College Lacrosse Rankings: Top Teams by Division and Gender

The final 2026 USA Lacrosse polls put Princeton first in men’s Division I and Northwestern first in women’s Division I. Tampa and Florida Southern lead Division II; Tufts and Middlebury lead Division III. Use those results to identify programs to research, not to estimate your chances of making a roster.

How to read college lacrosse rankings

Start with the source and snapshot date. USA Lacrosse says its rankings are compiled by its writers with input from coaches; the six lists below are its final 2026 polls. A placement in one of those Top 20 polls is not interchangeable with a placement in another publisher’s poll or an NCAA statistical ranking.

Then read the category before the number. Men’s and women’s lacrosse have separate polls, as do NCAA Divisions I, II and III. A school ranked first in Division II is not being ranked against the Division I field. Each Top 20 also selects a subset of teams, so an unlisted program is not necessarily inactive or unsuitable for you.

Publisher. Division. Gender. Date. Those four labels give a ranking its meaning.

For context on programs beyond a short poll, use this guide to the number of college lacrosse teams. It helps you avoid treating a ranked list as a complete list of places to play.

Men’s Division I rankings

Princeton finishes first in the USA Lacrosse Division I men’s final Top 20, dated May 27, 2026. Notre Dame follows in second, and Syracuse is third. These are final USA Lacrosse poll positions, not preseason projections or a claim that every ranking publisher orders the teams the same way.

Duke and North Carolina complete the top five in that May 27 poll. If you compare this table with another list, check whether that list measures poll opinion, a statistical ranking or tournament seeding. The word "rankings" alone does not tell you which one you are reading.

Do not mistake a high team placement for an open position at your position. The poll evaluates the program’s season; it does not publish the staff’s next recruiting priorities.

Women’s Division I rankings

Northwestern finishes first in the USA Lacrosse Division I women’s final Top 20, dated May 27, 2026. North Carolina is second and Maryland third. This is a separate women’s poll, so its placements should not be combined with the men’s Division I list.

Johns Hopkins and Stony Brook round out the top five in the same final poll. Notice what the table does not show: a future recruiting class, the positions a coach needs to fill, or whether the school meets your academic and financial requirements. Those questions require program-specific research rather than another look at the rank.

Division II and Division III rankings

Each division has its own men’s and women’s final poll. The four snapshots below show the top five teams in each USA Lacrosse rankings category. Their dates differ, so keep the date attached when you save or share a list.

Division II men

Tampa leads the USA Lacrosse Division II men’s final Top 20, dated May 27, 2026. Adelphi is second, followed by Saint Anselm, Anderson and Wingate. These five placements come from the men’s Division II poll alone.

Division II women

Florida Southern leads the USA Lacrosse Division II women’s final Top 20, dated May 28, 2026. Maryville is second, East Stroudsburg third, Flagler fourth and UIndy fifth. The later date matters if you are comparing saved screenshots or articles from different points in the season.

Division III men

Tufts tops the USA Lacrosse Division III men’s final Top 20, dated May 27, 2026. RIT, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Christopher Newport fill places two through five. A Division III poll gives you another set of programs to investigate, not a verdict on which NCAA division fits your game.

Division III women

Middlebury leads the USA Lacrosse Division III women’s final Top 20, dated May 29, 2026. Wesleyan, Salisbury, Tufts and Denison follow. This is the latest-dated final poll among the six USA Lacrosse snapshots used here.

All four Division II and III lists are Top 20 polls, not rankings of every team in a division. Look beyond the displayed leaders before you cut programs from your search.

What rankings tell you about a program

A final poll gives you a quick picture of how its publisher evaluates a completed season. That makes it useful for finding teams whose results you want to examine more closely. It does not make the school an automatic fit for your major, budget, preferred campus or desired role on a roster.

Separate a strong season from a broader program assessment. A final placement describes one poll at one point in time; your college decision reaches well beyond that snapshot. Use this guide to evaluating college lacrosse programs when you want to weigh factors that a standings table cannot capture.

Team rankings also differ from player lists. If you see your name, or another recruit’s name, in a recruiting ranking, that is a different comparison with a different purpose. The explanation of lacrosse recruiting rankings helps you keep the two kinds of lists separate.

How recruits can use rankings

Use a ranking to start a list, then test each school against your own criteria. A sensible sequence is simple: First, record the poll source, date, division and team. Second, check academic programs and what attendance could cost your family. Third, review the current roster and ask the coaching staff about its needs at your position. Fourth, assess where you could realistically compete for playing time.

Keep unranked programs in the search. A Top 20 poll leaves teams outside its selected group by design, while your best fit may depend on a specific coach, course of study or roster opening. If you are still deciding where to focus, use the lacrosse division fit quiz as a starting point, then verify what individual programs offer.

Treat recruiting contact rules as a separate issue from rankings. NCAA recruiting guidance says communication rules vary by sport, division and grade level. Rules can change, so check the current NCAA guidance before you rely on a contact timeline. A team’s poll position does not change which rules apply to you.

The practical test is whether a program fits you and whether its staff is looking for someone with your skills. A rank can tell you which team to investigate next. It cannot answer either part of that test.