The Hofstra Men's Lacrosse Team is ranked 13th in the first United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) regular season poll, released Monday. The Pride was also ranked 13th in last week's USILA Preseason Poll.

The Pride, who begin their 61st season this Saturday, February 21st at 1 p.m. against 20th-ranked University of Massachusetts at James M. Shuart Stadium, received 54 points in the voting by a select panel of college coaches. Hofstra, the defending Colonial Athletic Association champions, recorded a 10-6 record and made their 14th trip to the NCAA Division I Lacrosse Championships in 2008.

The first 2009 regular season USILA Poll is headed up by defending national champions, Syracuse (1-0). The Orange received seven of the eight first place votes and 159 points in the voting. Virginia, which picked up one first place vote, is second. Syracuse was impressive in a 22-3 victory of Providence while Virginia recorded a 13-7 victory over Hofstra's CAA-rival Drexel in their respective season openers. Maryland remained third with Johns Hopkins and Duke each moving up one to fourth and fifth, respectively.  

North Carolina, off to a 2-0 start, jumped two places to sixth followed by Cornell, Notre Dame, and Navy, Georgetown and UMBC, who are each tied for ninth. Princeton comes in at number 12 followed by Hofstra, Brown and Colgate. Loyola, Albany, Army, Bucknell and UMass wrap up the final five in the top 20 poll. A total of six Hofstra opponents-Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Princeton, Brown, Army and UMass-are in this week's top 20.

2009 USILA Division I Poll

(As of Feb. 16, 2009)

                         Also receiving votes: Denver, Ohio State, Towson, Penn State and Harvard