2026 Men's Lacrosse

[billhoward]

2026 men's lacrosse regular season thread

No Syracuse in 2026 (Orange do play Princeton). Ranked opponents as of pre-season poll: 3 Princeton, 8 Duke, 9 Penn State, 10 Richmond, 12 Harvard, 19 Albany, HM Denver, HM High Point.  This sucks: Likely game to determine home field for Ivy lax tournament, is RS game March 21 at Princeton, same weekend as ECAC hockey finals in Lake Placid. If the football poobahs keep Harvard-Yale football as the finale, why not same for Cornell-Princeton lacrosse? (Quote: "Well, that's different.")

Date   Time   At   Opponent   Location
Regular Season
Feb 14 Sat  TBA         @Albany   
Feb 21 Sat  12MT        @Denver   
Feb 24 Tue  6:00        Hobart   
Feb 28 Sat  12:00       Richmond
Mar 07 Sat  TBA         @Penn State    
Mar 14 Sat  12:00       Brown    
Mar 21 Sat  TBA         @Princeton
Mar 28 Sat  3:30        Yale
Apr 04 Sat  TBA         @Penn
Apr 11 Sat  2:00        Duke @LIU Brookville
Apr 13 Mon  12:00       High Point
Apr 18 Sat  TBA         @Dartmouth
Apr 25 Sat  12:00       Harvard
-----------            
Ivy League Tournament   4 Teams
May 1 Fri      @#1 Seed Ivy Lax Tournament Semis   
May 3 Sun      @#1 Seed Ivy Lax Championship   
-----------
NCAA Tournament  18 Teams
May 03                  Selection show
May 09 Sat              First round play-in (2 games)
May 16 Sat      Quarterfinals @ Hofstra, Shuart Stadium
May 17 Sun      Quarterfinals @ Newark DE, Delaware Stadium
May 23 Sat      Semifinals @ UVA Scott Stadium (61,500)
May 25 Mon      Final @ Scott Stadium
Video: All RS games ESPN+ except Denver, Penn State (probably BTen), Duke         

[billhoward]

Wow! Usually the pre-season poll has the champion from last year as No. 1 or 2. Not 2026.

PRESEASON MLAX TOP 20  (USA Lacrosse Magazine)
1. Maryland
2. Syracuse
3. Princeton
4. Georgetown
5. North Carolina
6. Cornell
7. Notre Dame
8. Duke
9. Penn State
10. Richmond
11. Ohio State
12. Harvard
13. Virginia
14. Army
15. Rutgers
16. Boston University
17. Johns Hopkins
18. Towson
19. UAlbany
20. Michigan
Also considered (alphabetical order): Bryant, Denver, Fairfield, High Point, Villanova, Yale

Four of the top twenty are New York State teams: Syracuse, Cornell, Army, Albany. Top-twenty Ivies are Princeton, Cornell, Harvard plus Yale as HM. Penn kind of dropped away, went 4-10 last year, HC Mike Murphy fired after 16 seasons.

IIRC, your suitability for post-season play (and placement/opponent) includes how you fared against opponents in ranked bands, thar is 1-5, 6-10, etcetera.  This from the NCAA:

NCAA >>> DIVISION I SELECTION CRITERIA:
The committee will utilize the following criteria to select and seed teams:
• Strength of schedule index.
• Results of the RPI.
   -  Record against ranked teams 1-5; 6-10; 11-15; 16-20; 21+     
   -  Average RPI win (average RPI of all wins)
   -  Average RPI loss (average RPI of all losses)
• Head-to-head competition:
   -  Results versus common opponents.
   -  Significant wins and losses (wins against teams ranked higher in the RPI and losses against teams ranked lower in the RPI).
   -  Locations of contests.
• Input from the regional advisory committee (comprised of [ed: "composed of"] lacrosse coaches from all AQ conferences).


Link: https://www.usalacrosse.com/magazine/college/men/maryland-ranked-no-1-usa-lacrosse-division-i-mens-preseason-top-20

[jjanow99]

2026 men's lacrosse regular season thread

No Syracuse in 2026 (Orange do play Princeton). Ranked opponents as of pre-season poll: 3 Princeton, 8 Duke, 9 Penn State, 10 Richmond, 12 Harvard, 19 Albany, HM Denver, HM High Point.  This sucks: Likely game to determine home field for Ivy lax tournament, is RS game March 21 at Princeton, same weekend as ECAC hockey finals in Lake Placid. If the football poobahs keep Harvard-Yale football as the finale, why not same for Cornell-Princeton lacrosse? (Quote: "Well, that's different.")

Date    Time    At    Opponent    Location
Regular Season
Feb 14 Sat  TBA          @Albany   
Feb 21 Sat  12MT        @Denver   
Feb 24 Tue  6:00        Hobart   
Feb 28 Sat  12:00      Richmond
Mar 07 Sat  TBA        @Penn State   
Mar 14 Sat  12:00      Brown   
Mar 21 Sat  TBA        @Princeton
Mar 28 Sat  3:30        Yale
Apr 04 Sat  TBA        @Penn
Apr 11 Sat  2:00        Duke @LIU Brookville
Apr 13 Mon  12:00      High Point
Apr 18 Sat  TBA        @Dartmouth
Apr 25 Sat  12:00      Harvard
-----------               
Ivy League Tournament  4 Teams
May 1 Fri        @#1 Seed Ivy Lax Tournament Semis   
May 3 Sun        @#1 Seed Ivy Lax Championship   
-----------
NCAA Tournament  18 Teams
May 03                  Selection show
May 09 Sat              First round play-in (2 games)
May 16 Sat        Quarterfinals @ Hofstra, Shuart Stadium
May 17 Sun        Quarterfinals @ Newark DE, Delaware Stadium
May 23 Sat        Semifinals @ UVA Scott Stadium (61,500)
May 25 Mon        Final @ Scott Stadium
Video: All RS games ESPN+ except Denver, Penn State (probably BTen), Duke           

What sucks is 2 home games in February, when it's too frickin' cold to watch lacrosse.

