Tigers Hold Firm While Blue Devils Storm Into Top Five
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Tigers Hold Firm While Blue Devils Storm Into Top Five

A 17-2 Tigers squad keeps the throne, but an eleven-spot shakeup signals chaos in the chase pack.

D1Ball StaffThursday, July 23, 2026

The Tigers (17-2) remain the undisputed No. 1 in men's lacrosse, holding their perch for a second straight poll while the Fighting Irish (13-3) climb to No. 2 and the Orange (13-6) surge from seventh to third — a top three that looks nothing like last week's edition.

The story of the poll, though, is the Blue Devils. Duke jumped nine spots, vaulting from No. 13 to No. 4 on the strength of an 11-5 campaign that suddenly has them breathing on the game's elite. Meanwhile, the Spiders (14-2) tumbled from second to seventh, and the Cavaliers (10-7) endured the poll's hardest fall — plummeting from fourth all the way to eleventh.

The Big Red (11-5) also slid five spots to tenth, while the Red Foxes (12-5) crashed the party at No. 20 as the poll's lone newcomer. What the rankings say plainly: the Tigers are the standard, the Blue Devils are the momentum, and nobody below the summit is safe.

Data via ESPN · Summarized by D1Ball's editorial engine from official statistics.

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