Men's Lacrosse | 2/17/2017 8:05:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY -- Over the past seven seasons, the RIT men's lacrosse team has posted a remarkable 127-17 record, won four Liberty League titles, made four trips to the NCAA Tournament, including three semifinals appearance and a championship game appearance in 2013. This year's team looks to carry on in 2017 the winning tradition started by head coach Jake Coon.

"We certainly have high aspirations again in 2017," said Coon "With that being said we have made many more short-term goals this year and are trying to more in the moment."

Coon, now in his eighth season has led the Tigers to new heights. Under Coon, RIT has won seven straight league titles and advanced to the NCAA second round or better in all seven seasons, including an appearance in the 2013 National Championship.

The 2017 squad returns a wealth of talent, including All-Americans Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy), Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/Huron Heights Secondary) and Braden Wallace (Oakville, Ontario/Abbey Park). The Tigers return four of their top-five leading scorers from last season, and four starters.

Wallace, Patrick Hannigan (Hanover, MA/Hanover), Lee, and JD Hall (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe) will serve as captains and lead the Tigers on and off the field in 2017.

"Our captains are settling in nicely," stated Coon "Having Braden back as a captain has really helped the team. They each bring a little something different to the table."

Attack
Lee along with classmates Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/Huron Heights Secondary), Beau Riley (Homer, NY/Homer) and Drew Tosaya (Kenmore, WA/Inglemoor) will be featured in one the better attack units in all of Division III. "This is a veteran group with plenty of chemistry," said Coon. "Beau and Drew both compliment Lee and Levick well. It will be exciting to see what they can do."

Lee, a two-time First Team USILA All-American selection, played in 20 games last season. A First Team All- Liberty League selection, Lee led the team in scoring with 90 points on a career-high 65 goals and 25 assists. And was 12th in NCAA Division III, averaging 3.20 goals per game. He enters his final season at RIT third all-time in scoring with 262 points on 172 goals and 90 assists. Lee needs 32 points to break the university's all-time scoring mark of 293 points held by 2011 RIT Hall of Fame inductee, Dave Thering. He is third all-time at university with 172 career goals, tenth all-time in assists with 90, and is one of 19 Tigers to score 100 career goals.

Levick set career highs in points (71), goals (52) and assists (19) in 2017. He was a USILA Honorable Mention All-American selection, and earned First Team All-Liberty League honors. Levick finished second on the team in scoring, and tied a RIT single-season record with seven game-winning goals. He became 47th player in program history to reach the 100-point mark, tallying a career-best eight points and seven goals in a win over Rensselaer in Liberty League Championship. He enters his final season nine goals shy of 100 for his career.

"Both of these guys have been steady from day 1," said Coon. "They have a history and a wonderful connection. They are doing a better job this year making their teammates better and being leaders."
 
Coming off of two injury-plagued seasons, Riley recorded career highs in points (24), goals (9) and assists (15) in 2016. Tosaya tallied career high totals in games played (20), points (17), goals (10), assists (7) and ground balls (10) in 2016.
 
Brendan MacDonald (Georgetown, ON/Trinity-Pawling), John Hill (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas), and Shawn Nally (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) will all battle for time at attack as well. MacDonald enters his final season with 41 career goals and 61 career points. Dawson Tait (Ottawa, ON/Mother Teresa) will also vie for time at attack.

Midfield
RIT returns a wealth of talent in the midfield ranks in 2017. Wallace, a fifth-year senior along with classmate Dave Shuster (Columbus, OH/St. Charles Prep) headline a talented midfield unit. Seniors Dave Shuster (Columbus, OH/St. Charles Prep); juniors Jay Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport) and Aidan Milburn (Vancouver, British Columbia/Sentinel Secondary) along with sophomore Cam Isaac (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) add depth to a talented offensive midfield unit.
We have more depth at the midfield than we have ever had in the past," said Coon. "We are looking for this group to really grow and turn it on for us."
 
Wallace, a co-captain in 2016, was a USILA third team All-American, an  Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association All-East Region first team selection, and a first team All-Liberty League selection. Wallace had career highs in points (40), goals (28) and assists (12), finishing fourth on the team in scoring.

Shuster recorded 10 points on a career-high seven goals and three assists in a break-out year in 2016. Vakiener played in 20 games in 2016, earning Second Team All-Liberty League honors. He finished fifth on the team in scoring with 38 points on 17 goals and 21 assists.
 
Milburn played in 11 games, tallying four goals in his collegiate debut at St. John Fisher. He finished the season with 17 points on eight goals and nine assists. Isaac played in 17 games in 2016, tallying 13 points on 10 goals and three assists.

Newcomers Kyle Killen (Peterborough, ON/Crestwood Secondary High School), Jake Sproule (Rochester, NY/Penfield), Nick Binnert (Henrietta, NY/Rush-Henrietta), Luke Smeltzer (Halifax, NS/The Gunnery) and Jonathan Sickler could all see time at midfield this season. Luke Henderson (Hespeler, ON/St. Benedict's Catholic), Luke Smeltzer (Halifax, NS/The Gunnery), Jon Sickler (Hummelstown, PA/Hershey), Alex Przybilla (Rogers, MN/Rogers) and senior Reid Swier (Red Deer, Alberta/Rimbey) have worked hard in the preseason and will battle for playing time in 2017.
 
