NCAA Tournament Expands to 18 teams – The addition of two teams for the NCAA tournament will include two play in games for the four teams that received the lowest AQ seeds. Expanding the tournament is to keep a balance between AQ and at-large bid teams. There will be 10 AQ teams, with eight at-large squads, which the AQ squads will be knocked down to eight after the two play-in games. This system will be applied this coming season and also in 2015, when the ECAC is dissolved and the Big 10 conference is formed. Fans and teams may see the tournament swell to 20 as of spring 2016.
USILA and COC Situation – Expiring at the end of June was the contract of the Collegiate Officials Committee (COC), which provides officials for Division 1 games, scrimmages and alumni events. They seemed to have hit a bump in the road in late September, but have since agreed to a temporary agreement. In jeopardy are the fall tournaments of HEADstrong, Play 4 Parkinson’s, and the Capital Lacrosse Classic. This new interim agreement will allow three COC officials to participate in games, scrimmages, alum or intra-squad contests that will be assigned by a District Assigning Authority. Issues may extend into the spring season if the new three year deal is not signed before February. Division 1 games may not start on time if this situation continues.
Cornell Lacrosse Hazing – One of the biggest problems in college, with teams, clubs or organizations, is hazing. Cornell lacrosse fell victim to this alleged incident, in which they had their entire fall schedule expelled. The team is allowed to practice and train during their fall semester, but will have to attend anti-hazing workshops and programs. According to Ithaca Police Department, the university police are investigating the incident and not the city agency. What will come of Cornell’s season?
Conference Changes – ACC is adding Syracuse to its roster, along with Notre Dame. They will say goodbye to long time member Maryland after the 2014 season, as the Terps will move to the Big 10. The Big 10 will finally add men’s lacrosse in 2015, as the ECAC conference dissolves, with members Penn State, Ohio State, Rutgers, Michigan and Johns Hopkins. Loyola and Boston University are the newest members of the Patriot League, with Boston entering their first year in men’s division 1 lacrosse. Big East changes its face and will be without Syracuse for the first time, while also losing Rutgers after this season. They add Denver officially for the 2014 season with Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s and Villanova. Monmouth is entering their first season of play in the MAAC, and are joined by Quinnipiac. Exiting are Jacksonville and VMI for the newly constructed Atlantic Sun Conference, which will include Furman, High point, Mercer, Richmond and will see Bellarmine in 2015. Hobart and St. Joseph’s are the newest members of the NEC. They will take on Bryant, Mount St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart and Wagner. Penn State was deemed ineligible for the CAA Conference Championship after they announced their move to the BIG 10 next season, but will still compete with a CAA league schedule. Fairfield will take PSU’s spot to keep the CAA at six members. Hit hard was the ECAC, which will soon be non-existent, after losing Loyola and will eventually watch Air Force depart for another home. For the 2014 season, the ECAC will have Air Force, Bellarmine, Fairfield, Michigan and Ohio State competing for the league title. UMASS-Lowell will be the newest member of the America East conference come 2015, as the AEC and Ivy League are the only unchanged conferences going into 2014.
New Programs – Boston University (Patriot League), Monmouth (MAAC), Richmond (NEC), and Furman (Atlantic Sun) will all compete in their first season at the Division 1 Men’s lacrosse level. Furman will be led by Richie Mead, former Navy head coach and current head coach for team USA. Richmond has Dan Chemotti at the helm after helping lead Loyola to a National Championship in 2012. Monmouth makes a case for themselves as Brian Fisher, formerly of Rutgers and Notre Dame, puts his team to the test. Ryan polley, an assistant from Yale, will consume the position of head coach at Boston University. This will hopefully be the start to produce more teams in acquiring men’s lacrosse in the future.
New Head Coaches – Jim Stagnitta has shifted his coaching ways to the collegiate level, after leading the MLL’s Denver Outlaws to an undefeated regular season just this past summer, and will take over operations at Arcadia University. Lycoming welcomes Chris Scanlon as their new skipper, just the sixth head coach in the programs history. Hudson University named Marsh Gray as the new head coach for their upcoming season. Curtis Gilbert was tabbed as head coach for Berry College after leading New England College to a North Atlantic Conference title and a berth to the NCAA tournament. Dom Starsia added his son, Joe, to the Virginia staff as an assistant with the exit of John Walker, who joins Princeton’s staff for 2014. Scott Rodgers, of the Ohio Machine and former Notre Dame goalie, joins Towson. Skidmore College announced that Patrick Hart would take the vacant head coaching position after his three years with Amherst College. Saint Joseph’s in Maine selected David Beriau to head their men’s team going into this season.
