Conference Previews for the 2025 Season - Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC)

Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Sentrum, and with me as always is the man now known as the real podcast co-host, Danny Moran.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

D2's real, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

I knew you'd pick up on it right away.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

D2 is real. That's a good opening.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

That was my hashtag on our last post.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Yeah, man. D2 is real. D2 is real. It is good for you.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

We're just gonna keep on saying that. Keep just keep on saying that. That's a good one, man. Good one.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

How's it going tonight in Northern Virginia?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

It's going fine, man. I can't complain, you know. Uh we're uh it's just it's it's just that time getting colder. And we always talk about the weather on about this point, getting colder. Uh and uh, but still it's not too bad, and we're enjoying things as we're getting ready for all the holidays.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yeah, it was a nice day today, actually in New York. It was in like the mid-50s, it wasn't too bad.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

No, nice sunny day, not too bad. And today, it's always good when we get together, you and me, to talk about another conference.

CACC Preview

SPEAKER_00 1:24

This time, Danny, it's the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, otherwise known as the CACC.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Yeah, the CACC. A little hard-working blue-collar type of uh conference, wouldn't you say?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah, well, it's interesting, Danny. Every time we do this preview, the last couple years, we thought there'd be several teams vying for the championship. And it's kind of fluctuated. Two years ago, Georgian Court, as it ended up, was at the top. Last year, Wilmington at the top. And both years, you and I said we picked one of those two teams to win the whole thing, leaving Chestnut Hill out. And every year, Chestnut Hill just comes back and wins the CACC championship. Now, now this year, Danny, it's AQs. So will that change things? Will someone be able to unseat them? Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yeah, it's hard. Chestnut Hill Griffins located in Philly. Yeah. Coach Jim DeCarlo, the defensive guru, uh, went 11-4 last year, 7-1 in conference. Their only conference loss was to Wilmington, a 10-8 loss.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yeah, just yeah. So uh then they turned around and beat them in the championship handily, 17-8.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah, put a spanking on him. And me and you both did a lot of crow after that because we both we both had Wilmington beating the win and winning that one. But um, hey, like I said, uh DiCarlo, he's a defensive guru, and his teams are played tough defense, and they're good squads.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Um, they're they're very good. Now, just to set the stage here, this is one team where they they're out of conference schedule. Their conference schedule or their schedule for 2025 is not out yet, and their roster for 2025 is not out yet. So we're going based on really their roster from last year. Now, what I see, Danny, is they actually lose a lot on D, but bring back a good number on offense.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Right. I was just gonna say that. Yeah, they lose, they lose veteran uh leadership on the defensive side of the ball for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

100%. RJ Rabicki, LSM Chase Snyder, Kyle Gartnermeyer, Dan Grubb, who was critical for them most times, and their goalkeeper, Julius Sorino.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Yeah, face-off guy, Brandon Bergheyer. Yeah, he's gone. Then they lost Kay Johnson on offense, his his 45 points.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Right, right. Now they do keep on offense number one score, Noah Hammond, with 38 goals, 21 assists. He was only a sophomore last year. Number three, Sam Slater, and number four, Jack Ballerini. So if you look at it, Jake Ballerini. Thank you, thank you, Jake Ballerini. If you look at it, you did, yeah. I helped him. I'm just helping him through the process when he's he was just a freshman last year in the number four scorer, dude.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

The kid can play. Ballerini's good, man. He was only a freshman attack on a team that had a pretty good attack last year. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

And he was able to put up 34 points as a freshman. I know that's that's a real contribution. So I look at it from the offensive side, they're okay. They are okay. But Coach DiCarlo has got some work cut out for him on the defensive side and special teams. Now, on defense, they are returning Evan Farlow, their LSM. He had 40 ground balls, 10 cost turnovers, and two defenders slash LSM players, uh, Daniel Myers and Silas Charles. So I think they're kind of the dual-hatted because where are they gonna slot him, right? Are they gonna slot him in close D? Are they gonna keep him as a secondary to maybe Evan Farlow at LSM? He's got a few tools to work with, but he's gotta he's really gotta work on building that defense.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Yeah, I like to see, you know, like again, like you said, they they didn't update their roster yet. So we don't know what kind of freshman class they have coming in and what positions they're at. Yeah. But um, you know, I my question is who's coming in at face-off now? Adam Daly, the junior, at 67% last year, who got some burn, and also Kevin Con Conway. He's he's a sophomore this year. He was at 60%. He got a little bit of burn. And who's gonna start at goalie? Right. You know, so they got some big shoes to fill, you know, in the specialist spots at face-off and a goalie. But you know what? They were better than most of their opponents in in most categories last year. Their man up was at 35%, they cleared at 85%, their face-off was at 50%.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Right. The goals per game were up to 12, and and their GAA was only uh 6.9 goals against average. So yeah, their defense is tough, man. And I will tell you this: you name you said it. Jim DiCarlo is a defensive guru. He's gonna have their defense clicking by the end of the year. When they get into the tournament with the CACC, he said to us once, and I totally believe this you can you can beat his defense once. But if I play you again, if he plays that same team again, he has his defense dialed in to stop them. Look what happened with Wilmington. They lose by two and then hold them to only eight goals in the CACC championship.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, yeah. Like again, that that was kind of surprising in that championship game last year. But then again, it wasn't because Chestnut Hill had won the two previous the two previous championships. But you know what? They again, their defense, you know, like you said, dialed it in. And coach always has the Griffins playing really well. I don't like we don't know they're out of conference schedule right now. So again, my question is again, they I think they lose veteran leadership on defense. You're gonna have a lot of shoes to fill in that role. Who's gonna get the start at goalie? Did they bring a new kid in, you know? Uh right. Who's gonna who's gonna get you know face off? Are they gonna go with these guys or did they bring a new guy in?

