Duke, UNC among ACC teams leading Inside Lacrosse preseason poll

Duke_MLAX_vs_UNC_Opening_faceoff
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

GREENSBORO. N.C. – Inside Lacrosse released its Preseason Top-20 poll and All-America Teams in advance of the 2015 season on Wednesday.

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) led all leagues with five teams ranked in the top 10 of the preseason poll along with 23 total preseason All-Americans.

In the poll, Notre Dame, the 2014 ACC Champion and NCAA runner-up, is the highest-ranking ACC team at No. 2, followed by 2014 NCAA champion Duke at No. 3, No. 4 Syracuse, No. 6 North Carolina and No. 10 Virginia.

Inside Lacrosse Fall All-Access: Duke

Inside Lacrosse Fall All-Access : North Carolina

The ACC’s 23 honorees on the Preseason All-America Team include a national-best six on the First Team, five on the second and third teams, and seven honorable mention selections.

North Carolina led all ACC schools with six All-Americans. Notre Dame and Syracuse each have five selections, Duke had four and Virginia had three.

Fourteen of the ACC’s 23 Preseason All-Americans were named to the USILA All-America Team last season, and include all six Preseason First Team honorees: Duke junior midfielders Deemer Class and Myles Jones, Notre Dame junior attackman Matt Kavanagh, Syracuse senior attackman Kevin Rice and junior defenseman Brandon Mullins, and Virginia junior defenseman Tanner Scales.

2015 Inside Lacrosse Preseason Top 20

1     Denver

2     Notre Dame

3     Duke

4    Syracuse

5    Johns Hopkins

6    North Carolina

7    Loyola

8    Cornell

9    Maryland

10   Virginia

11   Harvard

12   Penn

13   Albany

14   Bryant

15   Lehigh

16   Drexel

17   Yale

18   Army

19   Towson

20   Princeton

2015 Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-America Teams

First Team

Kevin Rice, Sr., A, Syracuse

Matt Kavanagh, Jr., A, Notre Dame

Myles Jones, Jr., M, Duke

Deemer Class, Jr., M, Duke

Tanner Scales, Jr., D, Virginia

Brandon Mullins, Jr., D, Syracuse

Second Team

Randy Staats, Sr., A, Syracuse

Joey Sankey, Sr., A, North Carolina

Chad Tutton, Sr., M, North Carolina

Sergio Perkovic, So., M, Notre Dame

Austin Pifani, So., D, North Carolina

Third Team

James Pannell, Jr., A, Virginia

Ryan Tucker, Sr., M, Virginia

Will Haus, Sr., M, Duke

Matt Landis, Jr., D, Notre Dame

Sean Young, Sr., D, Syracuse

Honorable Mention

Jimmy Bitter, Sr., A, North Carolina

Henry Schoonmaker, Sr., M, Syracuse

Jack Near, Sr., M, Notre Dame

Kyle Rowe, So., FO, Duke

Ryan Kilpatrick, Sr., LSM, North Carolina

Garrett Epple, So., D, Notre Dame

Kieran Burke, Jr., G, North Carolina