MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Three-time defending champion Aurora University has been selected as the favorite to capture the 2025 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) men's lacrosse title according to the annual preseason poll released Monday.
Aurora secured 280 points and 17 of 24 first-place votes in the poll, which consists of votes from the league's head men's lacrosse coaches and athletics communications professionals. The Spartans finished 14-6 overall and a perfect 8-0 in league play for a third consecutive year en route to a second-straight NACC Tournament title. Aurora fell to Illinois Wesleyan, 14-10, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Newcomer Lake Forest College took second place in the poll with 270 points and six first-place votes, while Concordia University Wisconsin (231 points) edged the University of Dubuque (221) for third place. The Falcons also secured the final first-place vote.
Illinois Institute of Technology (178) is fifth, just ahead of Benedictine University (166) and Milwaukee School of Engineering (160), while Edgewood College (121), Cornell College (87), Lawrence University (63), Marian University (55), and Beloit College (40) round out the poll.
Welcome to the NACC: The NACC will have a new look in the 2025 season after welcoming four new affiliate members - Cornell College, the University of Dubuque, Lake Forest College, and Lawrence University. Cornell, Dubuque, and Lake Forest join the NACC from the Midwest Lacrosse Conference, while the Lawrence program is in its inaugural season.
Lake Forest won the final two MLC regular-season and tournament titles, advancing to the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament, while Dubuque was the 2022 MLC champion.
New Coaches: In addition to the four new programs, there are new coaches at both Benedictine and Marian.
Josh Berey-Wingate takes over at Benedictine after spending the last three seasons as an assistant at NCAA Division II Lewis University. He is also familiar with the Eagles program, serving as a defensive assistant on Benedictine's 2021 NACC championship squad. Berey-Wingate, a University of Dubuque graduate, also served as an assistant at his alma mater before his initial stint at Benedictine.
At Marian,
James Daugherty joins the program after serving as an assistant at NCAA Division III schools Widener, Washington and Lee, Arcadia, and Elizabethtown dating back to 2018.
Lane Zierten has been at Cornell since 2017, leading the Rams to the MLC Tournament each of the past four seasons. Prior to arriving on the Hilltop, he spent two seasons as defensive coordinator/goalies coach at Siena Heights University (Mich.).
Kasey Burst joined the Dubuque program in 2016 and led the Spartans to the 2022 MLC title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Prior to Dubuque, he spent three years as an assistant at Clarkson and spent the 2014-15 academic year building the inaugual programs at Clarke.
Phil Dodson is starting his fourth season as head coach at Lake Forest. He has led the Foresters to the last two MLC titles and consecutive berths in the NCAA Tournament. Dodson previously spent four years as the head men's coach at Chatham (Pa.) and spent time as the defensive coordinator at both Carthage and Aurora.
Mikey Zadroga has been tasked with getting the Lawrence program off the ground. He joined the Vikings after serving as the head men's coach at NCAA Division II Davis and Elkins (W.Va.).
Spring 2025 Schedule: Concordia Wisconsin will be the first program to open the 2025 slate when they travel to Elmhurst on Wednesday evening. Six other schools - Aurora, Beloit, Edgewood, Illinois Tech, and MSOE - will follow on Saturday, Feb. 15. Lake Forest has the only home game of the group as the Foresters host Carthage, while Aurora travels to Kalamazoo, Beloit is at Clarke, Edgewood goes to Calvin, MSOE is at Spalding, and Illinois Tech faces Transylvania and Hendrix at a neutral-site event in Nashville.
Benedictine opens at Augustana (Ill.) on Feb. 19, Cornell is at Carroll and Dubuque is at Carthage on Feb. 22, and Lawrence gets its debut season underway Feb. 23 at Trine. Marian will be the final NACC school to get started when it hosts Carroll on Saturday, March 1.
The round-robin NACC slate begins Wednesday, March 19, with Lake Forest entertaining Edgewood, Cornell venturing to Marian, Beloit making the trek to Illinois Tech, Benedictine hosting MSOE, and Concordia Wisconsin traveling to Aurora. Dubuque and Lawrence open league play the following day in Appleton.
The final date of regular-season play is Wednesday, April 23.
NACC Tournament: With the addition of four new affiliate members, the field for the NACC Men's Lacrosse Tournament has expanded to include the top eight teams in the final league standings. The quarterfinal round is slated for Saturday, April 26, with semifinals to follow on Wednesday, May 2. The tournament final is slated for Saturday, May 6. All tournament games will be held on campus sites. The tournament champion receives the NACC's automatic berth in the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.
2025 NACC Men's Lacrosse Preseason Poll
| Team (first-place votes) |
Points |
Players to Watch |
| Aurora (17) |
280 |
Ben Strub, Sr., M; Benny Jasper, Sr., D |
| Lake Forest (6) |
270 |
Macklin Thomas, So, M; Colin Murphy, Sr., D |
| Concordia Wisconsin (1) |
231 |
Max Esposito, Sr., A; Gio Nowotarski, Sr., M |
| Dubuque |
221 |
Sam Todd, Sr., A; Nolan Nagy, Jr, G |
| Illinois Tech |
178 |
Jackson Brass, Sr., A; Bodey Goertzen, Fr., D |
| Benedictine |
166 |
Cooper Lillich, Sr., D. Rory Schroeder, Sr., M |
| MSOE |
160 |
Carson Harris, Sr., D; Peter Russchenberg, Sr., A |
| Edgewood |
121 |
Zach Thomas, Sr., A; Andrew Stich, Sr., D |
| Cornell College |
87 |
Thomas Cook, Sr., G; Torii Greiskalns, Sr., D |
| Lawrence |
63 |
Iori Yamada, So., M; Brody Herr, Fr., A |
| Marian |
55 |
Jackson Sweeney, Jr., G |
| Beloit |
40 |
William Palmer, Sr., M; Eric Seo, Sr., G |