SPEAKER_00 7:53

So yeah, luckily they've got some choice and face-off. I think goalie is is the question mark because you know their their goalie last year had all the starts, right? And not much minutes for anyone else. So um, yeah, so but like I said, I'm not gonna bet against them whatsoever. I'm I'm not gonna do that this year. I I think I think they will have some challenges at the beginning of the season, depending on who they have and they're out of conference.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Well, it's definitely gonna be different for them losing what they got on defense. You know, the defense, when you have a defense that's dialed in like that, they know who the hot guy is, they know where to be, they know the slide packages. Now you're working a new group in. They they know each other's tendencies, like you said. It might take a little bit. Let's see what happens with Chestnut Hill. Uh again, I think that veteran leadership on defense takes a hit. Totally agree.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

All right, who do you want to go to next?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Might as well go to the to the Wilmington Wildcats. I mean, you know, this team's up coach Christian Zwickert. He's been nothing less than uh Stellar since he's been at Wilmington. Um, located in Wilmington, Delaware. Yeah. That's right. Right on the other side of the bridge. Uh 11 and 4 last year overall.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Great season and 8-0 in conference. Yeah, they had a big turnaround from 2023, where they didn't play. Remember, in 2022, they were like close to getting into the NCAAs and then lost in the finals for their championship. Right. So we thought they were going to be hot. They they kind of dialed it back a little bit. They did not have a great 2023. 2024 was a great season for them. They lost to Mercyhurst, Pace, and Frostburg only by one in Baltimore. I went to that game. Really good game. They did.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yeah, Mercyhurst was number 14, Pace was number 13, and Frostburstburg was 19.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

In the country.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Yeah, they were ranked. Yeah. So and they beat Lake Erie Malloy and they ran the table in the CACC, as you said. So now their key non-conference schedule for 2025, Coach gave us a couple of teams, Malloy, Pace, and Frostburg again at Hopkins. So those are the key ones he's dialing in for. So and look at their team stats. You talked about it for Chestnut Hill. They had their goals per game shot up to 17.3 last year.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah. And and they dropped their goals against to 12.1. Their face-off was up to 59%. They cleared at 81%. Man, save percentage is right. And then save percentage is probably where they still need some improvement. They were at 47%. I'm sure they want to do that. I think they need to clean up some of their turnovers too.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

All great numbers. But but um dun dun dun. Here comes the sledgehammer, Cap. They lose 246 points on offense. Yeah.

unknown 10:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Miles Krauss, Jacob Herman, TJ Caton or Caton, and Logan Stinson all gone. Logan Stinson with 63 goals and 16 assists. And Jacob Herman flipped that. He had 41 assists.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Logan Stinson was an all-American last year. Yeah. Yeah. He had 80 points. And they lose Herman's 63. They lose Krauss's 58. They lose TJ Catens 45. That's a lot of offensive firepower to lose, Kev.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Yeah, I totally agree. They returned some young talent with Earl Carter and Josh Weston, but that's there, there are a lot of big shoes to fill on the offensive side.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Yeah, I mean, I think you're going to see a completely different Wilmington team this year. I think I don't know what to think. It's interesting. Josh, Josh Wetson had a good year. He had 30, you know, 40 points, 38 goals and two assists. But all these other guys drop off big time, you know. Right. Like Gagliono had 10 goals and four assists. I mean, he got goals. He's coming back. Are these guys good enough to replace 246 goals, man?

