A few days after Albany opened with a 15-9 victory over Colgate, coach Scott Marr didn’t hesitate when asked to offer up his takeaways.

The Great Danes took the field with great energy and were excited to play. The bench was supportive and fully engaged in the game. Albany played hard and with an edge and also tried to push the pace.

It sounds like the Great Danes have their identity back — one that made them one of the most entertaining shows in college lacrosse and culminated with a trip to the NCAA semifinals in 2018. Marr, whose program lost 11 key players and dipped to 5-9 in 2019 before starting last season 2-3 with a one-goal loss at Maryland in its finale, agrees.

“This is definitely an Albany-attitude type of team — much different than we were in 2019,” Marr said. “We were getting it in 2020. When we played that Maryland game, we played eight freshmen in that game. We were just starting to come into our own.”

There were encouraging signs at both ends for Albany on Saturday. Though they were without seven players because of COVID protocols — including senior attackman Tehoka Nanticoke, who was sidelined by contact tracing and is expected back Saturday against Hartford — the Great Danes still had five multi-goal scorers.

Leading the group was fifth-year senior Jakob Patterson, who collected four goals and four assists. He had six goals and 14 assists in five games last year.

“It was kind of a quiet eight points, in a way,” Marr said. “He just did his job and made some good looks for his assists. Colgate was not worried so much about their matchups with short sticks, and they switched a lot, so we got Jakob on a short stick a couple times and he took advantage of it. Jakob kind of has the full package. He can score and he can shoot and he can feed, so it’s kind of a dual threat.”

Albany also unveiled an imposing close defense surrounding goalie Liam Donnelly (10 saves). The Great Danes return a pair of starters — 6-3, 230-pound graduate student Steve Kunz and 6-4, 215-pound senior Michael Kozar — and 6-4, 210-pound junior Elijah Gash made his Albany debut.

“We’ve had some good goalies and some good defenses,” Marr said. “I think this is probably my most athletic defense that I’ve ever had.”

NUMBERS OF NOTE

5

UMBC won its first overtime game in five years when it rallied past Mount St. Mary’s 8-7 on Saturday in its season opener. Mason Edwards scored the game-winner for his first career goal six seconds into overtime to cap the comeback. The Retrievers erased a three-goal deficit in the final 2:58 of regulation and went on to post their first triumph in extra time a 9-8 defeat of UMass Lowell on April 24, 2016.

7

Notre Dame sophomore Pat Kavanagh had seven assists in the Fighting Irish’s 19-7 of Robert Morris on Saturday, tying a school record. John Olmstead previously had sole possession of the record thanks to a seven-assist effort against Wittenberg on April 21, 1988.

18

Denver recorded 18 assists in its 23-10 defeat of Providence on Saturday, breaking the program’s single-game record at the Division I level. The Pioneers had twice before collected 14 assists as a D-I program, most recently in a 20-11 defeat of Georgetown on April 1, 2017.

22

Rutgers’ goal total in its 22-12 defeat of Ohio State on Saturday was its largest offensive output since 2010. The Scarlet Knights opened that season with a 24-4 victory at Wagner.