Jan. 5, 2009

BALTIMORE, MD. - Inside Lacrosse Magazine, in conjunction with Face-Off Yearbook '09, has issued its 2009 preseason NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Poll with Coach Joe Breschi's initial North Carolina team ranked in the eighth spot. The rankings were released shortly after midnight on Monday morning.

Breschi's Tar Heels will face a host of teams in the preseason Top 20 during the regular season, including No. 1 Virginia, No. 3 Maryland, No. 5 Johns Hopkins, No. 7 Duke, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 11 Navy, No. 15 Hofstra, No. 16 Denver and No. 17 Colgate.

Nine of Carolina's 14 regular-season games will be played against preseason Top 20 opponents.

Here is the complete preseason Inside Lacrsse/Face-Off Yearbook Poll with the 2008 records of the teams.

1. Virginia, 14-4

2. Syracuse, 15-2

3. Maryland, 11-6

4. Cornell, 11-4

5. Johns Hopkins, 11-6

6. Georgetown, 9-4

7. Duke, 18-2

8. North Carolina, 8-6

9. Notre Dame, 14-3

10. UMBC, 12-4

11. Navy, 10-6

12. Albany, 8-8

13. Brown, 11-3

14. Princeton, 13-6

15. Hofstra, 10-6

16. Denver, 10-7

17. Colgate, 11-6

18. Bucknell, 10-5

19. Loyola, 7-7

20. Delaware, 9-7