INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour revealed associate member Mercyhurst as the 2021 spring favorite on Friday morning.
Seven teams are in the conference standings this year after the 2020 season was interrupted by COVID-19 in the spring. Unfortunately, it happened after just one league matchup was completed between Seton Hill and Davis & Elkins on Feb. 15.
Seton Hill and Mercyhurst were undefeated at 6-0 and 5-0, respectively at the point when the season was halted, but it’s still tough to know what might have transpired throughout the regular season and the postseason if that had actually occurred.
The full member institutions for 2021 are Lake Erie and Walsh. Associate members include Alderson Broaddus, Davis & Elkins, Mercyhurst, Seton Hill and Wheeling. The Great Midwest is also still aligned the North Region competing for NCAA Championship bids with the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) and the East Coast Conference (ECC).
The last NCAA Championship appearances for the conference were in 2019 when Mercyhurst faced Merrimack (NE-10) and Seton Hill battled Mercy (ECC). There is no automatic qualifier for the conference tournament champion in the sport.
Associate members Mercyhurst and Seton Hill have been ranked by the USILA and NIKE/US Lacrosse Preseason Polls and eight total preseason All-Americans were recognized between the two institutions. Both programs are top 5 in Division II before playing their first game.
Mercyhurst collected a total of 35 points to edge out their rival in the preseason balloting. The coaches still viewed Seton Hill as a very close contender with a pair of first-place votes and 32 points.
Lake Erie and Walsh were in the next tier of the voting, only three points separating the conference full members. The Storm have the narrow edge over the Cavaliers by a 25-22 point count.
While no longer a full member of the Great Midwest, Davis & Elkins retained associate membership and the Senators were polled in fifth. Next is Wheeling, which reinstated its program after a brief pause and head coach Nick Anagnostis gears up for his first playing season.
Alderson Broaddus, another former full member, was picked to finish seventh by the coaches, respectively. The Battlers have the lone 2021 contest in the books already with a Feb. 6 game at home vs. Tusculum.
The conference schedule officially starts on Saturday, March 20, and the top four programs will look to earn a postseason bid into the Great Midwest Championship tournament at the highest seed host site.
Great Midwest Men's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour
| School |
Points |
| 1. Mercyhurst (5 first-place votes) |
35 |
| 2. Seton Hill (2 first-place votes) |
32 |
| 3. Lake Erie |
25 |
| 4. Walsh |
22 |
| 5. Davis & Elkins |
16 |
| 6. Wheeling |
9 |
| 7. Alderson Broaddus |
8 |