The 2020 lacrosse season ended abruptly, and it’s anyone’s guess exactly when the 2021 season will begin. But there’s been plenty of movement in the offseason.
While it’s probably a greater challenge to forecast the upcoming season than in most years, US Lacrosse Magazine will give it a try.
Up today: Nos. 20-16.
Early 2021 Rankings
Division I Men
No. 25 - No. 21
No. 20 - No. 16
No. 15 - No. 11
No. 10 - No. 6
No. 5 - No. 1
Division I Women
No. 25 - No. 21
No. 20 - No. 16
No. 15 - No. 11
No. 10 - No. 6
No. 5 - No. 1
20. PRINCETON
2020 record: 5-0
Last seen: Handling Rutgers 16-11 to continue a torrid start. The Tigers scored at least 16 goals in all five of their games and never allowed more than 12.
Initial forecast: No program — not hadn’t-quite-put-it-together-yet Penn State, not scorching Syracuse, not even fellow Ivies Cornell and Yale — deserved to see how the spring of 2020 would play out as much as Princeton did. The Tigers had a runaway Tewaaraton favorite in Michael Sowers (16 goals, 31 assists), and now he and two other starters on offense (Phillip Robertson and Connor McCarthy) have scattered to ACC destinations since they can’t play a fifth season for the Tigers. Chris Brown (13 goals, five assists) and Alexander Vardaro (11 goals) are still around, and the work of Tyler Sandoval (.534 faceoff percentage) as a freshman was encouraging. Princeton isn’t going to collapse, but losing that senior class was always going to hurt. The Tigers’ title window probably closed about as quickly as it opened.
An added wrinkle: Inside Lacrosse reported last week that a group of student-athletes on the team are taking a leave from the team given the uncertainy of the upcoming season. That is obviously worth monitoring as the season nears.
19. VILLANOVA
2020 record: 4-3
Last seen: Falling to Drexel in a reasonably high-scoring game, a calling card of a Villanova team that dropped at least 10 goals on each of its seven opponents but also allowed at least 10 all but once last season.
Initial forecast: When you get down to it, the Wildcats have an impressive degree of reliability. They’ve averaged nine victories in each of their last four full seasons and probably would have wound up there in 2020. They play a challenging non-conference schedule and invariably pick off a high-end opponent each year (Maryland in 2017 and 2020, Yale in 2018 and 2019). Their offense is a pain to prepare for, year in and year out, and talent coupled with scheme is never in question there. Villanova took a hit when midfielder Connor Kirst transferred to Rutgers, but they still have Keegan Khan (14 goals, 12 assists) to set the table for a balanced offense that produced five players with at least 10 goals last season. They’ll be a top-half-of-the-Big East team, and with a quality victory or two outside of the league, they’ll find themselves in the NCAA tournament hunt.
18. RICHMOND
2020 record: 4-3 (1-0 Southern)
Last seen: Routing Mount St. Mary’s and VMI by a combined 31-11 margin after a February that included one-goal losses to Maryland and Duke.
Initial forecast: The Spiders return more or less intact, with their top eight scorers back in the fold along with two starting defensemen and goalie Jack Rusbuldt (.556 save percentage). Richmond was well on its way last year to what’s become its usual season arc, creating all sorts of headaches for high-end opponents in non-conference play before making a run at a Southern Conference championship and a potential NCAA tournament berth. So it will probably go in 2021 if there’s a season. Ryan Lanchbury (14 goals, 16 assists), Richie Connell (19 goals, second among all Division I freshman in 2020) and Mitch Savoca (13 goals, six assists) were the key offensive cogs in the spring, and they are a fine place for coach Dan Chemotti’s offense to start from this time around.
17. LEHIGH
2020 record: 5-1 (2-0 Patriot)
Last seen: Reaching double figures for the fifth time (all in victories) during a 15-10 defeat of Holy Cross.
Initial forecast: It’s tough to say exactly what was learned about the Mountain Hawks last season. Their five victories all came by at least three goals, and their loss was a 12-8 decision at Virginia. But on paper, so much of what made Kevin Cassese’s team so appealing heading into 2020 remains the same. Although there were a couple graduation hits, the offense is still deep and balanced with Tommy Schelling (22 goals, 11 assists), Christian Mule’ (16 goals, five assists) and Andrew Eichelberger (nine goals, four assists) among the returnees. The defense has tested options, including Teddy Leggett and Anthony Tangredi, and the Mountain Hawks bring back a pair of faceoff aces in Conor Gaffney (.657) and Mike Sisselberger (.600), who split last year’s workload on a roughly 5-to-3 basis. Lehigh will have a serious shot to do what it may well have last year if given the chance: Narrow (and maybe erase) the gap between it and both Loyola and Army in the Patriot League.
16. ARMY
2020 record: 6-2 (2-0 Patriot)
Last seen: Doubling up Lafayette on the road and getting ready to tangle with Lehigh and Loyola on back-to-back weekends.
Initial forecast: If there’s a built-in disadvantage in 2021, the service academies are dealing with it. That’s because while civilian schools at least have a choice in permitting last year’s seniors to come back next spring, academy graduates are already off serving the country. That might not hurt an academy team without many seniors (like Navy), but Army had some serious losses. That said, coach Joe Alberici’s done a fabulous job of building up depth on his roster, and many of the Black Knights’ stars from last season — attackman Brendan Nichtern (19 goals, 27 assists), midfielders Bobby Abshire (seven goals, seven assists) and Jacob Morin (12 goals), defenseman Marcus Hudgins (30 caused turnovers) and goalie Wyatt Schupler (.617 save percentage), among others — are still at West Point. As usual, no one will look forward to facing Army.