St. Thomas the Pick in D-II
General News
| Bridgewater
| Cal State San Marcos
| Central Connecticut
| College of Idaho
| Dayton
| FAU
| FGCU
| GVSU
| Kennesaw State
| Loyola Marymount
| Minn-Duluth
| Mo. State
| Montana
| Montana State
| North Dakota
| North Florida
| Northern Arizona
| Rhode Island
| St. Johns
| St. Thomas
| UC Davis
| UC San Diego
| UNC-Charlotte
| Utah State
| Wake Forest
ATLANTA – St. Thomas owns the most championships in Division II history, including the last title in 2019, and the Tommies have been installed as the favorite this spring according to the 2022 New Balance MCLA Division II Preseason Coaches Poll.
St. Thomas, which has raised the trophy six times, booked 12 of the 22 first-place votes cast, pushing them nearly 60 points clear of the field. The Tommies are scheduled to start the 2022 campaign with a crosstown road game against Minnesota on Feb. 4.
Checking in at No. 2 is St. Thomas’ Upper Midwest Lacrosse Conference (UMLC) rival Dayton. The Flyers grabbed one first-place vote – one of eight teams that garnered at least one top ranking in the opening poll.
Kennesaw State is projected as the third team heading into the ’22 campaign bolstered by a first-place vote, but the Owls are quickly followed by UMLC powers Minn.-Duluth (three first-place votes), Grand valley State (2) and North Dakota State (1).
Montana, Missouri State (1), Montana State and Northern Arizona round out the Top 10. Rhode Island, which checks in at No. 13, was the final team snagging a first-place tally.
In total, the UMLC posted all six teams in the poll, followed by the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference (4), Southwestern Lacrosse Conference (4), Continental Lacrosse Conference (3), Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference (2), Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (2), Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League (2), Lone Star Alliance (1) and the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League (1).
2022 New Balance MCLA Preseason Division II Poll
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | 1st VOTES |
| 1. | St. Thomas | 503 | 12 |
| 2. | Dayton | 444 | 1 |
| 3. | Kennesaw State | 432 | 1 |
| 4. | Minn.-Duluth | 413 | 3 |
| 5. | Grand Valley State | 407 | 2 |
| 6. | North Dakota State | 382 | 1 |
| 7. | Montana | 375 | |
| 8. | Missouri State | 339 | 1 |
| 9. | Montana State | 323 | |
| 10. | Northern Arizona | 321 | |
| 11. | College of Idaho | 307 | |
| 12. | St. John's | 296 | |
| 13. | Rhode Island | 282 | 1 |
| 14. | UC Davis | 270 | |
| 15. | Florida Gulf Coast | 254 | |
| 16. | Florida Atlantic | 203 | |
| 17. | Utah State | 202 | |
| 18. | UC San Diego | 141 | |
| 19. | Bridgewater State | 136 | |
| 20. | Loyola Marymount | 122 | |
| 21. | Cal State San Marcos | 93 | |
| 22. | North Florida | 88 | |
| 23. | Wake Forest | 82 | |
| 24. | UNC-Charlotte | 78 | |
| 25. | Central Conn. State | 77 |
Others receiving votes: Sierra Nevada (76), MSU-Denver (46), Rice (46), Utah (39), Texas A&M D-II (36), San Diego (35), Colorado Denver (31), Appalachian State (26), Tulane (24), Colorado Mines (24), Georgia Southern (20), Elon (17), Northwest Nazarene (17), Saint Mary’s (17), Coastal Carolina (12), Maine (12), Miami (11), Oklahoma State (11), Baylor (10), Biola (10), Western Oregon (10), Stonehill (9), Wyoming (9), Air Force Academy (5), Cal State Fullerton (5), Claremont (4), UC Santa Cruz (4), Chico State (3), Idaho (3), Western Washington (3), UT-San Antonio (2), Washington (Mo.) (2), Dallas Baptist (1).