Final regular season USL MDIA Poll keeps Sonoma State on Top
(April 17th) The 5th and final regular season USLacrosse Men’s
Division Intercollegiate Associates poll finds Sonoma State (16-1)
again ensconced in the #1 spot, a position they’ve held for
the 3rd consecutive poll, all by unanimous consensus of the 30 poll
voters. The Cossacks logged victories over #21 Utah, #14 Colorado,
#6 Cal-Santa Barbara, and Santa Clara in closing out the regular
season. Sonoma State opens defense of their Western Collegiate Lacrosse
League title this Saturday afternoon against Cal.
Brigham Young (13-3) holds onto the #2 position, finishing the
season with wins over Fort Lewis and Utah State and heads into the
RMLL tournament as the #1 seed.
The undefeated Auburn Tigers (11-0) jumped to the #3 ranking. This
is the highest ranking for an SELC team in the poll’s brief
history. Auburn took consecutive wins from Georgia Tech and #9 Virginia
Tech enroute to the regular season SELC crown.
Colorado State (10-4) slipped a notch to #4 following a 13-9 loss
at the hands of Michigan. The Wolverines (13-2) climbed two spots
on virtue of the win over the Rams and also victories over #13 Texas
A&M and #12 Buffalo.
Cal-Santa Barbara (12-3) ranks 6th, down one spot from the previous
poll as is Arizona. The #7 Wildcats (13-2) suffered their second
loss of the season to top-ranked Sonoma in their season finale.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (11-3) jumped from #11 in the previous
poll to land at #8. A victory over #10 Stanford propelled the rise
of the Mustangs who are followed in the poll by fellow WCLL members
#9 California (13-4) and #10 Stanford (7-5).
Heading up the second 10 are the University of Buffalo Bulls (10-3).
The Bulls suffered their first losses of the season at the Michigan
Invitational but rebounded with three consecutive wins including
#9 Virginia Tech. The Virginia Tech Hokies (11-5) land at #12 with
the Aggies of Texas A&M (12-6) positioned 13th. Florida (7-4)
lands 14th ahead of #15 Colorado (6-8) and #16 UCLA.
Texas (10-4) holds down the #17th spot. The Longhorns lost an epic
battle to arch-rival A&M in overtime this week. The two teams
are headed for another rematch this weekend in Austin, Texas at
the Lone Star Alliance championships. The Vanderbilt Commodores
(5-3) come in at #18 followed by the Lutes of Pacific Lutheran (9-1)
in 19th and the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs at #20. The Missouri Tigers
(11-2) rank 20th with the Rams of Rhode Island (6-2) next.
Making their first appearance in the poll are the undefeated Washington
Huskies (13-0). Utah finishes the regular season ranked 24th and
another newcomer, Michigan State (7-6) debuts at #25.
With the majority of regular season play concluded, attention turns
to the upcoming conference championships which will decide eight
(or half) of the teams heading to St. Louis to compete in the USL-MDIA
National Championship Tournament. The balance of the field will
be composed of the eight highest ranked non-conference championship
teams as ranked in the final USL MDIA Poll to be released on Monday
evening, April 29th.
The USL Men’s Division Intercollegiate Associates Top 25 Poll
is voted biweekly during the season by 30 voters across the country.
The USLIA-Men’s Division consists of 140 member institutions
in eight leagues across the United States and Canada and concludes
the season with the USLIA national championships at St. Louis, Mo.,
from May 8-11, 2002. Click here
for the entire USLIA Top 25 poll.
>For more information check out the USLIA website at www.uslia.com
or contact US Lacrosse at 410.235.6882.
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