POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Marist men's lacrosse is close to finishing up its second full week of practice of the preseason, a sign that the regular season is growing closer and closer by the day. With just over a week remaining until opening day, which will be Saturday, February 8 against Binghamton at Tenney Stadium, we continue to breakdown the team's positional groups for the 2020 season. For this period, we will dive into the team's group of midfielders.
- Marist graduated two midfielders from last year's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Champion squad: Evan Gagne and Collin Dizon.
- Gagne played a major role as a midfielder on last year's team, appearing in all 17 games. He scored a career-high five goals last season, and also dished out a career-high two assists.
- Dizon was a three-time member of the MAAC All-Academic Team, and was a captain in his final season as a Red Fox. He provided valuable depth and leadership off the bench in all three years of his career. He scored his first and only career goal back in 2017 at Quinnipiac.
- The Red Foxes are fortunate to be returning a plethora of midfielders that were valuable contributors to last season's MAAC Championship, 12 in total.
- Marist's four returning seniors are Joe Tierney, Chris Schlappich, Michael Smith, and Jon Constant.
- Other returning midfielders include Hunter Embury, James Lyons, Jason Intermesoli, Alex Viola, David Moyett, Avery Nesmith, Wyatt Colangelo, and Kyle Dizon.
- With Tierney returning, the Red Foxes are getting back one of the driving forces behind their MAAC Championship last season. The senior captain, who is now wearing jersey #34, was third on the team in goals (19), assists (12), and points (31) last season, and was named to the All-MAAC Second Team. Tierney scored a career-high four goals in the MAAC semifinals against Canisius, and followed that up with three goals in the MAAC Championship against Quinnipiac, which led to him being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Championship. For his career, he has scored 42 goals and dished out 46 assists, good for 88 career points.
- Schlappich returns and, along with Tierney, has been named one of three captains for the upcoming season. The midfielder played in all 17 games during last season's championship run, and has improved in all three seasons so far in his career. In 2019, he finished the season with a career-high 11 goals and a career-high five assists, good for a career-high 16 points. He looks to continue his upward trend this season.
- Smith is an incredibly versatile midfielder, who the Red Foxes are excited to have back this season. Smith has appeared in all 48 games since he joined Marist in 2017, and has been a valuable contributor in all three of those years. Last season, he finished the year with seven goals and a career-high eight assists, totaling a career-high 15 points. Three of those assists, also a career-high, came in the MAAC Championship game against Quinnipiac, helping lead Marist to the victory. For his career, Smith has scored 28 goals, and tallied 14 assists.
- Constant returns as a valuable senior leader on and off the field for the Red Foxes. He was named to the MAAC All-Academic Team each of the last two seasons, the only which he has been eligible. Constant has appeared in 38 games in his career, and has scored 12 goals to go along with four assists and 16 points.
- Embury and Lyons return for their sophomore seasons after incredibly successful rookie campaigns. Appearing in 16 and 17 games, respectively, the duo had two of the greatest seasons in this history of the program from freshman midfielders. They were both in the top-five in scoring for freshman midfielders in program history, and Lyons also lead the team in assists with 14. Lyons was also named to the All-MAAC Rookie Team. Head Coach Keegan Wilkinson noted that this pair's ability to score and distribute is something that makes their offense that much more dynamic.
- Intermesoli makes the transition from attack to midfield for his junior season, and Wilkinson is very excited about the move. He noted that Intermesoli is a player that has emerged as a real threat for us and has a tremendous IQ for the game. For his career, Intermesoli has scored 14 goals, and dished out seven assists.
- Viola returns after appearing in eight games as a freshman, and making one start. He scored his first career goal against Stony Brook, which was the game-winner, on March 2. Wilkinson noted that Viola will be playing on both sides of the ball, but he is truly valuable in transition, where he is very dangerous.
- With Nesmith and Moyett returning, the Red Foxes get back a duo of midfielders that excel in extra man opportunities. Wilkinson noted that they played a key role in the MAAC Championship run last season, excelling in man-up situations, and he expects them both to both to emerge as contributors this season.
- Dizon and Colangelo are also returning, and with that the Red Foxes are getting back some valuable depth at the midfield position. Wilkinson noted that the pair are two of the team's fastest midfielders that will give the team the ability to stretch defenses with their ability to dodge.
The Red Foxes actually don't have a whole lot of new faces on the field when it comes to midfielders. The only freshman midfielders are
Michael Bowler and
Sean Kelliher, but they are defensive midfielders and we will break them down with the defense preview coming next week.
"We are fortunate to return a lot of experience in our midfield this season. Our four seniors in Tierney, Constant, Schlappich and Mike Smith have done a great job in leading the rest of the midfield unit during the first 3 weeks of preseason, which gives us confidence heading into the start of the regular season. This groups ability to communicate may be their biggest strength, and it's a mature group of players that all have strong understandings of what we are trying to attack in different offensive sets. With some of the athleticism that this group possess we are hopeful that we can return to having midfielders that excel on both sides of the ball, something that we had great success with in the past and we know this group is eager to attack."
