QuickStick MCLA Top 20 Poll – 3.6.19

We’re back! Back in the MCLA groove!

A month ago we dropped our Pre-Season Poll. It caused some twitter fingers to break out, but only for those who didn’t read the fine print. Now that we’re a good three weeks into the MCLA season and we’ve been able to feel out a bunch of teams, it’s time for us to join the party and release our first MCLA Poll of 2019. While it’s still early in the season, one of the most impressive things I’ve at least noticed is teams’ ability to travel. Now, more than ever before, are MCLA DI teams making an effort to fly across the country and challenge themselves against other quality competition outside their general, regional area. It’s awesome! It’s also a lot of fun to play those OOO games. I remember when I scheduled our trip out to Texas my senior year to play Oklahoma and TCU. Although stressful in making all those pieces come into play, once you’re out there lining up against competition you’ve never seen before, it’s a blast. Alright, enough time traveling. Here’s the first QuickStick MCLA Top 20 Poll of the 2019 SZN.

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1. California – Safe to say the best team in the country at the moment and they only look to be getting stronger.
2. South Carolina – Safe to say the (second) best team in the country. The Cocks came out of this weekend with an impressive 10-5 win over Virginia Tech. A big West Coast trip lies ahead for Coach Harkey and his boys.
3. Concordia-Irvine – When you recruit like a varsity program, you should play like one. Thankfully CUI is living up to those expectations. A big-time W over MSU yesterday!
4. Georgia Tech – The astrophysicists welcomes Texas A&M to town and took them to school. Our friend Coach Lovic has his boys gearing up for a big game this Friday, at home, under the lights (have I hyped this up yet?) against FSU.
5. Liberty – Sort of the same take here as with CUI. Liberty has nice wins over Clemson and UCONN. They travel out to Morgantown this weekend to play WVU, who is coming off a disappointing loss to Western Michigan.
6. Arizona State – Are the Sun Devils back? Sure looks like it. Casey Connor has his mean firing on all cylinders as they welcomed both Colorado and Colorado State to Tempe this past weekend and knocked their socks off. Good to see ASU back in the mix.
7. Chapman – The Cougars welcomed the defending champs out to Orange County and showed them who’s boss. Chapman plays host to another quality team, in what may be the MCLA game of the week with South Carolina coming to town. Saturday night, be there or be square.
8. Michigan State – Tough trip out to Cali for the defending champs. Two losses to two really strong teams. They wrap up with Arizona today, but these games will only help the Spartans going forward.
9. Boston College – A strong showing in Florida for the Eagles. A quality win over Florida, squeaks one out against FSU and then obliterates UCF. Enjoy the rest of your SB2K19 fellas.
10. Virginia Tech – Coming off a 5-goal loss to South Carolina, and couple one goal wins against some lesser opponents gives us some worry about the Hokies.
11. Colorado – The Buffs are coming off a tough loss against Arizona State. They welcome a nice group of southern boys to the Rockies with Clemson this weekend.
12. BYU – It’s kinda make or break time for BYU, they haven’t been challenged yet, but they’ve also lose to UCSB, who continues to lose. Two tough games this week with Arizona State and Grand Canyon. We’ll learn a lot about the fighting Jordan Harris’s this week.
13. Florida State – I know they’re 2-3, but their three losses have all come to incredibly strong teams. Like BYU, they’ve got a big games this weekend with GaTech and UCONN.
14. Grand Canyon – After losses to Cal Poly and Colorado, GCU bounced back by doubling up Colorado State. They don’t appear to be as strong this year but Manny Rapkin always has tricks up his sleeve to keep his teams in the hunt.
15. Cal Poly – After starting the season 0-2, the Mustangs have won 3 in a row and are beginning to right the ship. A nice matchup this weekend with a trip up north to Santa Clara in what should be a great game between two ranked foes.
16. Clemson – The Tigers head out to Boulder this weekend and will be sure to pack and extra layer. This is probably the biggest trip Clemson has had in years. I’m excited to see how they fare.
17. Stanford – Stanfords resurgence in the MCLA is largely due to their incredible efforts on social media. If you haven’t follow their Twitter or Instagram yet, you’re missing out. Top tier content. Tough loss to Cal Poly. The Cardinal look to bounce back against Dominican.
18. Santa Clara – These guys shocked the world early in the year when they beat GCU. This team can play and as mentioned before, they’ve got a great contest coming up against Cal Poly. Loser of this game will likely not be ranked next week.
19. Georgia – Dawgs gotta eat! Riding the momentum of alumnus @callmeshitto’s appearance on “The Crease Dive,” UGA welcomed Texas A&M to the Peach State and took them to the pound. The good boys are on SPRANG BREAK, so if you see them on the Florida Panhandle beaches, tell them we say whaddup.
20. Texas A&M – Coach Scaz’s boys traveled to Georgia and came out with the worst case outcome. Two L’s. The Aggies are on SB2K19 as well, and will have some nice time to recover before they face LSU in a couple weeks.

Others considered: Northeastern, Oregon, Colorado State, Minnesota