SPEAKER_00 12:14

And here's what's interesting. They are pulling in a bunch of uh transfers. Kyle Parker from CSU Pueblo, a MIDI, Andrew Zubak from CSU Pueblo, their leading score at attack. Cannel Ward, uh Hartford Community College, MIDI, Cole Hamburger, Essex Community College, MIDI. So they've got some guys with experience at the college level coming in, but they're gonna have to like be there for them almost immediately. Really dial, and it's not even so much, it's them gelling together.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Well, that's it. Chemistry. Chemistry. You know, hey, coach Wickett's a good coach. He's gonna have these guys, I'm sure they'll be you know pretty good, but again, uh it's it's not it's not easy to replace 246 goals, God. I know Stinson was an animal last year. Oh, yeah. An animal. Like he he was almost unstoppable. You know, he was he was getting goals at will. It's hard to replace a guy like that.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Right. And then what's but and what's interesting, even more astounding, those four guys you mentioned, we're you're basically at 50 plus points per person. Yeah. And that's what makes that so difficult, then, is they've got plenty of options. And and so now this year they're gonna have to reload with new options. You know, if you get down to one or two guys that are if you if you just got to say, like we talked about Josh Weston and maybe one other, and the other guys don't step up, the transfers and maybe some freshmen or whatever, then it becomes a little bit easier for defenses to to go after you.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Well, like I said, Coach Swickert kind of knows what he's doing. I'm sure the transfers are good. You know, it's good to get those guys that got a couple of years under their belt, you know. Um, community college kids usually got two years at least under their belt, right? Exactly. Exactly. You know, and Hartford Community College is a pretty decent um lacrosse community college.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Two two-time uh uh NJC AA winners.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah, not a joke, not a joke at all. So, you know what? I think there's a lot of lot of questions there on, you know, when you bring these guys in, are they gonna chemistry or are they gonna say, hey, give me the ball? I gotta go. It's my it's gonna be my team. You know, how's that gonna all relate to play on the field? Right. You know, team ball wins games, you know, when you move the ball and yeah, and and everybody gets touches, gets the defense to move and gives you better opportunities to score the rock. So I I think it's gonna be some questions for the Wilmington Wildcats this year, particularly on offense. If you put a face off guy, Connor Widmile and Carnell Lofton, who kind of split time at face-off last year, they come back. Yeah, um, sophomore goalie Daniel Flynn comes back. He was at 46%. You know what he's gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Only a freshman last year, right? So now he's right, he's he's learning. And and 46% ain't bad as a freshman.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

What do I always say about freshmen coming into that sophomore year? They're bigger, better, stronger, faster, smarter. Okay. There's so much, there's so much growth between that freshman and sophomore year. He's gonna be a ton better, I'm sure. And they still got uh senior defender Gunnar Setter coming back.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

So yeah, you know and they've got Quinn Tracy and Ryan McCreary also coming back. So I think they've got a better core on D.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

They'll be formidable. There'll be a formidable squad. I just don't know if you're gonna see that offensive 17-4.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

That's exactly what I was gonna say. That may drop, but they maybe also drop their goals against.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

All right, let's move on to Georgian Court. Right. Yeah, the Lions, Lakewood, New Jersey, head coach Mickey Hover. They were nine and eight last year, Danny. Six and three in conference, a little bit of a drop off from the year before. They lost to Mercy of Delphi and Pace, all top 20 teams, though.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yeah, well, Mickey always puts a big schedule together for George and Court, you know. Yeah, they're located in Lake Willow, New Jersey, yeah, blue-collar town. Um, again, Coach Hover really does a great job year in and year out with this team. They're always above 500. They always do well in conference, and they always put a killer out of conference schedule together. Always, always.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Now, I think this year they're out of conference, though, Danny, is a little more balanced. What do we got? It starts off really tough. A Delphi and then Mercy. Then they've got UDC, St. Thomas Aquinas, AIC, and they finish up with pace and assumption. So once again, a Delphi, Mercy, and Pace in there. And they've got a few others that they should do well with. So it's a pretty well-balanced out-of-conference for them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

I don't know if Mercy's gonna be the same team this year either. Right. Right. You know what? Again, Coach Hober always puts a pretty good out-of-conference schedule together. Yep. And you know, when you put the big boys on there, they're just gonna make your team better. They know that, they've been through that, they've seen games like that before. It gets them ready for their conference. Yeah, it does. It does. I think Coach Hover, you know, he's been around a long time, Cav. You know, he's you know he's a good D2 guy, and he knows the ins and outs.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