Alex Sovocool, Ben Tackett (Butler, PA/The Kiski School), Zach Ursu (Mono, ON/The Kiski School) and Chris Brown (Homer, NY/Homer) will lead the defensive midfield in 2017. Sovocool played in 20 games last season, tallying career highs in points (10), goals (2), assists (8), ground balls (27) and caused turnovers (8). Tackett played in 10 games in 2016, grabbing 12 ground balls and causing five turnovers. Ursu played in 20 games with 32 ground balls and four caused turnovers. Sophomore Chris Brown (Homer, NY/Homer) should also push for a bigger role at defensive midfield this season. Newcomers Julien Guay (Oakville, ON/The Hill Academy), Ryan Agedal (LaFayette, NY/LaFayette) and Kacin Welch (Fairport, NY/Fairport) are all learning the system and could see time this season.

Senior Steven Ricci (Rochester, NY/Pittsford Sutherland) returns as the Tigers top face-off man. Last season, Ricci played in 12 games winning 152-of-246 (61.7%) of his face-offs taken. Junior transfer Nate Farrell (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and freshman Jimmy Spillane (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) could all vie for the chance to take draws this season.

"Another spot that we finally have some depth at," said Coon. "We feel we can stay fresh and run any of them depending on match-ups."

Defense
Senior co-captain Patrick Hannigan (Hanover, MA/Hanover) returns as the lone starter from 2016 on close defense. Hannigan played in 19 games, earning second team All-Liberty League honors. He helped RIT defense hold opponents to 8.20 goals per game, grabbing a career high 51 ground balls. Hannigan was third on the team with 22 caused turnovers. Freshman Alex Maruna (Medina, OH/St. Ignatius) and senior Denning Crenshaw (San Diego, CA/Helix) could slot into the other two starting roles. Austin Wolf (Acton, MA/Acton-Boxborough), newcomers Chandler Allen (Ilderon, ON/Medway) and Patrick Shoemay (Surrey, British Columbia/Holy Cross) could also vie for playing time. Joey Menecola (Toronto, Ontario/St. Joseph's Catholic) along with returning junior Austin Wolf (Acton, MA/Acton-Boxborough) could all compete for time with Matt Pogue (Mississauga, ON/St. Paul Secondary), Lucas Relkin (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) and Tyler Sceviour (Calgary, AB/Bowness).

"We have a lot of questions on defense," said Coon. "But this group played well this fall and in the preseason and it will be a work in progress all season."
 
Long-Stick Midfield
Hall, and junior Eli Salama (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Dr. Charles Best) will lead a talented corps of long-stick midfielders. Hall played in 19 games, tallying 13 points on seven goals and six assists, while grabbing 26 ground balls and causing 14 turnovers. Salama played in 11 games, grabbing four ground balls and causing three turnovers.
 
Goaltending
Junior Nick Nesbitt (Burlington, Ontario/Salisbuury School) and senior Jon Berg (Chester, NJ/Mendham) will compete with newcomers Patrick Jackson (Edina, MN/Edina) and Walker Hare (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville) for the starting goaltender position.

Nesbitt, a second-team All-Liberty League selection, played in 11 games last season, posting a 9-1 record. He finished sixth in Liberty League with 8.62 goals against average, and led the league with a .593 save percentage.

Berg played in seven games, all in relief, in 2016. He made a season-high four saves twice versus St. John Fisher and Clarkson and was a Liberty League All-Academic team selection.
 
"We have four talented goalies on our roster," said Coon. "All are talented and will battle for the starting spot. With them battling every day, it can only make our team stronger in the long-run.

Schedule
RIT will face another daunting regular season schedule in 2017, with eight games against teams ranked in the USILA/Nike 2017 Division III Preseason Coaches' poll. In addition, RIT plays eight teams that made the 2016 NCAA Division III Tournament.

"We are excited for another challenging year," said Coon. "Playing a tough schedule makes us better every time out and will certainly test and prepare us to compete in a great conference. We will have to be at our best for each and every opponent." 

The Tigers open the season on Saturday, Feb. 18 at No. 13 Ohio Wesleyan. RIT is right back in action the following weekend at home against No. 12 Stevenson and welcomes the University of Scranton to Rochester on March 4.
 
After opening Liberty League play against No. 14 Rensselaer at home on March 11, RIT will compete at the Green Turtle Classic hosted by Stevenson University for the second straight season. The Tigers will face No. 9 Amherst College on March 17. It is a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament second round game which Amherst won, 17-14 at Tiger Stadium. RIT will take on Dickinson College the next day.

RIT will play one game at the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University in 2017, versus No. 15 Middlebury on Tuesday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. In addition, the Tigers will travel to Central New York to take on perennial rival, No. 18 SUNY Cortland of the SUNYAC on April 5.

The Tigers will play two teams from their former conference, the Empire 8, at No. 4 Ithaca on April 18, and host archrival Nazareth College on April 25. 

RIT begins Liberty League play on March 11 against Rensselaer. The Tigers play at Clarkson on March 25, at Skidmore April 8, at Union April 15, and at Bard on April 29, while hosting No. 6 St. Lawrence on April 1 and Vassar College on April 22. The Tigers have won 30 straight regular season games in league play.
 
The Liberty League Tournament will take place on Friday, May 5 and Sunday, May 7, with the winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. RIT has won seven straight conference titles, including the last five as a member of the Liberty League).
 
RIT has all the pieces in place for another deep tournament run in 2017. "We have high hopes for this season," said Coon. "If we can take care of the "now" it will benefit us later in the season."