ualbany mlax 2023-2024 UAlbany MLAX Fall Lacrosse, 2024 Spring Schedule and Things of Note

[cwdickens]

From Inside Lacrosse, one line about each America East MLAX Team:

• UAlbany
  With Jake Piseno creating chaos and some swag back on offense, UAlbany can be America East title contenders again with a little bit stronger goaltending.
• Binghamton
  A team whose success has flown under the radar until they can get over the league championship hump, they’ve got the ingredients in lefty Matthew Keegan, Liam Ferris and big goalie Connor Winters.
• Bryant
  Few teams are as veteran-laden as Bryant with 24 grad students and seniors, which means the entire attack is back (grad student Kevin Groeninger, senior Aidan Goltz and sophomore Jack Lonsinger) plus the exciting Hackett brothers at midfield and a guy who will get them the ball a lot in Nathan Laliberte.
• Merrimack
  The Warriors are out of purgatory, so they can qualify for the America East Tournament; they showed that potential last year with a 3-0 start.
• NJIT
  With 19 seniors, the Highlanders’ veteran group has shared a lot of minutes and adversity together, so they want to turn the corner after going 3-10 in Eric Wolf's first season (on the heels of going 0-13 the year prior).
• UMass Lowell
  A youthful group has 23 newcomers and 16 returners, with Khairi Sears the best known offensive player after shining with Jamaica this summer.
• UMBC
  It’s an expectation that UMBC will be well-coached and defensively sound, and with returners like Ethan Robinson, there is no reason to think otherwise.
• Vermont
  Now in his eighth year as head coach, Chris Feifs’ foundation is strong with Brock Haley, Jonas Hunter returning looking to get past the America East Semifinals — a finish that might satisfy other programs, but not good enough for the Catamounts.

[cwdickens]

I wonder if we are scrimmaging $iena in February....

[UAalum72]

1 hour ago, cwdickens said:

I wonder if we are scrimmaging $iena in February....

See post in "Men's Lacrosse 2024"

[cwdickens]

The Inside Lacrosse view on the America East:

America East

Storyline: No Dominance
UAlbany dominated the America East in the 2010s, winning five of six tournaments. (The other was Hartford in a wild AE weekend.) It felt like Vermont took the reins of the dominant force, winning back-to-back championships post-COVID, as well as last year’s regular season. Last season, Bryant won the conference championship, beating UAlbany.

There is no “dominant” team in the America East right now, which means a stretch of awesome lacrosse. The league’s preseason poll actually gave first-place votes to three different teams (Bryant, UAlbany, Vermont), but would you be surprised about UMBC or Binghamton winning it?

Winner: Bryant
It’s hard to pick against veteran leadership, and the Bulldogs have it. They have their five leading scorers back, and entire attack, the Hackett brothers and tons of seniors and grad students. Add in the familiarity with Year 2 of the staff, and that’s just a recipe for success. I wrote up UAlbany as an under-the-radar team, and there is something brewing that you saw the last quarter of 2023 and into the postseason. Expect the Danes to make it difficult, and don’t expect the winner of this conference to go wire to wire undefeated.

Wildcard: Merrimack’s Status
Merrimack is now eligible for postseason play. While I outlined the top teams above, think of this scenario: The Warriors play UAlbany and Bryant to end the season, and they are in the mix for a top-four spot. I could imagine them willing their way into the playoffs with an upset win over a top team (not unlike how they finished last season).

[cwdickens]

Inside Lacrosse has D3 transfer as a impact player on our team:

Chris Crapanzano, M, Scranton to UAlbany
Crapanzano feels like an Albany guy in the way he does everything. He can take face-offs or help out on the wing. His ability to play both ends and get up and down the field to create instant offense fits the Danes’ M.O. He has a box background, too. Coach Scott Marr isn’t afraid to run a lot of guys, so he will get time and make an impact in every phase.

[cwdickens]

From Wednesday's Times-Union:

UALBANY MEN’S LACROSSE

 

Great Danes driven to end title drought

After losing in final last season, UAlbany eyes first America East crown since 2018

 

By Mark Singelais

Jim Franco/Times Union archive

UAlbany graduate Graydon Hogg scored 19 goals last season, but didn't play in the loss to Bryant in the America East final.

ALBANY — The University at Albany’s Graydon Hogg and Jake Piseno have one more chance to get that elusive America East men’s lacrosse championship.

Hogg and Piseno are graduate students who last season narrowly missed the Great Danes’ first title since 2018. UAlbany lost in double overtime to Bryant in the championship match.

 

“I think that (a championship) has always been the goal,” Piseno said Tuesday. “When I first came here, it was always to get four in my four years. Now I have a fifth year, which I’m super grateful for and I think to end it with an America East title… that’s all I want.”

Hogg, who plays attack, and Piseno, a midfielder, are both taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is my fifth year now and we still haven’t won a championship yet, right?” Hogg said. “I think that all of it’s motivation to keep going. Last year, we were so close. We had all the pieces. Just a couple of unlucky bounces and it went Bryant’s way. But we have all the confidence in the world and it’s just pushing us to be the best that we can be in May and see where we are.”

UAlbany opens its season Feb. 17 against Colgate at Casey Stadium.

Hogg made second-team All-America East last season with 19 goals, but he missed the America East Tournament because of a lower-body injury. Piseno, who led the Great Danes with 78 ground balls and 50 caused turnovers, was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Last week, Piseno was named as a USA Lacrosse Preseason All-America.

The Great Danes, 6-10 a year ago, were picked to finish third in the America East preseason coaches poll announced last week. Bryant was selected to repeat, followed by Vermont in second place. UAlbany beat the Catamounts in the semifinals last season.

