ATLANTA – After winning its fifth national championship in the past eight years last spring, St. Thomas earned the No. 1 spot in the 2017 Under Armour MCLA Division II Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released on Wednesday.

The Tommies were awarded 22 of the 24 first place votes in the poll and cleared No. 2 Grand Valley State – St. Thomas’ opponent in the title game of the 2016 MCLA National Championships powered by Under Armour – by 45 points.

No. 3 North Dakota State, a conference rival of St. Thomas, finished third, just seven points behind GVSU, while Concordia-Irvine was slotted fourth. The Eagles picked up one of the two other first place votes.

Dayton rounded out the top five.

No. 7 St. John’s, which is one of four Upper Midwest Lacrosse Conference (UMLC) squads in the top eight, nailed down the other first place vote.

2017 Under Armour MCLA
Division II Preseason Coaches Poll

Others receiving votes: Montana (52), Western Washington (43), Gonzaga (40), Appalachian State (30), Washington-Mo. (29), Citadel (19), Western Oregon (18), Portland State (18), Baylor (18), College of Idaho (16), Southern Conn. State (15), UC Irvine (14), Humboldt State (12), Central Conn. State (8), Bridgeport (7), MSU-Mankato (7), New Haven (6), UC Santa Cruz (5), Columbus State (5), Johnson & Wales (4), Northern Colorado (3), Wake Forest (3), Westfield State (3), UNC-Charlotte (3), Sam Houston State (3), Cal State Long Beach (2), Stonehill (2), Winona State (1), UC San Diego (1), CU-Denver (1).