On Paper, The Army Men’s Lacrosse Team Looks Loaded.
By Seth Mendelson / CaMMVets Media ©2/7/2025
On paper, the Army men’s lacrosse team looks loaded.
But, coach Joe Alberici and his veteran team, including 22 seniors, know that on paper and before the season even starts, means very little.
Accolades abound for this squad as they prepare to visit UMass on Saturday to open the 2025 campaign, after finishing 13-3 in 2024, including a two-week stint as the top ranked team in the nation in both national polls. Within the Patriot League, Army is also getting pre-season recognition, with senior AJ Pilate picked to be the conference’s most outstanding defensive player, senior Will Coletti named the conference’s outstanding faceoff specialist and junior Evan Plunkett, who had 29 goals and 19 assists last year, named the conference’s most outstanding offensive player.
“We appreciate the recognition, but we pay no attention to what people say about us before the season,” said Alberici. “Right now, we are gearing up for a long and hard season and doing our best to make sure that we are playing our best lacrosse at the end of the campaign.”
Alberici’s thinking makes a lot of sense. Despite its stellar performance last year, which included victories over lacrosse bluebloods Syracuse and North Carolina and a 5-0 non-conference record, Army did not make the post-season NCAA tournament. The Black Knights lost two games to Patriot League opponents Boston University and Colgate and were again knocked off by BU in the league post-season tournament. “It is so important that we get into the (Patriot League) tournament and be positioned to win it,” Alberici added. “That is our primary focus as the season goes on.”He has the players for an extremely successful season. Besides Plunkett, the Army offense features senior Jackson Eicher, who led the team with 37 goals and 58 points. They will be joined by freshman Hill Plunkett, Evan’s younger brother, as well as Gunnar Fellows, Christian Fornier, a long stick senior and defensive midfielder Christian Mazer.
By Seth Mendelson / CaMMVets Media ©2/7/2025
On paper, the Army men’s lacrosse team looks loaded.
But, coach Joe Alberici and his veteran team, including 22 seniors, know that on paper and before the season even starts, means very little.
Accolades abound for this squad as they prepare to visit UMass on Saturday to open the 2025 campaign, after finishing 13-3 in 2024, including a two-week stint as the top ranked team in the nation in both national polls. Within the Patriot League, Army is also getting pre-season recognition, with senior AJ Pilate picked to be the conference’s most outstanding defensive player, senior Will Coletti named the conference’s outstanding faceoff specialist and junior Evan Plunkett, who had 29 goals and 19 assists last year, named the conference’s most outstanding offensive player.
“We appreciate the recognition, but we pay no attention to what people say about us before the season,” said Alberici. “Right now, we are gearing up for a long and hard season and doing our best to make sure that we are playing our best lacrosse at the end of the campaign.”
Alberici’s thinking makes a lot of sense. Despite its stellar performance last year, which included victories over lacrosse bluebloods Syracuse and North Carolina and a 5-0 non-conference record, Army did not make the post-season NCAA tournament. The Black Knights lost two games to Patriot League opponents Boston University and Colgate and were again knocked off by BU in the league post-season tournament. “It is so important that we get into the (Patriot League) tournament and be positioned to win it,” Alberici added. “That is our primary focus as the season goes on.”He has the players for an extremely successful season. Besides Plunkett, the Army offense features senior Jackson Eicher, who led the team with 37 goals and 58 points. They will be joined by freshman Hill Plunkett, Evan’s younger brother, as well as Gunnar Fellows, Christian Fornier, a long stick senior and defensive midfielder Christian Mazer.
All photos: ARMY ATHLETICS
Defensively, there is a lot of experience on the field too. Pilate has started since his freshman year and is the key to Army’s defensive success. Others, including long stick midfielder Ryan Nixon and junior John Sullivan, who will also be starting for the third straight season, makes the Army defense solid. Freshmen midfielder Aiden Weisenborn and Brandon Fountain should see a lot of action as well.
Then there is Coletti, a first-team All-American and Patriot League faceoff specialist of the year last season, who wins about 70 percent of his faceoffs in his first three seasons at Army. Last season, Coletti won 215 faceoffs, scooped up 117 ground balls and scored a career-high eight goals.
In the goal is Sean Byrne, who had 19 saves against both North Carolina and Navy, and started the last six games of the season.
The schedule is always tough at Army and this season is no different. Besides UMass, the Black Knights face highly-rated Yale, North Carolina and Rutgers in non-conference play. Alberici says the Patriot League is again solid, pointing to Lehigh, Colgate, Boston University, Loyola and, of course, Navy as key games.
Then there is Coletti, a first-team All-American and Patriot League faceoff specialist of the year last season, who wins about 70 percent of his faceoffs in his first three seasons at Army. Last season, Coletti won 215 faceoffs, scooped up 117 ground balls and scored a career-high eight goals.
In the goal is Sean Byrne, who had 19 saves against both North Carolina and Navy, and started the last six games of the season.
The schedule is always tough at Army and this season is no different. Besides UMass, the Black Knights face highly-rated Yale, North Carolina and Rutgers in non-conference play. Alberici says the Patriot League is again solid, pointing to Lehigh, Colgate, Boston University, Loyola and, of course, Navy as key games.