It’s time for another fantastic lacrosse season! The sport of Lacrosse had a great 2023, and now it is time to exceed last season. We are officially a month away from the 2024 season, so let’s get you caught up on the latest in the college lacrosse world.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame had a historic 2023 to say the least. The Irish won their first National Championship in their program’s history led by the Kavanagh brothers who will be returning for another year. They bring back Liam Entenmann as their goalie as well. Coach Kevin Corrigan also brought in some big name players through the transfer portal. With guys like Jake Bonomi who was a top scorer for Michigan this past year, and the top scorer for Brown with Devon McLane. Adding those two on the offensive end to an already stellar offense is going to make the Irish dangerous. On the defensive end they are bringing in Bj Burlace and Danny Parker to help solidify their traditionally top defense in the country. Let’s not forget about their freshman class either. Kevin Corrigan is bringing in the sixth best class in the country according to Inside Lacrosse. One name you can be on the lookout for is Brock Behrman, who is rated 16th in the country. Don’t be surprised to see him in the starting lineup at either attack or midfield. His play is going to compliment the Kavanagh’s very well and be a big time producer for this team. Notre Dame isn’t hiding from anyone either with their 2024 schedule. Their top non-conference opponents would be Maryland, Georgetown, Cornell, and Ohio State. Coach Corrigan wants to make sure the defending champs are battle tested heading into conference play. The ACC is going to be a gauntlet this year with all of the talent those rosters have.
Duke Blue Devils
Duke has definitely had some disappointing seasons since the arrival of Brennan O’Neill. The individual seasons have been nothing short of incredible, but with the talent their team has and only one chance at the national title so far is not what they were expecting. But, a new season comes as the old one goes. Head Coach John Danowski has some stud transfers coming in to help out. The bigger names that they got in the portal are Josh Zawada from Michigan and Alex Slusher from Princeton. Zawada finished 2023 with a 65 point season as the second top scorer for the Wolverines. Danowski also loaded up in his freshman class, getting the #1 spot in the nation. He’s specifically loading up their midfield depth with two top 15 players in Benn Johnston and Tomas Delgado. They’re also bringing the top LSM in the country from McDonogh Mac Christmas who will be looking to make an instant impact. It’s going to be interesting to see what Duke does with all of their weapons on offense. Is Macadorey staying at attack, or will they put Zawada down there and Macadorey back at midfield to lead the younger guys. Does that mean O’Neill is going to be their X guy on attack with Dyson Williams on the left? They’ve got a lot to figure out, but at least they have the problem of getting all their great players some time. The Blue Devils have a solid schedule for the 2024 season. Their top non-conference opponents Princeton, Penn and Loyola should be good games for Duke to get where they want to be as a team before conference play begins.
Virginia Cavaliers
The Cavaliers had a solid season last year but not up to their standards most would say. They also lost a good amount of their main contributors. Xander Dickson and Thomas McConvey are some of those guys that are now playing in the PLL. But Lars Tiffany is making sure that the Cavs don’t miss a beat. They went heavy on faceoff guys in the portal picking up three guys from Binghamton, Colgate, and Navy as well as a defensive midfielder from Harvard. But offensively they were able to snag one of the top players in the country that has yet to play Division 1 lacrosse. That guy’s name is Jack Boyden from Tufts. Boyden has been a top goal scorer for the Jumbos over the last two seasons. Racking up a total of 310 points in his career with the Jumbos. Tiffany pulled in a weaker class according to Inside Lacrosse with a ranking of 11th in the country. But, they are bringing in the #2 recruit in McCabe Millon. McCabe was a stud at McDonogh for his high school years and is looking to carry that success over to Charlottesville. Having the trio of Shellenberger, Boyden, and Millon is going to be dangerous. All three of those guys are multi-dimensional and can help the team tremendously. Having their supporting cast of Griffin Schutz, Payton Cormier, and Pat McIntosh returning is going to be huge for their offense too. Matt Nunes will make his return in between the pipes for his junior season. He’ll still have Cole Kastner defending for him but they’ll have to replace their other giant of Cade Saustad on the defensive end. The Cavaliers are not messing around for 2024; it is strictly business in Charlottesville. They open up with Michigan, in-state rival Richmond, Ohio State, and Johns Hopkins. Virginia will also play Maryland in mid-March before getting ready for UNC in their ACC home opener.