Duke’s Road to Repeat – How do you replace the senior class Duke had this past season? Especially Jake Tripucka, David Lawson, Josh Offit, Bill Conners and Dan Wigrizer. Although 2013 seemed gloomy for the concussion prone Wigrizer, he helped the Blue Devils to an NCAA championship after the allegations that rocked Durham and did what he could for his team this year. Returning is the attack trio of Jordan Wolf, Case Matheis, and Josh Dionne. Unfortunately, Wolf has been plagued by an injury, which his return time is undetermined. At the midfield, Tripucka and Lawson were the two big gunners who are now gone, along with Offit, and replacing them will be one of John Danowski’s biggest problems heading into this season. Brendan Fowler returns at the face-off x, giving Duke a big sigh of relief after he decimated opponents in their run to the national championship. On defense, Kyle Turri takes his place in net, with Henry Lobb, and Chris Hipps in front of him. Only Billy Conners graduates from the close d. LSM’s Brian Dailey and Luke Duprey come back to the roster, giving their opponents face-off units headaches. Tommy Patterson vacates an SSDM position, along with Jimmy O’Neill opening a slot on the man down unit. Christian Walsh, Myles Jones, and Deemer Class have the experience at midfield from this past year, and the capability to run first line for Danowski. Can Duke repeat? We will get a preview, as Danowski’s Blue Devils will participate in some fall ball this year.
How will teams bounce back? – It was a weird postseason for men’s lacrosse as both Virginia and Johns Hopkins did not make the post-season. Syracuse pulled big upsets, only to be dismantled in the championship game. Cornell loses a lot of talent to graduation and does not get to participate in fall ball. North carolina goes from the number one seed of the tournament to a second round K.O. Denver may have slipped by taking LaPlante out in their loss to Syracuse in the semis. Penn State, Detroit Mercy, Bryant and Ohio State made their first post-season appearance. Maryland has started to fall away from the spotlight. The Ivy League is wide open, as Yale went on to knock off heavy favorite Princeton, eventually falling to ‘Cuse in the second round of the NCAA’s. There were a lot of new teams in the NCAA tournament this year, some of which return a lot of players. Who will make their case as the cinderella story?
Holes to Fill – Duke has to replace two first line midfielders, one second line, a close d and a face-off wing slot. Syracuse must pick up where it left off but without Brian Megill on defense, offensive midfielders Luke Cometti and Jojo Morasco and SSDM Steve Ianzito and Matt Pratt. Johns Hopkins graduated Zach Palmer, John Ranagan, Lee Coppersmith, John Kaestner, John Greeley, Mike Poppleton, Tucker Durkin and Pierce Bassett. All played key roles in the Blue Jays 2013 season and will be hard to compensate for. Virginia received good news when defender Chris LaPierre was granted his return to the Wahoo’s after an injury ended his Senior season. The only real missing piece for UVa is Matt White. Cornell loses Rob Pannell and Steve Mock at attack, Max Van Bourgondien and Connor English also on offense, and defensively will miss Jason noble and AJ Fiore in net. Peter Baum leaves Colgate, Will Manny departs from UMass and Mason Poli exits Bryant, three key players in their teams’ game plans. Dan Fantoni, David DiMaria, Noah Molnar, and Kyle Stiefel leave their legacy at Lehigh. Eric Law, Cameron Flint, and Chase Carraro say thanks to Coach Tierney and the Pioneers. Notre Dame parts ways with Sean Rogers and John Kemp, while Army graduates Garrett Thul. Two LSM’s leave their marks on their programs with Detroit Mercy’s Jordan Houtby and Brown’s Roger Ferguson moving on to their real life adventures. Penn State loses their number one scorer in Jack Forster, along with top midfielder Nick Dolik. Ohio State’s biggest loss will come at the hands of Logan Schuss and Dominique Alexander. Jeff Froccaro leaves Princeton after recording 42 points, while Villanova misses Jack Rice, Max Hart, Will Casertano and Nick Doherty. North Carolina’s top point getter in Marcus Holman is gone, along with Davey Emala at midfield. Loyola waves goodbye to Mike Sawyer, Chris Layne, Scott Ratliff and SSDM Josh Hawkins, who were major parts in their run to the title game in 2012. Maryland has a lot of shoes to fill with the departure of nine Seniors, six of which were in the top ten for points from this past season in Owen Blye, Kevin Cooper, John Haus, Jake Bernhardt, Billy Gribbin and Jesse Bernhardt. They leave Maryland with high hopes that the team can bounce back after they fell i the first round to Cornell.
Syracuse Off to Good Start in Fall Ball – The Orange have a lot of work to do this fall, and it seems that they are working hard. This past weekend, John Desko’s squad took on the national teams of Israel and Iroquois. Desko’s Orangemen took down Israel with a dominating 12-3 victory, along with a 14-11 win over the Iroquois. Their team goal is to reach the National Championships again, hoping this time to take home the gold trophy after a disappointing loss to Duke just four months ago.
