Concordia Could Be Back: NAIA Lacrosse All Stars Coaches Poll

The NAIA has been growing for number of years now but there as always been one consistent road bump for the teams involved, being the lack of national coverage. The league currently only offers one ranking system which features a rating committee comprised of eight raters; two raters per conference/group. All of these rankings are handled on an NAIA level and release publicly every other week compared to once a week.

We decided we would take this into our own hands and contact every NAIA coach directly to get their thoughts on the top ten on a week-to-week basis. This way we can get a better understanding of what coaches across the league value in a national title caliber team and see how their thoughts relate to the NAIA polls.

Here is our third Lacrosse All Stars NAIA Coaches’ Poll of the 2023 season.

Lacrosse All Stars NAIA Coaches’ Poll

Poll Methodology

Every coach in the NAIA was sent a poll early Monday morning and was given twenty-four hours to provide their top ten rankings. It was as simple as ranking teams one through ten. With this data, we then were able to tally the votes via a point system and comprise the final rankings which you see below.

1. Reinhardt
2. Keiser
3. Indiana Tech
4. Cumberlands
5. Aquinas
6. Webber
7. St. Ambrose
8. Siena Heights
9. Tennessee Wesleyan
10. Concordia Ann Arbor

How do these results compare the NAIA rankings?

NAIA Men’s Lacrosse Preseason Poll

Poll Methodology

• The rating committee is comprised of eight raters – two raters per conference/group.
• Each conference/group produces a conference rating from which raters will use to compile their national ballot. Only teams represented on the conference rating are eligible for the national ballot.
• Each rater will submit a top 15 ballot, which will be used to produce the Top 10 national rating and a list of other teams receiving votes.

1. Reinhardt
2. Indiana Tech
3. Cumberlands
4. Aquinas
5. St. Ambrose
6. Keiser
7. Tennessee Wesleyan
8. Siena Heights
9. Benedictine
10. Webber

What Does This Tell Us?

Indiana Tech Falls to Rockhurst

One of the questions always asked when talking about the NAIA is how it compares to the NCAA. Indiana Tech decided to schedule a top NCAA Division 2 school in Rockhurst to put this question to the test. Rockhurst left Fort Wayne victorious with a final score of 17-5, but this loss should not deter the public’s perception of how good Indiana Tech as they are still one of the best programs in the NAIA year after year. I respect the Warriors decision to schedule NCAA Division 2 schools on their schedule as it only makes the NAIA better as a whole.

I am surprised to see Indiana Tech drop in the polls this week. While Keiser did win 14-2 against St. Andrews, I don’t think the win justified the jump above Tech, but apparently the coaches feel differently. The Warriors take on St. Ambrose tomorrow which should really shed some light on how good both teams really are.

Concordia Starts off Lacrosse Season Strong

Concordia looked solid against Kalamazoo in their lacrosse season opener. They dominated the groundball battle, won the faceoff game, and shot the ball well. With a final score of 15-9, the Cardinals had eight different goal scorers with Evan Stuart tallying five goals by himself. It will be interesting to see if Concordia is able to bounce back and compete in the WHAC after going 3-10 last season given how tough the lacrosse heavy conference is. This season opener should be a sign of good things to come for the Cardinals.

How Good is Mount Vernon?

Mount Vernon is an interesting team to follow this season. The Cougars went 10-3 last season but had an extremely easy schedule with their toughest games coming against Michigan-Dearborn and Lourdes in which they lost both. This year, Mount Vernon takes on St. Ambrose, William Penn, and Benedictine as members of the Heart of America conference. While the Cougars currently sit at 4-0, their wins come against historically lesser programs and will actually play Taylor and Thomas More twice a piece this season. This team will definitely take care of business with their out-of-conference schedule but conference play will be the true test to the talent level of this team.