It’s the most influential group of teams in the world of NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse. One out of every 10 teams you see are part of it.
The Atlantic Coast Conference stands 13 teams strong, and each of them has a reason to believe they can be lifting the trophy on Memorial Day Weekend — if not now, perhaps a few years away.
Let’s start with some of the programs which have won titles the last three decades. The recent history of the ACC is full of championship-level teams, including the years before Maryland moved to the Big Ten. North Carolina is your current Division I champion, Boston College has won titles in recent years, and Virginia has won a few titles over the years.
Some recent teams are making their intentions known, even though they are only a few years ago. Combined, Clemson, Florida State, and Pittsburgh are less than a decade old. However, they are starting to attract top players not only through recruiting, but in the transfer portal. Clemson, especially, has lots of expectations heaped on them because of not only the spending on the sport, but the current freshman recruiting class is the top-ranked group of first-years according to a number of scouting services.
Two other teams are recent arrivals through the dissolution of the Pac-10. California and Stanford have a certain home advantage because teams having to play them will travel three thousand miles to play them every other year. Stanford, for its part, is 9-0 on the season and is at the top of the ACC table.
Three teams were begun in the 1990s and 2000s — Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, and Louisville. They are in mid-table in the ACC this week, and, with a strong second half of the ACC season, could vault into the national title conversation.
And then, there are a pair of teams which have gotten agonizingly close to winning national championships. Duke is having a fine season with a 6-3 record, and Syracuse, after losing its first three games of the season, have won five straight, including a game four days ago against Northwestern.
The standings, about a month before the ACC Tournament, shows a jamup around the eighth and final berth into the tournament:
| Team | Record | |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 2-3 |
| 8 | Virginia Tech | 2-3 |
| 9 | Clemson | 2-3 |
| 10 | Pitt | 2-4 |
| 11 | Louisville | 1-4 |
| 12 | Cal-Berkeley | 1-4 |
All six of these teams are within one game of each other in the standings with about half of the ACC season yet to play (note: each team has 10 ACC games instead of the full 12).
The schedule meanders until the league hits its rivalry games on the last day of the regular season. One month from today, the schedule features UNC-Duke, Stanford-Cal, and Virginia-Virginia Tech.
I’ll say it here: you could see as many as eight teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference in the NCAA Division I tournament once Selection Sunday occurs in a few weeks. This entire ride here will be fun to watch.