Penn State Nittany Lions
It seems that Penn State has finally bounced back to their regular self since struggling due to the departure of Grant Ament and Mac O’Keefe. Penn State finished with an 11-5 record with some big time wins for the team. They wound up in the semi-finals against Duke and unfortunately lost to a controversial call. For the 2024 season, Penn State is already going to be in the top 10 easily based on how they finished their season. However, the Nittany Lions do not have that difficult of a season if we see an improved version of 2023 Penn State. Their toughest opponents for 2024 are Cornell, Yale, and Stony Brook. If Penn State loses to a couple of the teams that they play this year they may slip out of the rankings. But, if they handle business like they should it will be smooth sailing into Big Ten play. Penn State certainly has the roster to cruise through this non-conference schedule, as Head Coach Jeff Tambroni put some work in with his incoming class getting ranked as the eighth best class this year. They’ve got Philly native and top 10 recruit Kyle Lehman who they will be looking to make an impact and mesh right away with TJ Malone and Jack Traynor as the leaders of the offense. They’ve got a big class as well, bringing in 12 guys to help bolster the depth of the team. Especially since after this season they could potentially have 18 seniors/graduate students leaving the team this year. Tambroni didn’t hit the transfer portal too much, but he did make sure to get what he needs. They picked up Sean Donnelly, a Graduate student attackman from Drexel who was the leading scorer for the Dragons with 44 points. They also picked up midfielder James Dalimonte from Muhlenberg and Joe Scarfi, a defender from St. Lawrence. The mix of having a lot of veterans to lead the large group of freshman and sophomores should be good for this Nittany Lions team.
Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are another team that had a great bounce back season and looks like they are back to how Johns Hopkins should be, in the conversation as one of the top team. In 2024, they are wasting no time with starting that conversation. Johns Hopkins might have one of the toughest schedules in the country, but that’s what it takes to get to the top. The Jays open up with Denver and Towson at Homewood. Followed up by two Maryland rivals in Georgetown and Loyola. Then, Hopkins takes a trip to ACC country to play UNC, Virginia, and Syracuse before getting ready for conference play. Pete Miliman is bringing in a very deep class of almost 20 guys, while also picking up four important pieces in the transfer portal. Guys like Brandon Aviles (Syracuse DM) and Chayse Ierlan (Cornell G) who should be making instant impacts based on how they performed for their former teams. PeteMilliman brought in some studs as well, having three top 50 recruits. Including Hunter Chauvette, the attackman from the Lawrenceville School who should be making an instant impact on offense. Expect their stud attack group to return and lead this offense once again while showing the highly touted freshman the ropes of college lacrosse. The Blue Jays are not messing around this year; expect some big things out of this squad for 2024.
Georgetown Hoyas
The Hoyas have not been able to fully put it together for the last couple of years. Both years looking at their roster, you’d think they would be a final four team each year. But, the Hoyas just couldn’t get it done. They’ve been able to grab a ton of stars in the transfer portal, but kept it quiet this year in the portal and picked up two players. Those two would be James Ball the faceoff man from Yale, and Wesley Chairs the defender from Mercer. They might not have made much noise in the portal, but they certainly are with their third ranked incoming class. Ty Banks and Anderson Moore headline the class as the fifth and eighth best prospects in the country. They lost Will Bowen and are bringing in Ty Banks to preserve that strong defense they’ve been used to for the last couple of years. Anderson Moore had quite the summer as well. Flashing his quick reactions making big saves, and taking it coast to coast in some all-star games to score! Keep an eye on these two. Look for Graham Bundy Jr. to take back more control of this offense. There was a bit of a struggle as to who should have the ball with Tucker Dordevic on the team and having too many superstars. It looks like there will be some more balance for their team this year and should continue to do big things. Kevin Warne and the Hoyas have a solid 2024 schedule. They play Loyola, Johns Hopkins, Penn, Notre Dame, and Brown all in February, which could be a good thing for this team. Even though they went 0-3 on a similar schedule last year, it will force the Hoyas to be fully in-tuned with one another from the very first whistle at Loyola. There’s no warm up game playing mid-level D1 programs they are full speed ahead right from the start. It should be another great season for Georgetown, but we’ll see how far they can go.
