PRINCETON, N.J. – Yale, which is a year removed from an Ivy League crown, has been selected as the League favorite in the 2020 Ivy League Men’s Lacrosse Preseason Poll as the League is poised to showcase another nationally-successful season with three nationally ranked teams.
The Bulldogs, which came within a game of its second consecutive national championship in 2019, was selected to win its third Ivy League title in the past four seasons with 11 first-place votes to accumulate 91 points. Yale got the nod over reigning Ivy League champion Penn, which received two first-place votes and tallied 82 points, and Cornell, which earned the final first-place vote and 76 points.
Familiar faces will take the field in 2020 as the League returns eight of its top-10 scorers from a season ago, including 26-of-37 All-Ivy selections from 2019. Heading into this season,
three Ivy League men’s lacrosse squads are nationally-ranked and 14 Ivies were recently named
Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-Americans.
The 2020 Ivy League Men’s Lacrosse Tournament will be held at Hofstra’s James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y., May 1 and May 3. Since the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship began in 1971, the league has won 10 national champions and 27 Final Four teams, including Yale’s run to the 2018 national title.
Yale, which fell to Virginia in the national championship title game a season ago, are led by the 2019 Ivy League Player of the Year and Tewaaraton Finalist
TD Ierlan and his unparalleled faceoff ability, winning over 75 percent of his attempts at the X. The core of offensive talent remains with its top three scorers returning —
Matt Gaudet (51 goals),
Matt Brandau (50 goals) and
Jackson Morrill (46 goals).
Despite losing senior captains Reed Junkin and Simon Mathias to graduation, the reigning Ivy League champions return four USILA All-Americans from a year ago, including 2019 Rookie of the Year
Sam Handley, face-off specialist
Kyle Gallagher and defenseman
Mark Evanchick.
Adam Goldner, who paced the offense with 56 goals is back for his senior campaign.
Cornell returns seven starters who are primed to help the Big Red make a run for the League title and return to the NCAA tournament for the second time in the last three years. The Big Red is led by a quartet -
Jeff Teat, Brandon Salvatore, Jonathan Donville and
Connor Fletcher – who earned All-Ivy status. Teat, a Tewaaraton Award nominee, paced the Cornell offense with 34 goals and 36 assists.
Princeton sits fourth in the preseason ledger with 51 total points and is led by senior attackman Michael Sowers. Sowers enters his final season as the program’s career leader in points with 255. A Tewaaraton Finalist last season, Sowers has averaged 6.07 points per game for his career, the best of any player in Division I in the last 38 years and the fifth-best ever. He also averages 3.57 assists per game, the fourth-best ever and also the best in nearly 40 years.
Brown – which finished 2019 with a 7-9 overall mark and 3-3 record in League play – will look to a trio of All-Ivy selections in
Phil Goss,
Luke McCaleb and
Darian Cook. Harvard will turn to senior attackman
Kyle Anderson and junior faceoff specialist
Steve Cuccurullo to lead a Crimson squad heading into the first year under head coach
Gerry Bryne. Dartmouth returns
Peter Rizzotti for his sophomore campaign.
The 2020 Ivy League Men’s Lacrosse season will get underway on Friday, Feb. 15 with six games on tap, highlighted by No. 5/10 Penn’s trip to No. 4/4 Maryland.
IVY LEAGUE MEN’S LACROSSE PRESEASON POLL
Predicted Order of Finish
| 1. |
Yale (11) |
94 |
| 2. |
Penn (2) |
82 |
| 3. |
Cornell (1) |
76 |
| 4. |
Princeton |
51 |
| 5. |
Brown |
40 |
| 6. |
Harvard |
32 |
| 7. |
Dartmouth |
17 |