Quint Kessenich reveals NCAA Lacrosse Top 20 poll to begin March
ESPN’s Quint Kessenich revealed his Top 20 NCAA lacrosse teams in 2024 going into the month of March.
Now that we’re getting much closer to spring, lacrosse is about to be on full display for college athletics. Week to week, these teams could make serious waves with conference play rapidly approaching.
Let’s dive into Kessenich’s top 20 teams in NCAA Lacrosse as we hit March.
1. Denver
Kessenich: “A 5-5 tie ballooned into a 15-6 win holding Lemoyne to one goal in the second half. Do I think Denver is the best team? No. But right now they are unbeaten and have two quality wins.”
When you have wins over Johns Hopkins and Cornell, it helps in rankings and polls. They also have a win over Utah, which received votes in other polls last month.
2. Army
Kessenich: “Army has excellent personnel at all positions. I don’t see a weak link. They’ll need more bench scoring from the second midfield going forward.”
Army is also undefeated (5-0) on the season. The Black Knights throttled Rutgers 16-7 in Piscataway back in Week 2 and own the head to head over Syracuse. Great start.
3. Johns Hopkins
Kessenich: “Pace of play and physicality have taken a quantum leap forward in the past two seasons. Transfer portal and fifth year seniors equate to a bigger, stronger and faster lineup.”
Hopkins is 5-1 on the season with the lone loss coming to the top team in the country. And heck, that was overtime! The weekend game against Syracuse should be a big measuring stick.
4. Notre Dame
Kessenich: “Goalie Liam Entenmann shrinks the field, making severe angle wing shots a bad idea. I have a feeling the power play unit, using their base 3-3 set, will be one of the best in the nation by year’s end.”
A tough loss to Georgetown in overtime sticks out, but it’s not the end all be all. Notre Dame’s only played four games and they have some get-right games against Ohio State and Michigan coming up.
5. Virginia
Kessenich: “A 16-14 loss at Klockner in front of 3,434 fans, sends the Doyle Smith Cup back to Charm City for the year. This game was action packed with hard hitting action.”
Don’t scoff at a loss to Johns Hopkins. If those two teams face each other again, the Cavaliers could end up on top. There’s a manageable schedule coming up with Maryland sandwiched in there to see what this team is made of.
6. Duke
Kessenich: “Brennan O’Neill was held to one goal as Duke chose to play team offense, rather than lean on their star. It felt like a wake up call, the intensity level and attention to detail wasn’t what it needs to be.”
Penn gave Duke its lone loss this season, but this is still a high quality roster. Duke hasn’t scored less than 12 goals in a game this year and scored over 20 twice.
7. Maryland
Kessenich: “Sunday loss to Notre Dame featured some uncharacteristic turnovers by Maryland in the defensive zone and while clearing. The EMD was shredded by the Irish. I found it perplexing that Maryland didn’t invert more and attack the ND defense from X.”
The Terps played two overtime games this year but at least won both. As Kessenich noted, only scoring nine goals against Notre Dame was a little odd. Brown and Virginia are next before Big Ten play.
8. Syracuse
Kessenich: “Otto came up a goal short on Wednesday in a home thriller against Army, falling 14-13 in OT. This game was terrific. Both teams deserve recognition. Fiercely contested, with first class playmaking, controversy, tempo and tension – I loved it.”
At 5-2, the Orange have plenty of tape out there for this winter and spring. Both losses were in overtime to Maryland and Army, not too shabby. With Johns Hopkins, Delaware and Duke up next, Cuse could go on a run.
9. Cornell
Kessenich: “Big Red, behind seven goals from CJ Kirst on a stingy Ohio State defense, defeated the Buckeyes 15-11. Michael Long produced seven points”
The Big Red are just 3-1 this season, but will be tested with five ranked opponents in a row, starting with Penn State on Saturday. A 5-0 or even 4-1 stretch will vault Cornell to near the top of the rankings it seems.
10. Penn State
Kessenich: “Down 8-1, “We Are” rallied to defeat Yale in overtime behind a monster outing from TJ Malone. Lions relied heavily on the invert, double invert and feeds to the crease during the comeback, getting inside the Yale defense for dunks.”
After losing to Colgate, Penn State’s ripped off four wins in a row. The big game against Cornell, followed by Marquette, will be a big stretch before going to Ohio State for Big Ten play.
Rest of Top 20 NCAA Lacrosse teams, per Quint Kessenich
11. Michigan
12. Georgetown
13. Richmond
14. Princeton
15. Penn
16. Yale
17. Harvard
18. Rutgers
19. North Carolina
20. Ohio State
The run to the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament is a grueling one, but this season proved that it could be anyone’s race so far. Five or six games in? Have a lot more to go!