Men's Lacrosse Hosts UMass in Opener

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army men's lacrosse team lifts the lid on the 2016 season with a visit from UMass on Friday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. at Michie Stadium.

The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was moved up to Friday due to the expected cold weather over the weekend.

HOW TO FOLLOW
TELEVISION • None
RADIO • None
VIDEO • Patriot League Network
AUDIO • Knight Vision ($)
LIVE STATISTICS • sidearmstats.com/army/mlax/
GAME NOTES • Army Notes
TWITTER • ArmyWP_MLax

THE OPENING FACEOFF
The Army Black Knights open their 99th season this Friday with a matchup against Massachusetts. It is the sixth-straight season these two teams open the slate. The Black Knights won 12-7 in 2015, which was the first for Army in that stretch of four consecutive season openers. That win was a milestone victory for the Black Knights as it was their 750th victory in program history. The Minutemen are selected to finish fifth in a tough Colonial Athletic Assocation. It is the 22nd season at the helm for head coach Greg Cannella.

BLACK KNIGHTS IN SEASON OPENERS
Army is 73-25 in season openers in 98 seasons. After winning four season openers in a row (2007-2010), the Black Knights dropped four in a row until defeating Massachusetts last season in Amherst. Army has won five season openers under Coach Alberici in his 10 seasons at the helm and 4-2 when hosting at West Point. The Black Knights hosted UMass in its last opener at home in 2014 and fell to the Minutemen by a 6-5 score.

PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH
The Patriot League announced its men's lacrosse preseason poll and all-league selections ahead of the 2016 season, and the Black Knights are selected to finish fourth in the conference. Army earned 85 points in the poll for fourth, while Loyola Maryland was picked to win the league with 122 points and 12-of-18 first-place votes. Navy was picked second after its strong showing last season as the Mids got 108 points and five top votes. The defending tournament champions, Colgate, came in at third with 105 points and took home a first-place nod.

GAME MOVED
Due to the expected extreme cold weather moving into the Hudson Valley, the season opener has been moved to Friday at 12:30 p.m. The game will remain at Michie Stadium and be live on the Patriot League Network. The women's lacrosse game against Manhattan will follow after the men's game for one of five doubleheaders this season.

PRESEASON HONORS
The Black Knights had two players earn preseason all-league recognition by the Patriot League. Firstie Austin Schultz and cow Cole Johnson were both selected to the Patriot League Preseason All-League Team. Schultz was 1-of-3 defensemen selected and he returns after a stellar junior season. Schultz was a United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Honorable Mention All-American a season ago. Johnson is back as Army's top returning scorer after a career-high 53 points. He posted a team-high 36 goals and added 17 assists last year and was selected to the All-Patriot League First Team.

HOME COOKING
Army has a friendly home schedule for the opening portion of its schedule with six of its first eight games coming at West Point. The Black Knights will play a total of eight games at home this season and six games on the road, including a matchups against Syracuse and Notre Dame.

ALBERICI RETURNS TO SIDELINES
Head Coach Joe Alberici is back on the sidelines for his 11th season at the helm of Army Lacrosse. He is 83-69 since taking over at West Point. Alberici is nine wins away from No. 100 in his career after spending a season at SUNY Oneonta prior to moving onto to Duke as an assistant coach. Last season, Army won 10 or more games for the second time under Alberici and for the 18th time in program history.

STORIED PROGRAM
The Black Knights have continued their winning tradition throughout the years and currently rank fifth all-time in most wins at 759. Johns Hopkins tops the list at 955. Army has inched closer to Navy over the years and is 13 away from the Mids on the list as they have 772 all-time victories.

WHAT'S UP NEXT?
The Black Knights are back home at Michie Stadium next weekend for a pair of non-conference matchups. Army welcomes Rutgers on Saturday afternoon, followed by its annual clash with VMI on Sunday at 12 p.m. The Black Knights played both squads last season. Army cruised to a 23-4 win over the Keydets and beat the Scarlet Knights in a snowstorm by a 9-7 score on March 3, 2015.

PATRIOT LEAGUE NETWORK
Army joined the Patriot League Network across all league sports in 2015-16, including lacrosse. This season will be the first where fans can view all men's lacrosse home games free of charge on PatriotLeague.tv. Zack Daly has the call for all home contests. Fans can access the live video by logging onto PatriotLeague.tv or by clicking the live video link on the men's lacrosse schedule page.

ARMY ON TELEVISION
In addition to the webstreaming service on PatriotLeague.tv, the Black Knights will be featured three times on television. CBS Sports Network will carry the Army-Navy Game on April 16 and the matchup between the Black Knights and Loyola on April 22 at Ridley Athletic Complex. Army is to be featured once on the American Sports Network as the Black Knights head to Colgate for a faceoff on March 26. Also the semifinals and championship rounds of the Patriot League Tournament will be live on CBS Sports Network.

TEAM CAPTAINS
Army named its captains for this year's squad during last season's end of the year banquet. Shea Mullins, Austin Schultz and Jimbo Moore are this year's leaders.

