Men's Lacrosse | 2/19/2024 2:24:00 PM

The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference released the preseason poll for the 2024 men's lacrosse season and the Benedictine University men's lacrosse team has been picked to finish fourth.

Benedictine received 108 points. Aurora collected every first place vote to earn the title of preseason favorite. Concordia Wisconsin was second and Illinois Tech third with 122 points.

Benedictine finished 5-12 last year with a 5-3 mark in conference play to tie for fourth. Benedictine earned the tiebreak to reach the conference tournament for the third consecutive year. The team has been in each of the three tournaments since the NACC adopted lacrosse prior to the 2021 season. The team reached the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years (2021 and 2022).

Last season's leading scorer, Will Robinson, returns for this year after earning honorable mention All-NACC last year. Ben Zimmerman, another honorable mention choice last season, also returns along with Second Team All-NACC goalie James McDonald. The team returns 10 of last year's top 11 scorers.

The season opens on Friday with a 6:30pm contest at home against North Central. The conference opener comes on March 30 at Illinois Tech.

BELOW COURTESY OF THE NACC
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Defending champion Aurora University has been selected as the unanimous favorite to capture the 2024 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) men's lacrosse title according to the annual preseason poll released Monday.

Aurora secured 162 points and all 16 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 15-5 overall and 8-0 in league play for the second consecutive year before outscoring Benedictine University and Illinois Institute of Technology by a combined score of 42-8 to win the program's first NACC Tournament title. Aurora fell to Illinois Wesleyan, 19-10, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Concordia University Wisconsin (135 points) took second place in the poll ahead of Illinois Tech (122), Benedictine (108), and Milwaukee School of Engineering (98). CUW and IIT tied for second place in the league a year ago with matching 6-2 marks, while Benedictine and MSOE tied for fourth at 5-3.

Edgewood College (75) is sixth, followed by Marian University (55), Beloit College (35), and Concordia University Chicago (20).

New Coaches: There are two new coaches in the NACC this season. Gabe Pearlman takes over at Marian after spending the past two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at NCAA Division II Frostburg State University. A 2018 Beloit College graduate, Pearlman also served as an intern at Washington & Jefferson College in 2021 and was a defensive coordinator at Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

The second new coach is a familiar face around the NACC as Concordia Chicago welcomes Chris Button back to suburban Chicago. Button previously spent seven years at Benedictine University, including five as head coach, where he posted a 41-14 record while leading the Eagles to the inaugural 2021 NACC men's lacrosse regular-season and tournament titles. He was also named NACC Coach of the Year. Most recently, Button served as the director of True Chesapeake lacrosse club in Annapolis, Maryland.

Spring 2024 Schedule: Six of the NACC's nine programs opened play this past weekend. Concordia Wisconsin defeated Northland and MSOE won a low-scoring battle over DePauw, while Concordia Chicago, Edgewood, and Aurora lost season openers at home. Additionally, Illinois Tech split a pair of neutral-site matches in Nashville. Benedictine is the next NACC program to take to the field, hosting North Central (Ill.) on Friday, Feb. 23. Beloit opens its season at Lake Forest the following day (Feb. 24). Marian will be the final NACC school to get underway when it travels to Carroll on Wednesday, Feb. 28.

The round-robin NACC slate begins Saturday, March 30, with Edgewood hosting Concordia Chicago, Benedictine venturing to Illinois Tech, MSOE entertaining Concordia Wisconsin, and Aurora making the trek to Marian. Beloit joins the fray the following Wednesday (April 3) when they host Illinois Tech.

The final date of regular-season play is Saturday, April 27.

NACC Tournament: The top four teams in the final standings qualify for the 2024 NACC Men's Lacrosse Tournament. Semifinals are slated for Wednesday, May 1 with the final to follow on Saturday, May 4. All tournament games will be held on campus sites. The tournament champion receives the NACC's automatic berth in the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.

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2024 NACC Men's Lacrosse Preseason Poll

Institution	Points
Aurora (18)	162
Concordia Wisconsin	135
Illinois Tech	122
Benedictine	108
MSOE	98
Edgewood	75
Marian	55
Beloit	35
Concordia Chicago	20

First-place votes in parentheses