Phoenix, Arizona - he Grand Canyon University Men’s Lacrosse team has been named as the preseason favorite to repeat as the champions of the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference for the 2017-18 season. The Lopes were chosen #1 in the SLC’s preseason rankings by the conference coaches. Just behind GCU in the preseason rankings is the team the Lopes beat in last year’s national championship match, Chapman University from the Los Angeles area; as well as Arizona State University, who bowed to the Lopes in the 2017 SLC Championship Game last April.
The Lopes will enter the season riding the crest of a 13-game winning streak that finished out last year’s championship run. GCU will be gunning for their third SLC title in the last four years when they begin conference play in the spring. The Lopes will commence their 2017-18 schedule this Saturday afternoon, October 28th, when they hold their annual GCU Alumni match beginning at noon at Prescott Field on the GCU campus. Admission to the event is FREE.
The entire SLC Preseason Rankings are listed below:
|
Rank |
Team |
City |
|
1 |
Grand Canyon |
Phoenix, AZ |
|
2 |
Chapman |
Orange, CA |
|
3 |
Arizona State |
Tempe, AZ |
|
4 |
UC Santa Barbara |
Santa Barbara, CA |
|
5 |
Concordia-Irvine |
Irvine, CA |
|
6 |
Arizona |
Tucson, AZ |
|
7 |
San Diego State |
San Diego, CA |
|
8 |
UNLV |
Las Vegas, NV |
|
9 |
Claremont |
Claremont, CA |
|
10 |
USC |
Los Angeles, CA |
|
11 |
UCLA |
Los Angeles, CA |