UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State women’s lacrosse team enters the 2017 season ranked No. 7 in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) preseason poll as announced earlier Monday afternoon.
Penn State is coming off its first Final Four appearance in 17 years last season, dropping a highly competitive 12-11 contest to eventual national champion North Carolina in the semifinals.
The Tar Heels earned the No. 1 preseason ranking with 398 points and 18 first-place votes, while Maryland was a close second garnering 379 points and two first-place nods. Florida, Southern California and Syracuse round out the top five, while Stony Brook sits one place ahead of Penn State at No. 6 to begin the season.
Northwestern and Johns Hopkins also begin the season in the top 20 at No. 9 and No. 20, respectively, to give the Big Ten four teams ranked in the preseason poll. Penn State will play seven teams listed on the preseason top 20 during their 2017 season.
Along with Maryland, Northwestern and Johns Hopkins as conference foes, the Nittany Lions will battle Princeton (No. 13), Virginia (No. 14), Cornell (No. 15) and Towson (No. 19), while Loyola Maryland begins the season receiving votes.
“We are happy once again to be among the top teams in the country, and we are anxious to get our season started,” said head coach Missy Doherty.
Penn was picked to finish second by the Big Ten coaches in the conference's preseason poll, which was also released on Monday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions land right behind Maryland, which is the same way each of the first two Big Ten regular seasons have finished, with the Terrapins No. 1 and Penn State No. 2. The coaches picked the 2017 preseason rankings exactly how the teams fell into place at the end of last year with the addition of Johns Hopkins inserted right in the middle of the pack at No. 4.
Seniors Abby Smucker and Steph Lazo, along with sophomore Madison Carter, were also named to the preseason honors list.
2017 Big Ten women's lacrosse preseason poll:
1) MARYLAND
2) Penn State
3) Northwestern
4) Johns Hopkins
5) Ohio State
6) Rutgers
7) Michigan
Unanimous selection in ALL CAPS