POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The 2021 Marist men's lacrosse schedule was officially revealed Friday afternoon. This year's slate features eight games against MAAC opponents, including one preliminary game that won't count towards the MAAC Standings.
"This year has presented our program with obstacle after obstacle and our staff cannot begin to express the amount of pride we have in our players," Head Coach
Keegan Wilkinson said. "We are all thrilled to get back on the field and compete, specifically to represent for the members of the 2020 team that had their senior seasons cut short and were not presented the opportunity to finish out their careers. It is the men that won't be in the locker room with us this spring that we will dedicate all of our effort to, and during that journey we are hopeful to put ourselves in a position to compete for a conference championship. While we will certainly miss our traditionally challenging out of conference games that routinely appear on our regular season schedule, we could not be more grateful for the opportunity to compete in this unique 8 game conference only format. We are 13 weeks away from the conference tournament and the challenges ahead of us are great, but I know the team and senior leadership is as hungry as ever to compete in a manner that makes everyone in the Marist Lacrosse family proud."
As Wilkinson mentioned, the 2021 schedule is much different then ever before. No non-conference games will be played this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, so instead the slate has been shortened just to feature MAAC opponents. The Red Foxes will play eight regular season games, seven of which will count towards the MAAC standings. The first game of the season, which will also serve as the team's home opener at Tenney Stadium, will be against Detroit Mercy on Mar. 6. This will be considered a preliminary game and not count towards the conference standings, although it will count towards the team's overall record.
The Red Foxes will square off against rival Quinnipiac in a rematch of the 2019 MAAC Championship for their first official MAAC game of the year on Saturday, Mar. 13. Marist has been eagerly awaiting this rematch with the Bobcats, as they were scheduled to take on Quinnipiac in the 2020 MAAC opener just a few days prior to the season being canceled.
The team's first road game of the season will take place on Saturday, Mar. 20, as the Red Foxes travel to West Long Branch, NJ to take on the Monmouth Hawks. The month of March will be closed out with a home game against the Canisius Golden Griffins on Saturday, Mar. 27.
April signals a three-game road trip for Marist, first traveling to Loudonville, NY for a duel with the Siena Saints on Saturday, Apr. 3. From there, the Red Foxes will trek to Olean, NY to square off against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies on Saturday, Apr. 10. The road trip will be finished with an excursion to Detroit, MI for a game against Detroit Mercy on Saturday, Apr. 17.
The Red Foxes will return home to Tenney Stadium on Saturday, Apr. 24 to close out the regular season against the Manhattan Jaspers. The weekend of Apr. 30 will be held open, in the event any games need to be rescheduled.
The MAAC Tournament will take place from May 6-9 this season. The host and format of this year's postseason is yet to be determined.
Mar. 6 – vs Detroit Mercy (Preliminary Game / Won't Count Towards MAAC Standings)
Mar. 13 – vs Quinnipiac
Mar. 20 – at Monmouth
Mar. 27 – vs Canisius
Apr. 3 – at Siena
Apr. 10 – at St. Bonaventure
Apr. 17 – at Detroit Mercy
Apr. 24 – vs Manhattan
Apr. 30 – Makeup Date
May 6-9 – MAAC Championships (Format: TBD)
