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The lacrosse season goes by in an instant. One moment, the cold weather is canceling February games. Before you know it, conference foes are duking it out for postseason berths.

It might still seem early, but the NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed in just over a month. Like Syracuse, most teams have four regular-season games remaining before conference tournaments start.

SU’s NCAA Tournament berth is all but sealed. Per Lacrosse Reference, Syracuse has a 100% chance of getting an at-large bid and a 99% chance of earning a top-eight seed. However, the Orange want more.

With an impressive resume and strength of schedule, there’s a strong chance Syracuse earns the top overall seed in the tournament. But first, it needs to take care of business in its final four games.

Here’s a look at the teams contending for the No. 1 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament:

Syracuse (9-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast)
Key wins: Duke, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Maryland, Boston University
Current RPI: 2

Syracuse is playing the best it ever has under head coach Gary Gait. You could’ve said the same thing this time last year when SU won six straight games after losing two of its first five. This season is different. Syracuse only beat two ranked opponents during its winning run last year. In 2026, that’s increased to five.

Gait put together a brutal nonconference schedule, which included a six-game, 37-day road trip. The Orange lost back-to-back games to Princeton and Harvard in February but haven’t lost since.

Like most teams chasing the No. 1 seed, Syracuse controls its own destiny. The Orange have a showdown with No. 2 North Carolina this weekend in Chapel Hill. The winner of that contest may put themselves in a prime position for the top seed. Both programs are top three in the Rating Percentage Index, the key metric the selection committee uses for seeding. Meanwhile, Syracuse’s strength of schedule is the fourth-best in the country.

SU will also face Notre Dame and Virginia. The Cavaliers upset the then-No. 1 Fighting Irish Saturday, setting up another resume-boosting opportunity for Syracuse. There’s still room for SU to slip up, considering its strong RPI and schedule. The only result that would be problematic is if it lost to sub-.500 Colgate on April 18. However, the Orange haven’t lost to the Raiders since 2019.

With solid wins over Duke, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Maryland, Syracuse could lose to Notre Dame and still possibly get the No. 1 seed. A loss this weekend, however, would be detrimental due to North Carolina’s trajectory and current metrics.

North Carolina (9-1, ACC)
Key wins: Harvard, Army, Johns Hopkins, Penn State
Current RPI: 1

North Carolina’s schedule has been easier than Syracuse’s. The Tar Heels have had the 15th-toughest strength of schedule, per the NCAA. That doesn’t mean their resume is weaker than others. Their top RPI ranking means if Selection Sunday were today, the Tar Heels would likely claim the top seed.

UNC has won three straight ranked games, narrowly defeating No. 6 Penn State and No. 19 Army before dismantling No. 7 Harvard last weekend. Prior to that, the Tar Heels handily defeated Johns Hopkins and Penn. The only blemish on their schedule is an 11-9 loss to Princeton, where they led by one with 9:28 remaining. If North Carolina had held on, it’d be in the driver’s seat to get the No. 1 seed.

Instead, it has to get by Syracuse this weekend. UNC’s final four regular-season games are all ACC contests following its bye last week. After playing SU, North Carolina faces Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The Tar Heels haven’t defeated the Fighting Irish since 2021 and haven’t won in South Bend since 2004.

On April 18, North Carolina will match up with Virginia, then finish the regular season with a rivalry game against Duke. The Tar Heels are a dangerous team, led by Owen Duffy and Dominic Pietramala, arguably the best one-two punch in the country. Having Brady Wambach — a 71% faceoff specialist — doesn’t hurt either.

Zoey Grimes | Design Editor

Princeton (7-2, 2-1 Ivy)
Key wins: North Carolina, Maryland, Syracuse
Current RPI: 3

Despite losing to Cornell for the seventh straight time a couple weeks ago, Princeton has the third-best RPI in the country.

There’s still plenty of lacrosse left to play, but Princeton has an easier schedule compared to North Carolina and Syracuse. The Tigers will match up against unranked Vermont on Saturday before closing out Ivy League play against Penn, Harvard and Dartmouth — all games where they’ll be heavily favored.

As of this week, Princeton has the fifth-best strength of schedule in the country after taking down Maryland, Syracuse and North Carolina consecutively. The Tigers’ loss to Cornell hasn’t really affected their metrics, and their other defeat to Penn State was a quality loss.

If Princeton wins the rest of its regular-season games, the metrics could change. It might end up with the best argument for the No. 1 seed due to its head-to-head wins over SU and UNC.

Richmond (9-0, Atlantic 10)
Key wins: Cornell, Georgetown, Virginia
Current RPI: 4

If seeding were based purely on record, Richmond would be the highest-rated team in the country. Alas, that’s not how the system works. Still, the Spiders are building a more-than-respectable NCAA Tournament resume. This past week, they earned the No. 1 spot in Inside Lacrosse’s Top 20 Poll for the first time ever.

Dan Chemotti has created a gritty program over the past decade, and it’s finally breaking into college lacrosse’s upper echelon. Richmond was supposed to open its season against Maryland, but that matchup was canceled due to cold weather. Elsewhere, it dismantled Virginia, snuck by Cornell and used a strong fourth quarter to defeat Georgetown.

Even with that, the Spiders have the 30th-best strength of schedule in the country, which can be boiled down to playing in a mid-major conference where wins over ranked teams have less meaning. Richmond could make a statement this weekend by beating Notre Dame in Chicago.

ND is No. 7 in RPI, so a win would do wonders for Richmond’s resume. A tough Atlantic 10 game against Saint Joseph’s is sandwiched in between matchups with St. Bonaventure and High Point, which will likely be blowouts.

Richmond still has a chance at the best seed come May, but the Spiders will need help elsewhere. It’s definitely possible, considering the ACC and Ivy League teams could beat up on each other.

Dark horses:

Penn State and Notre Dame have an outside shot at being the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. PSU does have three losses, including a bad defeat to Villanova. However, the Nittany Lions are eighth in RPI, with ranked games against Johns Hopkins and Rutgers, as well as the Big Ten Tournament, ahead.

Notre Dame’s issue is it’s only played six games. The Fighting Irish have solid wins over Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland, but their loss to UVA this weekend wasn’t ideal. ND probably has the hardest remaining schedule in the country, which could boost its stock.

Games against Richmond, North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse are on the horizon. Win out, and the Fighting Irish could make things interesting. However, it’s tough to see them surviving that gauntlet unscathed.

Published on April 2, 2026 at 1:22 am
Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22