2024 NCAA Lacrosse Preview: No. 12 Georgetown (Men)
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© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
The 2024 Division I men's college lacrosse season kicks off February 2. As is our annual tradition, we’re featuring every team ranked in the USA Lacrosse Preseason Top 20 in the lead up to opening night. Check back to USALaxMagazine.com each weekday this month for new previews, scouting reports and rival analysis.
2023 record: 13-4 (5-0 Big East)
Final ranking (2023): No. 6
Head coach: Kevin Warne (98-66 in 11 seasons)
Assistants: John Hogan (offensive coordinator), David Shriver, Ted Moon
Georgetown has reached the point as a program that it won’t startle anyone with a fine season. The Hoyas have won five Big East tournaments in a row (one shy of the Division I record for consecutive conference tournament titles, set by North Carolina from 1989-94). They’ve played in the NCAA quarterfinals twice in three years.
Still, if Kevin Warne’s program is to enjoy the success it has grown accustomed to while rolling up a 72-19 record over the last six seasons, it will have to navigate this spring with an almost entirely new-look offense.
Well, except for midfielder Graham Bundy Jr., who heads into his fifth year with the Hoyas ranked No. 7 in school history in goals (121) and No. 8 in points (175).
“Our team will go where Graham takes us,” Warne said. “That’s not a secret. I’m not opening up a scouting report. Everybody knows who Graham Bundy is. He’s one of the top players in the country.”
The Hoyas might have in-house options to populate their attack. Senior Aidan Carroll and sophomore Patrick Crogan, who had 11 goals out of the midfield and won the Big East’s freshman of the year honor, spent time on attack in the fall. So did senior TJ Haley, who has amassed a school-record 104 assists over the last three seasons.
Bundy will be joined in the midfield by Princeton grad transfer Alexander Vardaro, with sophomore Jordan Wray among several candidates (including options from Georgetown’s freshman class) to start alongside them.
It feels a bit more fluid than last year, when eventual Tewaaraton Award finalist Tucker Dordevic led a parade of grad transfers who needed some time to figure each other out. And while the Hoyas probably won’t have a 65-goal scorer like Dordevic, there may be a few more ways for them to play effectively.
“Maybe we’re more positionless,” Warne said. “Maybe we play with six offensive guys rather than the typical one or two attackmen and four middies. We’ll have to use what everybody does their best and kind of mesh that together.”
Graham Bundy Jr., M, Gr. (32 G, 12 A)
TJ Haley, A, Sr. (1 G, 25 A)
Dylan Hess, SSDM, Sr. (30 GB, 14 CT)
The most tested group on the Hoyas’ roster is the top three short-stick defensive midfielders: Hess (who will be on defense full-time), fellow senior Jack Leary and graduate student Will Godine. Georgetown didn’t do as much in transition last season as in 2022, opting for as much six-on-six offense as it could. Things might swing back in the other direction as a revamped offense sorts things out.
“What we noticed in the fall is we have to try to get back to doing those things,” Warne said. “Those guys are older and have the ability to make better decisions as old guys. Is that something we’ll probably flex into our offense? Sure. Finding a fourth short stick is something we’ll have to make sure we have in the spring.”
Ty Banks, D, Fr. (Western Reserve Academy, Ohio)
Anderson Moore, G, Fr. (Briarwood Christian Academy, Ala.)
Alexander Vardaro, M, Gr. (26 G, 23 A at Princeton)
Georgetown wasn’t quite as aggressive in the grad transfer market this season, but landing Vardaro was a major splash. Only three Princeton midfielders have produced 20-goal, 20-assist seasons in the last 40 years: Vardaro, Tom Schreiber and Zach Currier. That’s pretty good company, and now Vardaro has a chance to serve as a superb complement to Bundy with the Hoyas.
“I think it’s one of the best midfield combos in the country, and I think those guys will play well off of each other,” Warne said.
Graduations: Will Bowen, D; James Donaldson, D; Tucker Dordevic, A; Danny Hincks, G; Jacob Kelly, A/M; Declan McDermott, M; Brian Minicus, A; James Reilly, FO; Nicky Solomon, A/M
Aidan Carroll, A, Sr. (7 G, 7 A)
Injured early in his career, Carroll stood out to Warne and his staff for his scout team work a couple years back. Last season, he scored a goal against Yale in the first round of the NCAA tournament, then two the next week in the quarterfinals against Virginia. With Georgetown replacing its entire attack, the opportunity is there for Carroll, who shifted from midfield in the fall.
“I think he finished the end of the year unbelievably, especially in the two playoff games,” Warne said.
Warne is not oblivious to how his team is viewed heading into the season. He knows better than anyone how much ability walked out the door in May.
“The narrative is we lost a Tewaaraton finalist, a former defenseman of the year ...,” Warne said. “If you look at the starting six on offense from the quarterfinal, we have five guys missing. I’m not going to say we’re young. We have older guys. We’re just inexperienced. But I do think there will be a couple new household names for Georgetown.”
The offense grabs the attention, but Georgetown also has to replace its primary goalie and its stalwart faceoff man. Dartmouth grad transfer Danny Hincks (.513 save percentage) started 10 of 17 games last year, and the Hoyas appear likely to go with freshman Anderson Moore in the cage. Michael Scharfenberger, a part-time starter last season, also returns.
The graduation of James Reilly (.580 faceoff percentage) means the Hoyas will go a bit more by committee at the X. Yale transfer James Ball completed his undergraduate work in three years, and he won 57.8 percent of his draws in limited work in 2022 before not appearing in any games last year. He’ll be joined by junior Matthew Riley and sophomore Wilson Van Buren to divvy up the work at that spot.
“There’s going to be some new faces. With Minicus and Dordevic gone, I think that’s going to be an interesting one to see how that goes. They’re a well-coached team that you know is going to be athletic. They’re just going to be different in my opinion than they were last year. They came in with guys who were super talented all over the place, and it was about developing chemistry for them. I think they’re going to have some unknowns, guys who haven’t had the same amount of experience. But it’s Georgetown. They have the ability to go into the portal and bring one or two guys out of there every year. They’re going to be a very talented team.”
The Hoyas face a formidable challenge right out of the gate, with a series of tough non-conference games that project as the seventh-toughest out-of-conference slate according to their opponents’ LaxElo ratings. Specifically, between February 17 and March 5, Georgetown’s resilience will be put to the test with a grueling lineup of games against Brown, High Point, Penn and Notre Dame. This intense period will significantly shape their RPI and Strength-of-Record. And given the importance of cross-conference games in the RPI math, how they fare could have some real knock-on effects.
Patrick Stevens has covered college sports for 25 years. His work also appears in The Washington Post, Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and other outlets. He's provided coverage of Division I men's lacrosse to USA Lacrosse Magazine since 2010.
