Baltimore, Md. – Lacrosse Magazine, the flagship publication of U.S. Lacrosse, released its annual preseason college rankings, predicting nine of 11 defending national champions to repeat as title-winners in 2011. Endicott men’s lacrosse, who reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history last season, ranked 18^th nationally among NCAA Division III programs.

The 2011 Gulls rode a 9-1 conference record into the TCCC Tournament where they rolled through the opposition en route to their fifth conference championship in the past seven years. Endicott went on to make their sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament where they earned a hard-fought 8-6 victory over Montclair State for their second NCAA postseason win in program history. The Blue and Green then faced the eventual national champions in Tufts University, falling 21-8 to end their 2010 campaign. 

Those very Tufts Jumbos have been selected to repeat as national champions followed by Cortland State, Salisbury, Stevenson, and Middlebury. Tufts senior attacker DJ Hessler has also been selected as the Preseason Player of the Year.

Below is the ranking of the top 20, according to Lacrosse Magazine. The listing of rankings for all division and for the women’s game can be found at the link below.

Lacrosse Magazine Preseason College Rankings

NCAA Division III Men
1. Tufts
2. Cortland
3. Salisbury
4. Stevenson
5. Middlebury
6. Haverford
7. Gettysburg
8. Roanoke
9. RIT
10. Connecticut College
11. RPI
12. Dickinson
13. Lynchburg
14. Geneseo
15. Nazareth
16. Cabrini
17. Denison
18. Endicott
19. Bowdoin
20. Goucher

Preseason Player of the Year: DJ Hessler, Tufts