The 2025 men’s college lacrosse season is almost here and it’s time to bet some futures. Let’s take a look at my favorite win totals, championship bets and conference tournament picks ahead of the start of the 2025 NCAA men’s lacrosse season.
2025 Men’s College Lacrosse Win Totals
Colgate Over 7.5 Wins (14 Games)
My dark horse pick to win the Patriot League is a team that shouldn’t really be flying under anyone’s radar at this point. Last season, Colgate shocked Penn State early on in the season, all of their Patriot League losses were by two goals or fewer and they finished with eight wins. According to Lacrosse Reference, they have the 4th-highest returning production at 86.3% and the highest on defense at 95.4%.
They have upset potential when it comes to their out-of-conference opponents and I expect them to be favored in almost every Patriot League game with Army and Lehigh being their only real threats. This team should get to at least eight wins again and +140 is a great price to bet them to do so.
Pick: Colgate Over 7.5 Wins (+140 bet365 / DraftKings)
Penn State Under 8.5 Wins (12 Games)
The Nittany Lions just barely got to nine wins last season and it won’t be any easier this year after losing star attackman TJ Malone and several other key starters. The Penn State defense will still be strong with Jack Fracyon in net and a strong defensive corps, but the offense could struggle without Malone and the Big Ten didn’t get any easier.
Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State and Rutgers all made significant moves in the transfer portal and Johns Hopkins is favored along with Maryland to secure the Big Ten’s bid in the tournament. Bottom line, Penn State will have its work cut out in their conference. The out-of-conference schedule isn’t any easier with games against the projected top three Ivy League teams in Cornell, Princeton and Yale, and they’ll also face a Colgate team that beat them last year. Expect the Nittany Lions to stay under 8.5 wins this year.
Pick: Penn State Under 8.5 Wins (-130 DraftKings)
St. Joe’s Under 9.5 Wins (14 Games)
Despite an 0-3 start last season, the Hawks rallied to win 10 straight and eventually secured an NCAA Torunament berth. Yet, this team lost a lot to graduation, with Levi Anderson, Carter Page, Matt Bohmer and Toron Eccelston all moved on. Levi Verch is one of the best defenders in the country, but he can only do so much. St. Joe’s found some stability in net with Tommy Gross, but I think another 10-win season will be hard to replicate given their schedule.
There are currently four ranked opponents on their 14-game schedule and UMass, Providence, Villanova and Rutgers should all be close games. The bar is just too high for what will be a good, but not great St. Joe’s team.
Pick: St. Joe’s Under 9.5 Wins (+120 bet365 / DraftKings)
Richmond Over 7.5 Wins (14 Games)
Richmond and St. Joe’s win totals should honestly be flipped in my opinion. While the Spider lost some key pieces on offense, Aidan O’Neil should be able to continue his production and Richmond’s defense is still their real strength. Led by All-American goaltender Zach Vigue, the defense with the best adjusted defensive efficiency behind only Notre Dame last year got better with grad transfer Mitchell Dunham coming over from Mount St. Mary’s. Their biggest Atlantic 10 threats also got weaker, with St. Joe’s and High Point also losing key players—and the Panthers in particular experiencing a coaching change this offseason.
While there are some tough opponents once again on their schedule—five of their out-of-conference opponents are ranked—they realistically won’t need to win any of those games if they take care of business in the Atlantic 10. That said, I think the Spiders have upset potential and will be competitive with Maryland, Virginia, Cornell, Duke and Georgetown, potentially taking down one or two of those five. Eight wins feels like the floor for this team and 10 wins or more is an even likelier possibility.
Pick: Richmond Over 7.5 Wins (+100 bet365 / DraftKings)
Virginia Under 10.5 WIns (14 Games)
While McCabe Millon is poised to be UVA’s go-to guy in 2025, the losses of Connor Shellenberger and Payton Cormier will be felt early on. The defense should still be able to cause a lot of trouble with LSM Ben Wayer and a solid corps of short-stick defensive midfielders, but the biggest question is which Matthew Nunes (or Kyle Morris for that matter) will we get in net. Nunes was streaky last season and the Cavaliers won’t be able to to rely on their offense as much this season.
Furthermore, their schedule features nine ranked teams and two other potential conference winners in Colgate and UAlbany. The Cavaliers will be good again this season, but they’ll need to be flawless to get to 11 wins, and I just don’t see that happening this year for a team that finished with just 10 wins last year, despite a stronger roster.
Pick: Virginia Under 10.5 Wins (-110 DraftKings)
Yale Over 8.5 Wins (12 Games)
Yale is one where I think their win total isn’t too far off at 8.5, but the price to bet them to go over is too enticing to pass up. This team won 11 of 14 regular season games last year playing a similar schedule and has a better than 40.82% chance of doing so again.
While star attackman Matthew Brandau graduated, the attack duo of Leo Johnson and Chris Lyons has returned from injury, with their last season together seeing them combine for 136 points during their freshmen season. Just as notable is the return of faceoff specialist Machado Rodriguez, who was facing off at 60.8% last year before suffering a season-ending injury. The defense will need to play better than last year, but the offense will be able to play make it, take it often, and could carry this team to not only 9 or 10 wins, but potentially an Ivy League title.
Pick: Yale Over 8.5 Wins (+145 bet365)
Now, let’s look at some conference tournament picks…