North Carolina Tar Heels
The 2023 season for the Tar Heels a year of finding their identity. They have been dealing with the departure of Chris Gray, and this past season they fell out of the final top 20 rankings. However, they still remained hungry and fought all season long finishing with a 7-7 record. They made a bit of a splash in the transfer portal, picking up Hantley Jordan one of VMI’s best players in program history. Their second pickup is Nick Morgan, the 6’4 graduate defender that will look to help the Tar Heels defensive core. Taking a look at their incoming class they come in ranked 3rd in the country. They are headlined by the #1 recruit Owen Duffy. Also, they are bringing in Brady Wambach, a top 15 recruit and fogo to help bolster their mediocre faceoff winning percentage last year. Don’t forget, the Tar Heels are bringing in Dave Pietramala, and have his son Dom who is a freshman and had to redshirt due to an injury. UNC has a typical schedule for where their program is. They’ve got some easy games, with games that are going to be highly anticipated and are well spread out throughout the year. They start with Mercer, Fairfield, Hopkins, and Princeton. Joe Breschi knows that his team is going to be good, they are the Tar Heels. He just needs to make sure that these young core players can all run the offense how he wants and get them the most experience while doing it. The Tar Heels future is looking bright and they should be exciting to watch this year.
Princeton Tigers
Compared to 2022, 2023 was not a great year for the Princeton Tigers, although it still featured an NCAA tournament appearance. Coulter Mackesy has proven that he’s ready to be the guy to lead their team, and they have a ton of talent coming in this year too. The Tigers are probably one of the more highly anticipated teams for the 2024 season. Coach Madalon did a great job with the 2023 class with 5 top 25 recruits. The top two names are attackmen Nate Kabiri, and Colin Burns who were teammates at Georgetown Prep. If it happens, an attack line of Kabiri, Burns, and Mackesy is going to be another exciting group to watch. Additionally, their other classmates will be Hunter Spiess the defender out of the Brunswick school. As well as Tucker Wade and Carson Krammer in the midfield who I’m sure will be getting some good playing time throughout the season. If that isn’t impressive enough for their freshman class, well they are all either a 4 star or 5 star recruit according to Inside Lacrosse. The Tigers are looking to return to that double digit win and less than five losses record for 2024, but they’ll have to earn it. Maryland, UNC, Duke, Rutgers, and Lehigh are their biggest non-conference opponents that are going to truly test the Tigers.
Syracuse Orange
Syracuse had a very promising year with such a young team, and they will be getting younger. They made some moves in the offseason and are looking to be even better than last year. The Orange has the 10th ranked class which isn’t bad after having a top class for 2022. The team is headlined by Joey Spallina after his great freshman campaign. Will Spallina hit a Sophomore Slump? They’ll have their leader Owen Hiltz back on the field as well to help keep the offense flowing. It’ll be another big year for Finn Thompson and Michael Leo, who were solid contributors as freshman and should be looking to be the main midfielder’s for their sophomore years. Will Mark returning is going to be huge for the defense. Freshman Trey Deere showed off some smooth play during the senior all-star games this summer and will be making some slick plays all over with Spallina and Hiltz feeding him. Their other big recruit they picked up is Donny Scott, the 23rd ranked recruit as a defender out of the Hill Academy. Syracuse is going to be a top 10 team this year and looking to get back to their Syracuse standard. There’s nothing too much to talk about for the 2024 Syracuse Orange schedule. It’s the same as it usually is. They will play Maryland and Johns Hopkins, Army, Utah and a couple of other solid programs.
