POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Marist men's lacrosse opens its season this weekend, hosting Binghamton at Tenney Stadium on Saturday, February 8 at 1 p.m. With that, we are wrapping up our 2020 season preview series today with a look at the team's final positional group, defense and specialists.
- The Red Foxes lost a talented group of defenders to graduation following the conclusion of the 2019 season.
- The talented senior class from last year's defense includes James Sarrocco, Ralph Sommer, Matthew Selts, Jacob Bloom, Billy Andrle, and Ryan Brand.
- Sarrocco has been a staple in the Red Foxes' lineup for the past four seasons, appearing and starting in 64 games during that span. That being said, he put up career numbers in 2019, leading the team with 22 caused turnovers and ranking second on the team with 46 ground balls. After being named to the All-MAAC Second Team in 2018, he one-upped himself last year and made the All-MAAC First team as well as the MAAC All-Championship Team.
- Selts, dawning #34 in his final Marist season, played in all 48 games the past three seasons for the Red Foxes. He had career best totals of 39 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers last year, and even chipped in two goals and two assists.
- Sommer, a four-year starter, finished last season second on the team with 16 caused turnovers, to go with a career-high 37 ground balls. He has started in 51 games over the past four year's at defense, and has been looked to as a leader both on and off the field.
- Andrle also started all 17 games last year, and played incredible defense all throughout the season. He had seven ground balls and six caused turnovers for the year, but he will be remembered for his fantastic defense in the MAAC Championships, helping lead the team to the title, and being named to the MAAC All-Tournament Team in the process.
- Bloom and Brand gave great contributions during their four year careers, and provided great depth on defense for the Red Foxes.
- Marist returns four defensemen from last year's roster for the 2020 season.
- Sam Ahlgrim returns as a senior captain, after appearing in all 17 games last season as a long stick midfielder.
- The list of other three returning defenseman includes red-shirt junior Stephen Viola, junior Liam Wright, and sophomore Dan Johnston
- Also back are long-stick midfielders JT Roselle and Anthony Filippetti.
- With Ahlgrim returning, the Red Foxes get back a senior leader with an incredible work ethic. Head Coach Keegan Wilkinson pointed out that with Ahlgrim moving down to be a close defender this year, it gives the team some experience down low. He also noted that his work ethic is contagious among all of the defenders. Last year, Ahlgrim finished with 18 ground balls, and was third on the roster with 13 caused turnovers. Additionally, he was very careful with the ball, only turning it over a total of four times throughout the entire season. If that wasn't enough, he has also been named to the MAAC All-Academic Team each of the last two seasons.
- The return of Viola and Wright is very important to the Red Foxes, as they have both developed into tremendous leaders. They have both have overcome injuries in the past and are now playing at full speed, and are hoping to make an impact this season.
- Wilkinson was very excited to talk about his LSM's. He noted that JT Roselle and Anthony Filippetti have tremendous speed and stick skills that will make them incredibly valuable in transition and on the wings of face offs this year.
- Johnston worked very hard in the off season and will provide depth at close defense in his sophomore campaign. The team is very happy to have him back for another year.
- The Red Foxes are welcoming a lot of new faces to the defense this season. Five freshman defenders, along with two defensive midfielders, join a junior transfer to form the team's new class of defenders.
- Kyle Stofko was a big addition to the defense, as he gives the Red Foxes someone with a lot of experience covering opponents' top threats. He joins the team as a junior transfer from Wagner, where he has 51 caused turnovers in his career which is the most in the entire country in the junior class.
- Head Coach Keegan Wilkinson noted that the team's group of five freshman defenders, consisting of Keenan DeReave, Larry Cangro, Kurt Wessner, Ryan McDaniel, and Sam Summer is an incredibly unit that the staff is really pleased with heading into the regular season.
- Freshmen Mike Bowler and Sean Kelliher are defensive midfielders that will look to work into the rotation as they gain experience.
- Marist returns both face-off specialists from last year's championship squad. Peyton Smith returns as the team's primary face-off specialist, having just been named MAAC Preseason Co-Player of the Year, looking to build off what was his finest season as a Red Fox in 2019. Playing in all 17 games as the primary face-off specialist, Smith finished the season with a .630 face-off win percentage, raking 11th in the entire NCAA. He won 247 total face-offs on the season, and has now won 291 for his career. He even added 115 ground balls, four caused turnovers, and his first career goal in 2019. Smith was named MAAC Face-Off Specialist of the Year, and made the All-MAAC First Team. He was also a three-time MAAC Defensive Player of the Week and one-time member of the USILA Team of the Week. Check out the video linked above to hear more from Smith about his evolution as a player.
- Andrew Evans also returns at face-off specialist, having gone 8-21 at on face-offs so far in his two-year career. Evans provides valuable depth behind Smith, giving the team another strong option at the position for 2020.
- Kevin McKendry is the sole goalkeeper to graduate from last year's team. A captain during the 2019 MAAC Championship run, he appeared in 11 games off the bench in his career and made eight career saves.
- Jake MacGregor returns as the Red Foxes' primary goalkeeper for 2020. In his first season as the full-time goalie in 2019, after taking over for standout Brian Corrigan, MacGregor had an excellent season. He finished the year with 191 saves and a .522 save percentage, including a career-high 18 saves vs Bucknell on April 2. He was a driving force behind last year's MAAC Championship, and hopes to help carry the Red Foxes to a repeat this season.
- Freshman Daniel O'Meara joins sophomore Anthony Novellano to form an incredibly deep goalkeeping unit. Wilkinson noted that the trio, along with MacGregor, have been deepest positional group on the team during the spring. All three have been playing at an incredibly high level.
"Having graduated such a great group of defenders, many of whom played significant minutes for four years, it has been a really competitive year with players looking to fill those roles of the departed seniors," Wilkinson said. "The environment that has resulted because of that competition level has made the entire team better and Coach Scarcello has done a tremendous job of bringing along a new group of players on the defensive side of the ball. We are excited to see the collaboration defensively of experienced returners along and a strong group of talented freshmen."
"In addition, we feel really confident in our group of specialists at Goalie and Face-Off, the depth and leadership at those positions is as strong as its been in a long time."
