The Navy men's lacrosse team has been picked third in the 2019 Patriot League Preseason Poll in a vote cast by the league's coaches and sports information directors, it was announced by the conference office on Wednesday. Additionally, midfielders
Greyson Torain (Sr / Glen Burnie) and
Ryan Wade (Sr / Coronado, Calif.) were named to the preseason all-league team. A year ago the Mids shared the Patriot League regular-season title with Loyola after producing a 7-1 conference record.
Breaking Down the Poll
Loyola, the reigning Patriot League Tournament Champion, secured 16 of the 18 first-place votes (eligible for only 16 due to not being able to vote for your own team) and amassed 128 points to top the poll for a sixth consecutive year, which coincidentally is also its sixth season as a member of the league.
Lehigh, meanwhile, accounted for the remaining two first-place votes and totaled 109 points to finish second in the balloting. Navy was third with 96 points, followed by Boston University (89), Army (62), Bucknell (57), Colgate (56), Holy Cross (24) and Lafayette (20).
Navy in the Patriot League
The Mids have won at least a share of the regular-season Patriot League title in eight of the 15 seasons (2004-05-06-07-08-15-16-18) they have been a member of the conference, including three of the last four years. Meanwhile Navy has compiled an 11-7 record in the Patriot League Tournament to earn five conference tournament crowns (2004-05-06-07-09). Navy has amassed a 69-32 (68.3) regular-season record in the Patriot League since 2004 in joining what is now a nine-member lacrosse conference (Hobart left following the '04 campaign; Loyola and Boston U. joined in 2014), and includes two undefeated seasons (2004, '07).
The Cream of the Crop
In addition to the preseason poll, the 2019 Preseason All-Patriot League Team was also unveiled and headlining the 16-man team were members from the league's top two programs - All-American attackman Pat Spencer from Loyola and All-American defenseman John Surdick from Army. Spencer has been the league's offensive player of the year in each of the last three seasons and is attempting to become the first four-time honoree, while Surdick garnered All-America recognition a year ago.
The 2019 Preseason All-Patriot League Team is made up of 12 seniors, one junior and three sophomores. It features eight players that garnered First-Team All-Patriot League honors last season and seven that were named to the second team. Eight of the nine teams placed players on the preseason team, including Lehigh who has a league-best five selections. Loyola has three representatives, while Colgate and Navy each have two and Army, Boston U., Bucknell and Holy Cross have one.
Torain, a 2017 All-American, and Wade both garnered All-Patriot League recognition a year ago and represent Navy on the Preseason All-Patriot League Team. A year ago, Torain and Wade became the first midfield tandem in program history to record 30-plus points by both players. Along with 2018 graduate
Jack Ray, Torain and Wade paced the team in the scoring column a year ago with Torain posting 33 points on 19 goals and 14 assists, while Wade turned in 33 points on 9 goals and a team-best 24 assists.
Torain was also recently named to Faceoff Yearbook's Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
More on the Mids
Navy returns five starters off a team that finished the 2018 season with a 9-5 record and a 7-1 Patriot League mark. The Mids return three of their top four scorers from a year ago - Torain (19-14=33), Wade (9-24=33) and Daniel (21-10=31). Torain enters the season needing just 5 points to become the 34th player in school history to reach 100 points. Meanwhile, Wade is 30 points shy of adding his name to the list of 100-point scorers and stands 19th on the Mids' all-time assists list with 49.
Defensively, Navy will need to replace First-Team All-Patriot League close defenseman
Michael Strack, starting close defenseman
Hiram Carter and Second-Team All-Patriot League short-stick defensive midfielder D.J. Plumer. Fortunately Navy returns a handful of returners in two-year starting goalkeeper and
Ryan Kern (Jr / Middletown, Del.), starting close defenseman
Andrew McKenna (So / Stony Brook, N.Y.) and starting long stick midfielder
Jeff Durden (So / Cumming, Ga.). Both short stick defensive midfielder
Tim Griffin (Rockville, Md.) and close defenseman
Nick Franchuk (Southport, Conn.) earned valuable experience a year ago as freshmen and will be called upon this spring to step into starting roles.
Season Opener Fast Approaching
The Mids will play preseason scrimmages on Saturday, Jan. 26 against Richmond and Feb. 2 at Drexel before officially kicking off its 112th year of varsity lacrosse when they play host to Vermont on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 12:00 pm. The game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network and will be carried live on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with
Joe Miller on the call.
This season's schedule features nine home games, including each of the first five games. It's the most regular-season home appearances by the Mids since 1971.
Single-game tickets for home Navy men's lacrosse games are on sale now and may be purchased by stopping by the Navy Ticket Office at Ricketts Hall, by calling 1-800-US4-NAVY, via the internet at www.navysports.com or at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on game day. Tickets prices are $10 for adults and $5 for students, while groups of 20 or more will be offered a discounted ticket (in advance only, contact
Jordan Albright at 410-293-8791 or
Kristin Toler at 410-293-8743 / e-mail: grouptickets@usna.edu).
2019 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Preseason Poll
1. Loyola, 128 points (16 first-place votes)
2. Lehigh, 109 (2)
3. Navy, 96
4. Boston U., 89
5. Army, 62
6. Bucknell, 57
7. Colgate, 56
8. Holy Cross, 24
9. Lafayette, 120
2019 Preseason All-Patriot League Team
A - Chris Gray, Boston U. (So.)
A - Mike Hawkins, Colgate (So.)
A - Andrew Pettit, Lehigh (Sr.)
A - Pat Spencer, Loyola (Sr.)
M - Reed Malas, Bucknell (Sr.)
M - John Duffy, Loyola (Sr.)
M - Greyson Torain, Navy (Sr.)
M - Ryan Wade, Navy (Sr.)
D - John Surdick, Army (Sr.)
D - Matt Farrell, Holy Cross (Sr.)
D - Eddie Bouhall, Lehigh (Sr.)
D - Craig Chick, Lehigh (Sr.)
GK - Jacob Stover, Loyola (Sr.)
FO - Conor Gaffney, Lehigh (Jr.)
LSM - Teddy Leggett, Lehigh (So.)
SSM - Will Blumenberg, Colgate (Sr.)
Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Pat Spencer, Loyola (Sr., A)
Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: John Surdick, Army (Sr., D)
### Go Navy ###
