2025 Week 1 MCLA Recap: Road Dawgs at Georgia, Florida's Balance and Club Box

The 2025 MCLA season kicked off Friday with a rematch of both SELC Tournament semi-final games and was followed up Saturday with a Top 10 west coast matchup.

Five ranked teams were still scrimmaging against NCAA DII/DIII teams and five others didn’t play, so there’s plenty of action left this season. 

Georgia wins two ranked games on the road 

After coming one goal shy of a Final Four in 2022, the Dawgs took a step back in 2023 after losing 1st team All-American goalie Reed McCall. This year they showed their back to winning, taking down #20 Auburn and #24 Clemson.

Rory Cavanaugh, who was a key piece of the 2023 as a freshman, and Lee Butler, the Walton HS (GA) all-time points leader who played at Vermont the past two seasons, led the UGA offense.

The defense was held down by defenseman Carter Smith, who played in 10 games at Providence last season, SSDM Quinn Cavanaugh, another key piece from the 2023, and goalie Tucker Hoffmann, a grad transfer who was the 2023 DII Tournament Champ and MVP at Dayton.

The Dawgs looked primed to keep moving up in the polls, but face a tough challenge next week against Florida at home. 

Balanced Florida offense lead win over South Carolina

To no surprise Georgetown grad transfer Dylan Hess had a big game with 2 goals and 5 assists, however he wasn’t the only Gator out there scoring. Florida had 12 different players record a point in the win over #16 South Carolina.

Despite being a transfer heavy team, especially on offense, two returners were next up in scoring. Attackman Ethan Heim and Luka Mellone each had a hat trick in the win.

Gators look to get back to Round Rock after just missing out on the tournament in 2024.

Air Force pulls off huge DII over DI upset 

Air Force pulled off the biggest DII over DI upset in the MCLA after taking down #23 Oregon at home 16-11. 

The Falcons are moving to DI next season with the MCLA rule change that teams at schools with an NCAA DI have to play MCLA DI. Moving up is usually a concern for most teams, but Air Force is looking ready now. 

After making the Final Four the past two seasons they look to get a MCLA DII Championship in their last DII season. 

They also essentially clinched a spot in the RMLC DII playoffs after beating #16 Denver 16-10.

BYU doesn’t look to be going anywhere 

It is only a preseason scrimmage, but it does show BYU is still a solid team. 

The Cougars lost Player of the Year Jake Halversen (who’s now an assistant coach with the team), but bring back 1st team All-American attackman Stew Vassau and pole Taylor Mason along with multiple other starters. 

They also bring in Westminster midfielder Tate Craig and as always some former players who were away on LDS Missions 

Arizona win first MCLA box game in almost 20 years 

Donning Arizona’s ACHA hockey team’s jersey, the Wildcats took down rival #7 Arizona State in a heated box game. The game was played at Lee’s Family Forum, home of the NLL’s Las Vegas Desert Dogs immediately following their game Saturday night. Vegas HC Shawn Williams was quoted saying “We are excited to host this matchup, giving our fans a chance to experience collegiate box lacrosse in a pro venue.

The last college club box game was in 2007 when Columbia took on NYU at Madison Square Garden and the last MCLA box game came in 2004 when Colorado and Colorado State played at Ball Arena (then called the Pepsi Center).

San Diego State wins the first Top 10 game of the season 

Coming off their first National Tournament win, the Aztecs started off 2025 hot with a win over #9 UC Santa Barbara on the road. 

SDSU returned 2nd team All-American attackman Brian Davito and brought in St. Bonaventure transfer Luke Lemus, but it was sophomore Luc Schneider who stepped up the most with three goals and 2 assists. 1st team All-American FOGO Tristan Keyser dominated the X going 77% with 7 ground balls. 

High powered offense get Georgia Tech to 2-0 

The Yellow Jackets put up 15 against #15 Florida State and 23 against a solid West Virginia team to start their season. Brooks Baro stole the show in the first game scoring seven goals and two assists against the Seminoles. They showed off their depth against West Virginia after 15 different players recorded a point, led by Joseph Rose who had five goals.

After almost pulling off an improbable comeback in last year’s Elite Eight, Georgia Tech returned their entire starting lineup and are primed to win at all sitting at #4 in the Varsity Club Lacrosse Rankings. 

Oregon gets off to hot start and wins ranked game 

The Ducks came into Fort Collins ranked #23 and left with a win over #20 Colorado State. Sam Rack took things into his own hands scoring two unassisted goals early, finishing with six total and an assist. 

Oregon now faces a huge test next weekend hosting #1 BYU and then squaring up with long time rival, #21 Simon Fraser.

Utah Valley is out for revenge

After losing in the National Championship last season, UVU revamped their whole team bringing in a completely new coaching staff as well as many transfers on top of the many talented returners. 

Over the weekend they handled MCLA DII Southern Utah easily winning 28-2. The #2 team in the country has depth at every position. They scrimmage NCAA DII Westminster in two weekends and don’t play their first ranked game until the end of the month when the head south to play FSU and Florida 

Virginia Tech, Cal Poly, and Cal all handle business 

Virginia Tech dominated new MCLA DI teams High Point and UNC winning by 21 and 18, moving to 2-0 in the ALC. The Hokies lost their top four scorers from 2024 including 2023 Player of the Year Aidan Smith, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve lost a step. They face off against rival Liberty in the Battle for the Blue Ridge this weekend.

Cal took down a solid Nevada team 15-8 despite some missing players. This weekend they play conference foe UC Santa Barbara on the road this weekend. 

Cal Poly returns 1st Team All-American attackman Ryan Sanders along with many other key pieces. They defeated USC 14-11 and look to make the tournament for the first time since 2022 after being a bubble team the last two seasons.