Florida Lacrosse Ranked No. 3 in Preseason IWLCA poll
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 | Lacrosse
The University of Florida lacrosse team has been picked No. 3 in the preseason IWLCA Division I poll, announced on Tuesday.
The Gators received three first-place votes in the poll, which ranked reigning national champion Northwestern and runner-up Syracuse ahead of the Gators. Of the Top 20, Florida is set to play nine teams in the regular season with two other opponent receiving votes. Five of six ALC teams (Northwestern, Florida, Penn State, Ohio State, Johns Hopkins) are ranked in the top 20 and Vanderbilt also received votes in the poll.
Florida returns nearly all starters from a season ago from a team that went 19-3 overall and 5-0 in the ALC. UF won both the regular season and tournament conference championships and advanced all the way to the NCAA national semifinals. They became the fourth team in just their third year of existence to advance to the Final Four.
The Orange and Blue played in exhibition on January 24 in an 18-13 win over the England National Team and will open the 2013 season at No. 5 North Carolina on Saturday. Opening draw is set for 12 p.m. on ESPN3.
For all of the latest information on Florida lacrosse, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/lacrosse or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow Florida lacrosse on Twitter at @GatorZoneLAX or www.twitter.com/GatorZoneLAX. You can also find the Gators on Facebook.
2013 Preseason IWLCA Division I Preseason Poll (February 4, 2013)
Place Team Points First Place Votes
1. Northwestern 383 (12)
2. Syracuse 376 (4)
3. Florida 366 (3)
4. Maryland 349 (1)
5. UNC 321
6. Loyola 284
7. Duke 276
8. Virginia 229
9. Notre Dame 220
10. Penn State 208
11. Penn 195
12. Dartmouth 182
13. Ohio State 139
14. UMass 112
15. Georgetown 108
16. Cornell 97
17. Towson 86
18. Stony Brook 60
19. Johns Hopkins 47
20. Boston College 44
Also receiving votes: Albany, Boston University, Harvard, Navy, Princeton, Stanford, Vanderbilt
Italics denotes Florida opponent