“It’s fine,” UAlbany head coach Scott Marr said. “Again, I think Bryant and Vermont are worthy teams, for sure. UMBC, they’re all good, you know what I mean? So it doesn’t really matter. We’re third now but hopefully we climb ourselves up to be No. 1 at the end of the season. That’s all you can do.”

Marr said the Great Danes grew from that agonizing loss to Bryant, which tied the match with 15 seconds left in regulation and won in the second overtime.

“Getting that experience and getting to that moment, so they understand what that moment is about now,” Marr said. “So moving forward, six fifth-year seniors, tremendous guys underneath them. Our young guys are excellent, our freshmen and sophomores, and sprinkle in some juniors and seniors in there, and this is a team that didn’t lose that much from last year, had all that experience and played some good teams really tightly. Just need to take that next step this year.”

Sophomore attack Silas Richmond led the Great Danes with 34 goals as a freshman last season, including a hat trick in the championship game.

“I think it’s a good experience to have, obviously, playing in tight games,” Richmond said. “We’re going to have tight games again, so having that early experience is obviously helpful.”

Marr added an offensive piece in Canisius transfer Kevin Carney, a sophomore attack from Burnt Hills who scored 16 goals for the Golden Griffins last season. Marr said Carney is among UAlbany’s top four attackmen.

“He’s very, very good,” Marr said. “We’re very happy that Kevin joined us.”

Senior Jack VanValkenburgh and freshman Landon Whitney are competing at goalie for the Great Danes, a team that didn’t have one bad fall practice, according to Marr.

“Our urgency is definitely there from day one,” Marr said.

[cwdickens]

The first media poll is out:

Men's Division I Media Poll
Rank	Team	Points	Prev
1	Notre Dame (0 - 0)	468 (16)	--
2	Duke (0 - 0)	461 (6)	--
3	Virginia (0 - 0)	435 (2)	--
4	Penn State (0 - 0)	381	--
5	Johns Hopkins (0 - 0)	371	--
6	Maryland (0 - 0)	341	--
7	Cornell (0 - 0)	302	--
8	Army (0 - 0)	291	--
9	Syracuse (0 - 0)	269	--
10	Yale (0 - 0)	257	--
11	Michigan (0 - 0)	253	--
12	Georgetown (0 - 0)	243	--
13	Denver (0 - 0)	190	--
14	Princeton (0 - 0)	187	--
15	Rutgers (0 - 0)	134	--
16	Delaware (0 - 0)	102	--
17	North Carolina (0 - 0)	88	--
18	Boston U (0 - 0)	82	--
19	Penn (0 - 0)	59	--
20	Richmond (0 - 0)	43	--

Receiving Votes:

Utah, Villanova, Loyola, Ohio State, Harvard, Saint Joseph's, Bryant, Marquette, High Point, Jacksonville, UAlbany

[cwdickens]

Preseason Scrimmage from Inside Lacrosse:

Saturday, Feb.3

UMBC at Delaware, noon
UMass at Harvard, 1 p.m.
Fairfield/Hobart at Yale
Tampa at Jacksonville
Lafayette at Bryant
UMass Lowell at Dartmouth

• Siena at UAlbany

Robert Morris at Michigan
Virginia, Christopher Newport University at Episcopal High School – Cavaliers vs. Quakers at 12:30 p.m.

[cwdickens]

Pre-season Media All American Selections are out:

First Team

A	Brennan O'Neill	Duke
A	CJ Kirst	Cornell
A	Connor Shellenberger	Virginia
M	Eric Dobson	Notre Dame
M	Graham Bundy, Jr.	Georgetown
M	Jake Stevens	Syracuse
FO	Jake Naso	Duke
SSDM	Beau Pederson	Michigan
SSD	Ben Ramsey	Notre Dame
LSM	Roy Meyer	Boston U
D	Ajax Zappitello	Maryland
D	Kenny Brower	Duke
D	Cole Kastner	Virginia
	Liam Entenmann     Notre Dame   Second Team A Pat Kavanagh Notre Dame A Coulter Mackesy Princeton A TJ Malone Penn State M Alexander Vardaro Georgetown M Shane Knobloch Rutgers M Matt Traynor Penn State FO Luke Wierman Maryland SSDM Brett Martin Johns Hopkins SSDM Grant Haus Penn State LSM/D Jake Piseno UAlbany D Mason Woodward Marquette D AJ Pilate Army D Scott V. Smith Johns Hopkins G Jack Fracyon Penn State

[cwdickens]

Piseno Named Preseason All-America by Inside Lacrosse

[cwdickens]

Want to see UAlbany MLAX and/or the America East... with rare exceptions this announcement offers alot of the ACC and John Hopkins...

 

 The ESPN Men's College Lacrosse TV schedule has dropped.

[bob87]

Best thing I see on that schedule is america east conference championship game is at a good time 3 PM. Lowly maac is at 11 am. 

Edited February 1 by bob87

[cwdickens]

12 hours ago, bob87 said:

Best thing I see on that schedule is america east conference championship game is at a good time 3 PM. Lowly maac is at 11 am. 

For the America East, a 3:00 PM starting time is huge change from our late morning starts...

[cwdickens]

From Inside Lacrosse:

On the eve of their season opener, IL's Terry Foy examines the two issues he thinks will be most substantial in determining whether their season meets the standard.

[HOF2013]

So the scrimmage tomorrow is at U Albany.  Is it at the Lacrosse field or Casey stadium?  Anybody know?

 

Edited February 3 by HOF2013