IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine men's lacrosse team was voted to finish third in the Peach Belt Conference's Rocky Mountain Division in the Coaches Preseason Poll this January.
The 2025 season marks a new era for the RMAC as the league has joined hands with the Peach Belt Conference for a chance to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA DII Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament for the first time.
The winner of the five-team Rocky Mountain division, made up of preseason favorites Colorado Mesa and Westminster, CUI, Dominican and Adams State, will then face the winner of the Peach Belt division in May for the chance to earn that coveted automatic bid to the big dance.
The RMAC announced recently that Northwest Nazarene will join the league as an associate member in 2026 in men's lacrosse, giving the RMAC six teams in this sport.
CLICK HERE for the full Preseason Poll
The number three is also relevant in another way as a trio of veteran Golden Eagles received preseason buzz.
Concordia face off specialist
Cade Poe, attacker
Chad McFadden and goalie
Daniel Yang were all named to the Preseason Players to Watch List as returning All-Conference players in the league.
Poe was a First Team All-RMAC selection last season and it was evident that his prowess gaining possessions and ground balls translated extremely well to the NCAA DII level after dominating in the program's MCLA days. Poe led the entire league with a 65 percent success rate on faceoffs – which ranked seventh among all DII athletes.
McFadden showed a knack for racking up clutch scores and finished the 2024 campaign with 35 goals and 17 assists. The graduate student was a Second Team All-RMAC pick last year.
Yang was also a Second Team All-RMAC honoree and was Top 2 in the conference in goals-against-average (11.39) and save percentage (.481).
Concordia opens the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 15 up north at a neutral site against Colorado Mesa. Dominican University will host that game and another contest that Sunday with CUI facing Quincy.
Closer to home, the Golden Eagles will host scrimmages on Feb. 1 vs Chapman and Feb. 8 against the San Diego Lacrosse Club.
The home opener for CUI is Thursday, March 6 against national power Adelphi at 6 p.m.
CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's lacrosse schedule