BROTHERLY LOVE
The Black Knights welcomed 15 rookies to this year's squad and two of them had the Army perspective prior to stepping on campus. Griffin Schultz is a firstie on this year's team and is the younger brother of captain Austin Schultz. Patrick Poulos has even more experience as he is the brother of firstie Luke Poulos and 2010 West Point graduate Matthew Poulos. It is the second-straight season Army has had a pair of brothers on the team as the Gleseners played together in 2015 as did the two Faircloth brothers.

FACEOFF STABILITY
With the return of Alex Daly from injury, the Black Knights have one of the best 1-2 punches in nation with Daly and Dan Grabher. Daly is a two-time All-Patriot League player, while Grabher filled in for most of 2015 and had one of the best seasons in Army history. Grabher won 58 percent (157-271) of his faceoffs and scooped up 84 ground balls in 16 games. He became only the fifth player in school history with 20 faceoff wins in a game after going 20-for-25 against Loyola on March 14. Daly was at 55 percent (44-80) before his injury against Rutgers.

BIG SHOES TO FILL
Army has two large size shoes to fill this season with the graduation of three-time All-American John Glesener and 2015 Patriot League Golaie of the Year Sam Somers. Glesener ends a streak of pure goal scorers for Army dating back to Jeremy Boltus, who graduated in 2011. Over the past six-plus years, the Black Knights have had a scorer in Boltus, Garret Thul and Glesener. Army will also have to replace a defensive midfield group that was one of the best in Al DeStefano, Billy Baird and Jimbo D'Aprile.

GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES
Senior Connor Cook has been one of the most consistent players on the Black Knights over the past two seasons. He returns as Army's second-leading scorer with 43 points on 35 goals and eight assists. Cook is a hard-nosed player that will go to the tough areas to put the ball in the back of the net. He was second on the squad in goals last year, including five against Bucknell. Cook had a total of seven points in the 12-4 win, which came the week of his father's passing.

ARMY GREATS TO ENTER IMLCA HALL OF FAME
The Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IMLCA) has announced its inaugural Hall of Fame class and it features three former Army coaches Jim "Ace" Adams, Dick Edell and Jack Emmer, which was the most of any school for this year's class. Former UMass coach Dick Garber was also among the first class of honorees. The inductees were selected by the IMLCA Hall of Fame Committee consisting of Tom Gill, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (chair), Fred Acee (Air Force), Guy Van Arsdale (Jacksonville), Mike Murphy (Colgate), Dan Sheehan (Le Moyne), and Tom Leanos (Drew). The IMLCA Hall of Fame celebration will take place Saturday, May 28.

COMPETITIVE SCHEDULE
The Black Knights once again will play a tough schedule in 2016. Army is set to face three teams that made the NCAA Tournament a season ago in Colgate, Syracuse and Notre Dame. All three come away from West Point and as always the Army-Navy Game is as competitive as any game in the nation.

SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
Just like the Black Knights, UMass kicks off its season on Saturday at Michie Stadium. The Minutemen are coming off a 5-10 campaign in 2015. They lost their first five games last year with three of them coming against ranked teams, including the 12-7 loss to Army in the opener. Massachusetts went .500 the rest of the way to finish with its record. The Minutemen are selected to finish sixth in the Colonial Athletic Association after going 2-3 last season in conference.

Head coach Greg Cannella is back for his 22nd season at the helm of UMass lacrosse. He has 183 career victories, all of which have come in Amherst. The Minutemen return six starters from its lineup last season and a total of 26 letterwinners overall. Two of the top returners are defenseman Kyle Karaska and Gianni Bianchin as both were selected to the Preseason All-CAA Team. Bianchin had 28 points in the midfield for UMass, while Karaska was an All-CAA First Team choice last season. Nick Mariano, the Minutemen's leading scorer from 2015, graduated after a 42-point campaign. He had 14 points more than Brendan Hegarty and Bianchin, so UMass has big shoes to fill.

In goal, junior D.J. Smith returns with the most experience. Zach Oliveri graduated last year after starting all 15 games for the Minutemen. Smith played in four games, and made 22 saves and gave up 25 goals. Sophomore Dan Dolan and rookie Sean Sconone will be fighting for playing time as well.

SERIES HISTORY
The Black Knights and Minutemen are colliding for the 23rd time since the schools first met back in 1978. Army won the first meeting by a 12-10 score on the road in Amherst. The Black Knights dominated the series in the early years with seven wins in the first 10 meetings. Since 1988, however, the Minutemen have stormed back to take a 13-10 advantage coming into Friday's game. Massachusetts has won 10 of the last 13 contests. Army defeated UMass, 12-7, in 2015 for the first time since 1996.

Men's Lacrosse Hosts UMass in Opener

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Players Mentioned

Billy Baird

Connor Cook

Jimbo D'Aprile

Alex Daly

Al DeStefano

John Glesener

Dan Grabher

Cole Johnson

Jimbo Moore

Shea Mullins

Luke Poulos

Patrick Poulos

Austin Schultz

Griffin Schultz

Sam Somers

Army West Point Athletics