LAFAYETTE TO PLAY 2 TOP 25 TEAMS IN FIRST FOUR GAMES
The Lafayette Leopards will have a chance to make a huge statement right from the beginning of the season. The top 25 preseason rankings have come out and Lafayette will play 2 teams ranked in the top 25 out of the 4 early games. Syracuse is ranked 18 and the Leopards will travel to upstate New York to meet them at 6 pm Monday September 2nd. Later on in the week our Maroon heroines will meet Liberty University, ranked number 20, at 12 pm in Lynchburg, Va. the following Sunday. Earlier on Friday they will arrive at Lynchburg for a 7pm game with Appalachian State!! Of course, the opening home game will be with VCU on Friday August 30. That is the opening day for virtually all of division one.
Should the Leopards be successful in those four games it would be hard to argue they should not be listed in the top 25. This is a great opportunity. Lafayette has already played a preseason scrimmage with number 22 Albany. Of course, it must be first games first and later this week I will preview VCU. I have watched the first game VCU had last year ( which they lost in strokes), and perhaps it might have clues as what the Leopards might expect on Friday.
Meanwhile the rest of the Patriot League begins their seasons with a group of competitive games. Colgate will play Central Michigan at 2pm, American hosts New Hampshire at 3pm, Bucknell hosts James Madison at 4 pm, Lehigh is at Rider at the same time, Holy Cross will host Northeastern at 6pm, and Boston University will be in Ohio playing Ohio at 7pm on the 31st. Ohio University beat Boston in last years NCAA first round!! Lafayette of course will host VCU at 7pm under the lights on August 30.
Looking at the schedule, Lafayette will play 4 preseason top 25 games. The other two will be Boston University ranked 23 on Oct 5th and William and Mary ranked 25 on Oct 20th at home. I expect, given their schedule that American could be a candidate for national ranking should they prevail in their games. The game with American will be the last game in the regular season before the playoffs on Nov 2nd in DC.
FYI, the top five in the NFHCA poll are UNC, Maryland, Duke, UConn, and Princeton.
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