D-I Preseason Poll: Gamecocks Rolling

Published: Jan 29, 2020

General News
Continental Lacrosse Conference
Lone Star Alliance
Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association
Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League
Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference
SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference
Southwestern Lacrosse Conference
Upper Midwest Lacrosse Conference
Western Collegiate Lacrosse League
California Golden Bears
Chapman Panthers
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
South Carolina Gamecocks
Arizona Wildcats
Arizona State Sun Devils
Boston College Eagles
Brigham Young Cougars
Cal Poly Mustangs
Clemson Tigers
Colorado Buffaloes
Concordia Golden Eagles
Connecticut Huskies
Florida State Seminoles
Grand Canyon Antelopes
Liberty Flames
LSU Tigers
Michigan State Spartans
Minnesota Golden Gophers
New Hampshire Wildcats
Oregon Ducks
Santa Clara Broncos
Stanford Cardinal
Utah Valley Wolverines
Virginia Tech Hokies

ATLANTA – After winning its first MCLA Division I national championship last spring, South Carolina has been installed as the favorite in the 2020 New Balance Division I Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released on Wednesday.

The Gamecocks (21-2 in 2019) captured 19 of the 24 first-place votes to retain a 14-point edge over their closest competition. South Carolina will open the season in Baton Rouge, La., with games against No. 25 LSU (7-8) and Texas A&M (2-0 in 2020).

California (17-1), which fell to South Carolina in the 2019 title game, is comfortably in second place. The Golden Bears grabbed the remaining five first-place votes and were 28 points clear of third-ranked Chapman (17-3).

Georgia Tech (18-2) is No. 4 after advancing to the national semifinals last spring.

The SELC, which sent four teams to nationals in 2019, has four teams ranked in the Top 10 as No. 5 Liberty (16-2) and No. 8 Florida State (9-7) join the Gamecocks and Yellow Jackets.

2020 New Balance MCLA Division I Preseason Poll

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	1st VOTES
1.	South Carolina	591	19
2.	California	577	5
3.	Chapman	549
4.	Georgia Tech	531
5.	Liberty	489
6.	Colorado	487
7.	Arizona State	424
8.	Florida State	418
9.	New Hampshire	412
10.	Cal Poly	388
11.	Concordia-Irvine	362
12.	Michigan State	338
13.	Brigham Young	281
14.	Virginia Tech	269
15.	Connecticut	266
16.	Utah Valley	206
17.	Santa Clara	190
18.	Clemson	163
19.	Arizona	151
20.	Minnesota	150
21.	Grand Canyon	113
22.	Boston College	86
23.	Oregon	76
24.	Stanford	59
25.	LSU	47

Others receiving votes: Washington (43), USC (32), UC Santa Barbara (30), Texas A&M (21), Colorado State (17), Northeastern (16), Texas (8), Sonoma State (4), Florida (3), Simon Fraser (2), Indiana (1).