NAIA RELEASE 

(Kansas City, MO) - The Concordia Cardinals Men's Lacrosse team opens the 2022 season in just under a month when they travel to Kalamazoo College and they will do so ranked as the No. 6 team in the NAIA Coaches preseason Top 10 poll after receiving 34 votes. 

The Cardinals are coming off an 8-3 overall record last season and an appearance in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Championship game. Concordia was set to appear in their first NAIA National Invitational before they withdrew for health and safety reasons. 

This is the fifth straight NAIA poll that the Cardinals have been a part of, tying their highest ranking for the program.

Last week, the WHAC also released their preseason poll which saw the Cardinals projected to come in second place with 88 points. Taking the top spot in the conference was Indiana Tech who garnered all 10 first-place votes for 100 points. Rounding out the top five in the conference was Aquinas, Siena Heights, and Madonna with 74, 70, and 56 points respectively. 

In the NAIA poll, 4-time defending National Champion Reinhardt (GA) collected 50 points and four first-place votes. Indiana Tech collected the remaining first-place vote and fell just behind Reinhardt with 47 total points. Rounding out the top 5 were Keiser (FL), Cumberlands (KY), and Columbia (MO) who tallied 44, 40, and 39 points respectively. Following Concordia at No. 7 was St. Ambrose (IA) (33 points), Lourdes (OH) (29), Benedictine (KS) (25), and William Penn (IA) (22). 

The Cardinals will open the 2022 season on February 19 traveling across the state to Kalamazoo College which will begin with a 3 PM faceoff.