tewaaraton favorite in CJ Kirst and an offense that could do some scary things this year. Princeton has…basically the same thing. Coulter Mackesy and a seriously talented supporting cast including budding superstar Nate Kabiri. Penn’s defense is stacked with maybe the nation’s best close defender and best goalie, Brendan Lavelle and Emmet Carroll. Yale has a healthy offense with one of the best attack duos in the nation, Leo Johnson and Chris Lyons. Every Ivy game will be must-see TV. And just based on the numbers, someone will get their heart broken come tournament time. The Ivy Tournament has four spots, and there will be more than four worthy teams. That’s because anyone who overlooks Harvard is making a serious mistake. They lose Greg Campisi to the portal for a grad year, but the Crimson are no easy out. Sam King is a surefire PLL draft pick, and could go in the first round. He’s been a QB for Harvard since he got to campus. Predicting the Ivy this year is not for the faint of heart. 

MAAC

The Favorite: Sacred Heart

The Runner Up: Siena

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: Quinnipiac

The Pioneers had a magical ride a year ago. They went on an 11 game winning streak that included their first MAAC title and a trip to the NCAA tournament. Graduation hit Sacred Heart on both ends of the field, and DC Will Fox moved on to be the head coach at Wagner. It’s a lot of upheaval. A key returning piece will be netminder Alex Pazienza. He was outstanding last season, he’ll have to play a large part in steering the ship early on the defensive end as new faces get comfortable in impact roles. Siena is the mostly likely team to dethrone the Pios. The stacked attack line of Caden Olmstead, Pratt Reynolds, and Ryan McCarthy are all back. Siena may need to win some shootouts, as they graduated a lot on the defensive side of the ball and talented faceoff man Dylan Pape. Like Sacred Heart, how they handle the early goings will be critical. Quinnipiac might be considered a favorite this year if Ryan Donnery was till with the Bobcats, but he is taking a grad year at Ohio State. The QU secret weapon is the guy between the pipes, Mason Oak. He made 216 stops a year ago, one of the highest totals in America. Quinnipiac could win a game or two just on the strength of their goaltending. 

NEC

The Favorite: LIU

The Runner Up: VMI

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: Mercyhurst

It’s Shark season. LIU was a 10-4 squad a year ago, their season ending in May with a one goal loss to Manhattan. Leading assist man Mark Regan is back, as is Cam Connolly, both quality weapons on the offense. They lose top scorer Sean Boll, but this team has a lot of underclass contributors from a year ago and they’ll have legit expectations this year. VMI returns Luke Rusterucci, who had 68 points a year ago and went 30+ in both goals and assists. He’s one of the most underrated weapons in college lacrosse. Will Duffy and Austin English, both 20+ goal scorers are back. All over the field, VMI’s top player at each position returns this spring. Mercyhurst is in their first year in DI. It’s never an easy jump. But make no mistake, the Lakers have some weapons back from a year ago. Ethan Landymore is a crafty player in a grad year who has amassed over 200 career points. Jeremi Phoenix-Lefebrve is a true two way midfielder who may have a pro future. The biggest question for the Lakers will be in net, where they lose Brett Olney to graduation. Breaking in a goalie to replace one of the best netminders in all of DII is tough to do in year one. But this conference is wide open, maybe the Lakers can shock the world. 

PATRIOT LEAGUE

The Favorite: Army

The Runner Up: Boston U

The Totally Slept on Disrespected Dark Horse: Bucknell

The Black Knights looked like a Final Four contender a year ago, even spending some time ranked #1 in the nation. A lot of the pieces that made that team go are back again. Evan Plunkett was a First Team All American and Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2024. Jackson Eicher returned from injury last year and looked like a force at attack. Will Coletti, the top faceoff specialist in the country a year ago, is back. AJ Pilate could be Schmeisser Award candidate down low. The hallmark of the Army lacrosse team has always been defense, they look built to handle whatever you throw at them, and run it up on you at the other end. The Terriers lose a TON to graduation. Vince D’Alto and Louis Perfetto were pro level players who have made the offense go for years, both graduated. Also gone are Thomas Niedringhaus and Jake Cates, who were dynamic midfield weapons. Roy Meyer, who has owned the middle of the field for years, is gone. It’s a lot of open spots. But BU is still solid in net with Will Barnes, solid facing off with Matt Fritz. They have Brendan Kelly back at attack. Their freshman class has exciting playmakers like Tim Shannehan and Mike Rooney. It could be reload, not rebuild, for BU. The Bison were a very young team a year ago. You could make a case that Peter Grandolfo was their top dodger in the midfield, he was a freshman. Michael Meyer was their top attackman, sophomore. The top scoring senior for Bucknell last year was Dutch Furlong, he had four points. The trio of Sean Berrigan, Luke Brunner, and Grandolfo were in primary roles all as freshmen. Bucknell had four conference losses last year by three or less goals. They gave away a big lead to Harvard in a game they controlled at halftime. Quality play in goal and on the defensive end is a must for Bucknell to hang with the Patriot League big boys, but if the offense uses last year's experience and shows some growth, they might have something in Lewisburg.