BALTIMORE – The Loyola University Maryland men’s lacrosse team reached the No. 1 spot in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll and the USILA coaches rankings when the polls were released Monday morning.
The Greyhounds, who are one of two remaining unbeaten teams nationally, are tied with the other unblemished squad, Massachusetts, in the coaches’ version.
Loyola was last ranked No. 1 in the USILA poll in the final installment of the 1999 rankings when the Greyhounds were 12-0 entering theNCAA Tournament. Loyola was ranked in the top spot for nine weeks that season.
The Greyhounds have won their first 11 games of the season after not being ranked in either poll in the first poll of the year. They are the first team to ascend to the top spot after starting unranked since 2007.
That season, Duke was unranked in the USILA coaches’ poll to start the year, but they quickly rose to No. 2 in the second poll of the year before garnering the top spot in the third. Duke is the only other team to complete the feat since the tracking of the poll was started in 1973.
Loyola rounds out ECAC Lacrosse League play on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Geneva, N.Y., to face Hobart College at 12 noon.