College Lacrosse: Teams to Look Out For

Lacrosse is the fastest game on two feet, man. Lemme tell you something man, there’s a lot of people who do not watch a great game being played. Lacrosse has the same dimensions as hockey in terms of the ability to play behind the cage, and crashing, but when it comes to playing from behind, there’s a lot of ability there that has been unlocked and developed recently. When it comes to the top teams that we have seen this year there’s a lot of play that has happened from that ability of having a faster guy pushing up field. Still, the hardest part is the outside shots that you have to take sometimes. You’re hoping for those to go in. By far, if you also have a great outside shooter with placement, you’re off to a great start for building a good to great team. Overall offense has really been a joy to watch over the past couple of years. My top teams to watch this year are as follows. 

1. Richmond. They have been a sleeper team all year and in preseason. Once the season has gotten rolling, they have been recently able to have their dodgers initiate from behind to allow more options for the offense to have their good outside shooters to help. Spacing is a key part in this as well, where Richmond has had such fast ball speed with their passes that it allows the dodge behind the cage to really catch the defense off guard. They have been, in my opinion, the best team this year in terms of all-around aggressiveness. You need that in a team that is going to win and challenge the second team on this list… If you watch any other sports, it’s the Rams team that we witnessed this year. Just so slept on in the beginning and they win pretty much every game with a decent challenge but can maintain control and consistency. They have great players, and just a solid foundation.
2. Notre Dame. They are the best in the country for a reason, and they unfortunately are the best in the country to watch for on overall offense. They have the ability to push in pace overall, but again, it’s pushing towards the goal from x is what really allows them to have those transition goals so easily. They have some of the most solid defense there is in terms of just not allowing a lot of cutters to sneak by and making shots hard for the offense. They were champions two years ago for a reason. They are realistically the best team in the nation. However, I think that there is a chance that we get a great national title game going with Richmond and Notre Dame. They are the Patriots of college lacrosse. 
3. Duke. If there are blue bloods in lacrosse there’s a couple that come to mind. Duke is one of those blue bloods. They have been an established and essential part of lacrosse lore that recently has developed a lot of good players. Sadly they haven’t been able to get a championship over the recent years with their inability to find the “clutch” factor. This team has been knocking each year and it might finally be their time to shine. Unfortunately it’s like watching the Packers in the playoffs…

Overall, those aren’t the only teams I would watch, but as someone who is going to start watching lacrosse, that’s who I would be rooting for to start off and learn something new about this sport. Honorable mentions that deserve some love: Ohio State (love their goalie), UNC (blue blood), and lastly Maryland (I think their recent history has been solid, and I loved their 2022 season where they were just so dominant in everything). This sport is growing fast so might as well hop on the bandwagon of this sport before it’s gone.