[ugarte]

Cornell - Duke on the LIU Post campus? Yes, thanks.

As for Cornell being ranked 6 after a natty, I think the reason why is pretty obvious.

[semsox]

Not that we've been treated with the utmost respect over the years, but I'd be curious to see actual numbers on pre-season ranking placement for defending champions before getting too upset. We lost alot, and frankly, if not for the showing Goldstein had in the tournament, we'd be even lower.

[George64]

Take a look at our freshman class, almost everyone's an All American.  If they come around quickly, we could surprise the pollsters.  Rowyn Nurry could be the Second Coming of Kirst.

[mike1960]

2026 men's lacrosse regular season thread

No Syracuse in 2026 (Orange do play Princeton). Ranked opponents as of pre-season poll: 3 Princeton, 8 Duke, 9 Penn State, 10 Richmond, 12 Harvard, 19 Albany, HM Denver, HM High Point.  This sucks: Likely game to determine home field for Ivy lax tournament, is RS game March 21 at Princeton, same weekend as ECAC hockey finals in Lake Placid. If the football poobahs keep Harvard-Yale football as the finale, why not same for Cornell-Princeton lacrosse? (Quote: "Well, that's different.")

Date Time At Opponent Location
Regular Season
Feb 14 Sat  TBA       @Albany
Feb 21 Sat  12MT        @Denver
Feb 24 Tue  6:00        Hobart
Feb 28 Sat  12:00      Richmond
Mar 07 Sat  TBA        @Penn State
Mar 14 Sat  12:00      Brown
Mar 21 Sat  TBA        @Princeton
Mar 28 Sat  3:30        Yale
Apr 04 Sat  TBA        @Penn
Apr 11 Sat  2:00        Duke @LIU Brookville
Apr 13 Mon  12:00      High Point
Apr 18 Sat  TBA        @Dartmouth
Apr 25 Sat  12:00      Harvard
-----------
Ivy League Tournament  4 Teams
May 1 Fri @#1 Seed Ivy Lax Tournament Semis
May 3 Sun @#1 Seed Ivy Lax Championship
-----------
NCAA Tournament  18 Teams
May 03                  Selection show
May 09 Sat              First round play-in (2 games)
May 16 Sat Quarterfinals @ Hofstra, Shuart Stadium
May 17 Sun Quarterfinals @ Newark DE, Delaware Stadium
May 23 Sat Semifinals @ UVA Scott Stadium (61,500)
May 25 Mon Final @ Scott Stadium
Video: All RS games ESPN+ except Denver, Penn State (probably BTen), Duke

After the series of unfortunate events a couple of years ago in Denver, I'm looking forward to a 19-2 victory.

[dag14]

+1000

[Ken711]

Cornell Lacrosse earn Inside_Lacrosse
Preseason All-American honors!

1st Team: Ryan Goldstein
3rd Team: Willem Firth, Jack Cascadden
HM: AJ Nikolic, Brendan Staub

[George64]

From a reliable source, Ryan's brother, Tommy will matriculate next fall.  I don't know how good he is, but he certainly has a great pedigree.  Both parents, Tim and Tina, were lacrosse All-Americans at Cornell.

[billhoward]

Did some research to prove you wrong that losing the Tewaaraton winner to graduation on a NCAA-title team does not stop the team from defending its NCAA championship. Except the last decade there have been a lot of Tewaaraton winners who led teams to championships, the winner graduated, and the more likely outcome is next year's team did not title-repeat.

Go back in history and Mike French '76 won the Enners Award (best player) en route to beating Maryland for the title and then Cornell won in 1977 as well. That was the only best-player award now, now it's overshadowed by the Tewaaraton Trophy, and there have been years where the two winners have differed. But going back 50 years to prove a point kind of helps prove the opposite.

[BearLover]

I'm bullish on this team. We surely lost more talent than any other team in the country, but also our pipeline may have been more backed up than any other team because of all the fifth-years eating up minutes. And we have Cascadden so we'll have the ball more than our opponents. I predict we'll be top 10 going into the NCAA tournament and compete for the Ivy title.

[mike1960]

Let the season begin!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUOKcJ-kdrB/

[mike1960]

I'm bullish on this team. We surely lost more talent than any other team in the country, but also our pipeline may have been more backed up than any other team because of all the fifth-years eating up minutes. And we have Cascadden so we'll have the ball more than our opponents. I predict we'll be top 10 going into the NCAA tournament and compete for the Ivy title.

I'm excited about the season too!  I'm already pretty well satisfied because the team won another national championship in my lifetime. I wasn't sure it was going to happen, but it did. It definitely made a difference that players had an additional year, especially one player with generational talent. But I think we can make another run for one important reason: coaching. Coach had the team playing ferociously, playing together with incredible skill levels, and playing with joy. Let's do that again and see what happens!

[TimV]

Notice the hole worn through in the upper corner of one of the goal nets.  Hoo boy.