Albany had a very nice season last year as they went 13-5 on the season and ended ranked No. 12 in the country. One of the reasons for their highly productive season? It is very simple, their offense. The team led the nation in scoring as they scored 15.9 goals a game. And what is the main reason for the high powered offense? Well, there are actually three reasons for that and they all are related. The Thompson family took Albany and the lacrosse world by storm. Miles, Lyle and Ty put up 113, 73 and 68 points respectively or 258 points combined. Unfortunately for the Great Danes, their defense wasn’t as good as their offense. The defense ranked outside the Top 50 nationally. That combination of offense and defense led to the Great Danes being bounced from the first round of the NCAA Tournament thanks to Denver who beat Albany 19-13.
This season, Albany will be one of the top teams in the nation and will continue to build on last season’s success. The Thompson trio returns and the offense may break scoreboards across the nation. As previously mentioned, they combined for 258 points! Between those three players, they averaged a little more than eight goals a game. Considering they all come back a year better, stronger, faster, etc. it shouldn’t be crazy to see them average a couple of more goals per game. While they do lose attackman Will Fuller, who was fourth on the team in scoring with 28 points, the Great Danes will be deep in the midfield. Their next five leading scorers from last year were all midfielders and had 10 or more points. They all also return to give the Great Danes one of the deepest midfield groups in the country. They could feature three midfield lines that can produce offensively.
While the offense could be historic this season, the defense will be what the Great Danes will have to absolutely improve upon if they have any hopes in going further into the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, the team loses two of its top defensemen in Anthony Ostrander and Jack Nickla. Both players tied for second on the team in caused turnovers with 20. The good news is that they get their top defenseman coming back as well as their leading LSM in Jon Newhouse and Cody Futia respectively. Newhouse led the team in caused turnovers with 22, while Futia chipped in with nine. They will need to break in a new group of defensemen who will be inexperienced.
In goal, the Danes bring back sophomore goaltender Blaze Riorden who was unimpressive in goal as he posted a 49.1 save percentage and allowed 11.93 goals a game. Whatever you point to as the reason for his lack of success last season, he will be a key part in improving Albany’s defense. A great goalie can make up for bad defensive mistakes. With an offense like the one at Albany, if he can improve to maybe 52 percent, the Danes will be dangerous.
Lastly, the Danes will need to replace their leading faceoff man in Kevin Glueckert. Gluekert won 50 percent of the faceoffs he took last season.
As the Great Danes get ready for 2014, the Danes will again have to lean on an offense capable of carrying the load while the defense sorts itself out. They will undoubtedly repeat as America East conference champs as they pretty much handled all the opponents by wide margins of victory last season. The real key is to whether or not they will be able to play with the better teams on their schedule out of conference. Last season, they defeated Syracuse by a goal and lost to Yale, Bucknell and Drexel. Bucknell and Yale really gave the Danes trouble as they were able to contain the Thompson trio and the Danes were blown out.
In fall ball, the Great Danes defeated Quinnipiac and Yale 18-10 and 17-11 respectively. So while the offense seems to be working like a well oiled machine, the defense, as expected, will need work. Expect big things this season in Albany and for them to be a dark horse team that could reach the Final Four this season if their defense can improve just enough to keep the ball in the hands of their explosive offense.
