Entering the 2016 season, the EU men’s lacrosse team looks to dominate the Mid-Atlantic Conference. Coach Kevin Wallace looks to have another great season, as he enters into his fourth year. Coach Wallace has transformed the men’s lacrosse team. Last season, the Eagles went 15-4 overall, and 6-0 in conference play. Coach Wallace certainly knows the perfect method to win games. In his first year as coach, the lacrosse team dominated and made the NCAA tournament. With a new senior and freshman class, Coach Wallace will have a lot of experience and potential to push his team to the NCAA tournament once more.
With key attackers gone, like Dave Darling and Grant Ferguson, the Eagles will need players to step up and fill the void. Ferguson accounted for 66 points, 51 goals and 15 assists. Darling had a spectacular season accumulating 83 points, 40 goals, and 43 assists. The Eagles, however, still have key weapons on their roster ready to fill the void. Players like Desmond Decker. The Washington native, Decker, had a total of 41 points in which 25 of the points were goals. Another attacker to look out for is sophomore Jake Billera. He had an amazing freshman year with 17 goals and 7 assists. Billera certainly earned himself a starting position coming into this season.
Strong defense is never a worry for the Eagles. Last season, the Eagles allowed 140 goals. They outscored their opponents by 122 goals. The loss of last season’s starting goalie, Nick DiPiano, will be a challenge when trying to fill the position for the Eagles. With the return of last season’s backup goalies, Austin Mutter and Jameal Hadeed, they will be dueling for the starting spot in order to take on the task of goalie. However, the Eagles brought in a freshman goalie named Brett McDonald who can potentially be an asset to the Eagles. Tyler Gehlhaus will be returning to the Eagles this season as a senior. Last season he started all 19 games on defense and played a key role for the Eagles. Look for him to take control of the defense this season. On the other hand, the Eagles have plenty of strong defensive players coming into their first year. The new class of defensive players include Denver Comp, Phil Carnuccio, Cameron Miller, and Dan Acker.
The new incoming players have a lot to look forward to this season. They will be guided by 11 calloused, hard-fighting, and experienced senior class players. Therefore, hats off to Desmond Decker, Nabig “Junior” Sakr, Matt Lee, Bryan Schwartz, Steve Amoriello, Tyler Gehlhaus, Ryan Mitchell, Evan Werner, Ricky Villagomez and Derek Davis for completing four seasons of lacrosse at Eastern University!
The Eagles will open up the season against York College of Pennsylvania on Feb. 17. The Eagles did not face York College last season. York College went 10-9 last season. The Eagles have to stay focused coming in to this game in order to come out victorious.