The Ivy League has been one of the strongest conferences in Division 1 Men’s lacrosse. They sent two teams to the NCAA tournament this past season in Yale and Cornell. Both went on to win their first round games with Cornell downing Maryland and Yale upsetting Penn State. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs would fall to runner up Syracuse and Cornell would go on to the Final Four, where they lost a high scoring game, 14-16, to eventual champion Duke.
#1. Princeton has a lot of talent heading into 2014. They’re coming off a wild end to 2013, after losing to Cornell in the last game of the regular season, putting them at 3-3 in conference play. The Tigers than turned around and knocked down the Big Red 14-13 in the Ivy League Semi’s, where they would go on to lose to Yale in the finals 8-12. Luke Amrour and Jeff Froccaro are gone. Thats a combined 49 points. The Tiger offense will be deadly this coming season with the likes of Tom Schreiber, Mike Macdonald, Jake Froccaro, Kip Orban and Ryan Ambler. In cage, they return last years stud Matt O’Connor, who can stand on his head when his game is on point. Defensively, they return all poles except Tom Gibbons and SSDM Tucker Shanley. Replacing two seniors is hard to do for anyone, especially defensively. Coach Bates has to replace four main guys this year, which gives the orange and black a big step up on their competition with team chemistry.
#2. Yale has been tough these past couple seasons, making huge upsets and giving teams a run for their money. They went on a 4-1 run at the end of the season, putting away Harvard at the end of the regular season, then Penn and Princeton to win the Ivy League championship, followed by de-tailing the Nittany Lions in the fist round of the NCAA’s and falling to the Orange in the second round. Returning is big gun Brandon Mangan, who has been a lethal weapon for the Bulldogs. They also get back goaltender Eric Natale, who was phenomenal for Coach Shay this last year. Leaving is Michael McCormack, Peter Johnson, and Kirby Zdrill. Three starting spots are open for the taking in New Haven that are big shoes to fill.
#3. Cornell may be slacking this season after they graduate the dynamic duo of Rob Pannell and Steve Mock, including goaltender AJ Fiore and defender Jason Noble. The Big Red went 6-0 in conference play, losing to Princeton in the Ivy league Semi’s. Together, Mock and Pannell combined for 171 points (107G, 64A). Coach DeLuca also loses Max Van Bourgondien, who put up 43 points of his own and Connor English’s 14 goals and 11 assists. A lot of fire power leaves Ithaca, and after the incident this fall, I would;t be surprised to see Cornell in a rebuilding phase.
#4. Pennsylvania has made a name for themselves over these past couple of years, downing Duke in their first game of 2013, dropping Pennsylvania foe’s Lehigh and Villanova, followed by knocking down Princeton and making the Ivy League semi’s this year, where they ended their campaign in a 6-9 loss to Yale. One person who has been stellar for the Quakers is goaltender Brian Feeney. He has had the reigns of the defense since his freshman year. As he enters his senior year, his leadership will be key to help lead UPenn to an Ivy League title and possibly an NCAA tournament birth.
#5. Brown is climbing a little bit, finishing 2-4 in the Ivy League, 8-6 overall and going 5-1 in their first six games of the season. Unfortunately, they would lose the next five out of six, three to Ivy League members, but finished strong with wins over Bryant and Dartmouth. Henry Blynn was a blessing for Coach Lars Tiffany, and led the bears with 35 points. Freshman goalie, Jack Kelly, made a big impression to the coaching staff, giving him a head start on the competition going into this season. Three freshmen were in the top 10 of scorers for the Bears, but there were also four seniors. Tiffany will need his young guys to step up at both ends of the field even more than last season if they want to compete for s spot in the conference tournament.
#6. Harvard has made some splashes. 6-8, with a big win over Penn. Harry Kreiger graduated, leaving the goaltending position wide open. Their last years freshman class helped out a lot on offense, with Devin Dwyer, a Garden City product, leading the way with 38 points. There were five rookies in the top 11 of point getters for the Crimson in 2013, putting Coach Wojcik’s thoughts about the future a little more at ease.
#7. Dartmouth shocked the lacrosse world when they downed Princeton 10-9, giving themselves some motivation after a 3-11 season and going 1-5 in conference play. The Big Green have not seen any tournament action (NCAA or Ivy League) since 2003, when they went 11-3 with Bill Wilson at the helm, making it to the first round and losing to Syracuse 11-13. It’s been a long time since Dartmouth has had any real big success. There’s a lot that goes into a team, like chemistry, recruiting, working systems, more than one person can think of. If Coach Towers’ Big Green expect any type of run, they will need to come together and persevere over every obstacle.
