2024 NCAA Lacrosse Preview: No. 8 Army (Men)

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.

NO. 8 ARMY

2023 record: 13-4 (7-1 Patriot League)
Final 2023 ranking: No. 8
Head coach: Joe Alberici (161-108, 19th year)
Assistants: Kyle Georgalas (defensive coordinator), Justin Ward (offensive coordinator), Rick Lewis

At many programs coming off an NCAA quarterfinal appearance for the first time in 13 years, maybe there would be a sense of contentment.

Army isn’t like most programs. West Point, by its very nature as a military academy, isn’t about to let anyone grow comfortable.

But coach Joe Alberici isn’t taking any chances a year after the Black Knights won the Patriot League tournament, then toppled defending national champion Maryland 16-15 in the first round of the NCAA tournament before falling 10-9 to Penn State a week later in the quarterfinals.

“I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t concerned with complacency,” Alberici said. “That’s just a human nature type of thing. For teams that have had success, it becomes a bigger issue. Even teams that have had lesser successes, you can get complacent with your job, complacent with, ‘This is how we always do things and they generally turn out well.’”

And how’s that going with a roster that graduated only six seniors?

“Now, have the guys given me a lot of reasons to feel that way? I would say no,” Alberici said. “I would say guys have been competitive with one another, been invested in strengthening our culture, have been invested in the weight room.”

It helps to have one of Division I’s best defensemen available as well. AJ Pilate played at an All-America level, earning the Patriot League’s defensive player of the year nod while stymieing opponent’s top offensive options and also being a valuable force in the clearing game.

Now a junior, Pilate will be a major part of Army’s attempt to go even further in 2024.

“What AJ did at an elite level this fall — and it has been a hallmark of his time with us — is the energy he brings to every drill, every day,” Alberici said. “It becomes this level that everybody else is striving to get to. He’s vocal, he’s competitive, and he just brings that energy to all that he’s doing.”

TOP RETURNERS

Reese Burek, A/M, Sr. (35 G, 26 A)
Will Coletti, FO, Jr. (.610 FO%, 158 GB)
AJ Pilate, D, Jr. (35 GB, 17 CT)
Evan Plunkett, M, So. (21 G, 25 A)

Coletti didn’t merely break Army’s single-season ground ball record, he obliterated it. Dan Grabher, the Black Knights’ career faceoff wins leader, snagged 113 ground balls as a senior in 2017. Coletti surpassed that total by nearly 40 percent.

“I don’t know how it was recognized on the outside, but in deciding who the MVP was, although there were other great players and great performances, he was viewed and received the MVP the previous year,” Alberici said. “I’m not sure how everybody else saw it, but he certainly wasn’t overlooked in our program.”

KEY ADDITIONS

Grant Masterson, M, Fr. (Wilton HS, Conn.)
Andrew Miller, M, Fr. (Northport HS, N.Y.)
Robert Simone, FO, Fr. (Lawrenceville School, N.J.)

With only a modest senior class departing, playing time could be hard to come by for Army’s plebes this season. But Masterson, a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder, has a chance to etch out a place in the Black Knights’ midfield mix.

“He had a really strong fall — big, fast, shoots the ball very well on the run — so he brings his skillset into the midfield,” Alberici said.

NOTABLE DEPARTURES

Graduations: Knox Dent, G; Deacon Donaldson, D; Andrew Kelly, M

X-FACTOR

Matt Chess, G, Sr. (7.17 GAA, .620 SV%)
Sean Byrne, G, So. (0.00 GAA, 5:51 played)
Evan Richardson, G, So. (17.87 GAA, 6:43 played)

For the second year in a row, Army must replace a graduated senior goalie. Unlike last season, when Knox Dent staked a strong claim in the fall to become Wyatt Schupler’s successor, there wasn’t much separation when preseason practice commenced. Chess started two games last season and is the Black Knights’ most tested option at the college level. But Byrne impressed with his consistency in the autumn, with Richardson remaining in the mix.

“I’d call it a battle still, whereas last year it was a battle still but for Knox to lose,” Alberici said. “That isn’t the case yet. Nobody has stepped forward above the others to a level where we would say, ‘All right, you’re our starting goalie until decided otherwise.’”

THE NARRATIVE

In some years, Army has a star — think 2022 Tewaaraton Award finalist Brendan Nichtern — around which the rest of its offense revolves.

But more often, the Black Knights look a bit more like last season, when they had five 20-goal scorers and 12 players with at least five goals.

Dealing with Army’s offense is a bit like whack-a-mole: Once there’s an answer for one guy, another pops up and creates problems. The Black Knights’ first-round defeat of Maryland last season was indicative; seven of their 16 goals were scored by guys who finished with less than 10 on the season.

“I don’t know if there’s a first-team All-American kind of guy on our team, but a lot of really good players, some with the ability to be All-Americans,” Alberici said. “I think that in the most competitive games, for us to be successful on the offensive, it will necessitate different players stepping to the front.”

All of those 20-goal scorers — Burek, Plunkett, Jacob Morin (36 G, 6 A), Paul Johnson (28 G, 14 A) and Gunnar Fellows (23 G, 6 A) — remain in the fold this spring. That group doesn’t even include junior attackman Jackson Eicher, who was arguably Army’s best offensive player in the preseason last year before an injury cost him the season.

Nor does it factor in Finn McCullough, who stepped in after Johnson suffered a broken hand in the Patriot League tournament to score twice against Maryland and once in the quarterfinals against Penn State. And Army undoubtedly has plenty more options on its roster, prepared to contribute when they are needed.

“If you’re looking back and we’re having this conversation next year and you’re in a congratulatory mood around what we did, you’ll be pointing to, ‘You had all of these guys who did this and that at different times of the year,’” Alberici said.

ENEMY LINES

“They don’t really lose any pieces. They lose the goalie, but the kid Chess was able to play in two games last year when Knox got hurt and showed he could play at a really high level, so I don’t think they’re going to miss a beat. Joe does such a great job culturally that I certainly feel as if they’re the team to beat. Final eight team, go down to Maryland and beat them and be within one second of overtime in an elite eight game is super-impressive. … They’re the ultimate team. You have great offensive players, but everybody on that team knows their role and plays to their role.”

BEYOND THE BASICS
POWERED BY LACROSSE REFERENCE

The Army Black Knights have increased the difficulty of their non-conference schedule in 2024 with games against North Carolina and Syracuse replacing games against Cornell and Wagner. As a result, their non-conference slate projects as the 29th toughest, up from 38th last year. Given that, collectively, the Patriot League teams had a rough 2023, this is important. If they didn’t play a tougher non-conference slate this year, their overall schedule strength would have dropped, and as we all know, with the role that RPI plays, that matters.

Lacrosse Reference Glossary