And right there in the heart of Jersey. Yeah, he they they're gonna do well, I think, again this year. They're returning 41 players, including Brett Bridges at attack and leading scorer with 60 points, Joe Murphy at defense, Talon Smith. I think is good. I think they lose talent. They lose talent, they do lose talent. And he loses really good.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah. But they've basically four four out of their top five scorers come back.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Right. Right. They've got James Sanford, Vincent Burns, and and Brett Bridges, along with Doug McKenzie, Matt Dorian, and and Joe Zer at attack midfield. And then middies I got Tyler Burns, Harrison Jordan. They've got a lot of players coming back.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

And our men in goal. Yeah. Vinnie Vinny Burkard, man. He's he seems only a butt, a sophomore, a freshman. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

He was a sophomore last year. I think he's a junior this year coming in.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

He was at 53% last year. So again, with Bridges, McKenzie, Burns, and Sanford coming back. But Bridges had 49 goals and 19 assists, Cap. Not too shabby. You know, so but they lose face-off guy uh Kenny Garrett and Justin I. Yeah. So, but again, a good portion of that team comes back, and I'm sure Mickey's gonna have you know a good freshman class coming in. I think they're gonna be right there.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

I agree. I agree. I mean, if you look on the the defensive side, Aiden Morana, defensive middle, they've got three LSMs coming back: Max Dennington, Brendan Barnes, Ryan Kane, on on Close D Joe Murphy, Michael Schoen, Frank Jordan, Hunter, Rendos. They they've they're just loaded still. They didn't lose much. No, no. Like you said, I think the big question mark is probably face-off.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah. Yeah. That's about it, Ben. But a good portion of this team comes back again, six and two in conference last year, and nine and eight. Don't forget they played Mercy at Delphi Pace. Yeah. Yeah. You know, some of the big boys in Division II, you know, guys that went to the NCAA tournaments, you know.

unknown 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

So just think of it.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Well, last year they had lost a bunch of seniors, especially on the offensive side, and they were more from a leadership perspective. I think that dropped them back a little bit, but now they're they're guys that were sophomores last year, and on the offensive side are now juniors. They've been there for playing since they were freshmen. I don't think that's going to be a problem. I think they are going to be very dangerous in the CACC this year. I agree. I agree. Okay. What do you think about post? The Eagles? Yeah. And you better get where they're from right this year. We screwed it up last year.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Waterbury, Connecticut. I won't forget that again. Ding ding ding. Exactly. I won't forget that. Coach uh Pat Nannarelli, 10-8 last year for the Post Eagles overall. Five and three in conference. Hey, you know where Waterbury, Connecticut is, it's it's between Hartford and New Haven. I have to look it up. I was like, where the hell is Waterbury?

SPEAKER_00 21:13

I uh I pass right by it every time I go to my old stomping grounds of Springfield, Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Yeah, so it's in between Hartford and New Haven. Okay, so I figured that out. I was like, all right, now I know where Post Eagles are. Hey, they return uh some pretty good guys here, man. Um Midi Tim Keith, 45 goals. Yeah. Senior attack. Yeah. Robbie McGrain, 61 goals, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Oh my God. And then then Ryan Denickey at with 20 25 goals and 24 assists. That's what I had. Almost 50 points. Yeah, yeah. They do lose number three scorer Dylan Heald, who was kind of a mainstay for them for many years, right? He was all conference. He was like the glue of that team, in my opinion. And they also lose Minis, Hayden Heinmann and Noah Piet. Noah Piet, but you look at the people that are keep bringing back and their points. I'm not worried about their offense, I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Yeah. They graduate 13, Cove, and all three goalies. So they're going to be new in the goals.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

So that's, I think, once again, goalie and the rest of the on the close D, because they are returning James Spruel, uh LSM. They definitely lost some depth on the D this season.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Yeah, it's going to be it's going to be different, you know. Like when you lose an all-conference kid on a team that needs points, you know what I mean? Yeah. A team that kind of needs to put points up on the board to hang with the big boys, you know, and and then to lose the three goalies that you've had that have shared minutes over the years, that's a lot in one room to lose in the goalies. So when and graduating so much on the defensive side, um I don't know what to think about the post-Eagles this year. Again, they returned Keep, they returned McGrean, they returned Deneke, uh, junior midfield. Uh, Leighton Cook returns, you know, I don't know. It's gonna be after look and see.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

How about they're out of conference? So they're out of conference. I think this is good for them. They are they they played DeUville, Assumption, Franklin Pierce, AIC, St. Thomas Aquinas, Malloy, and UDC. So, you know, the I in some respects, I think I'd like to see a little bit tougher for Post, but second year for Coach Yannorelli. Their roster was kind of small last year. I don't their new their 2025 roster is not out yet. So I don't know what the numbers are. They're only at about 26 last year, so we got to see if that they build that up. I think they really need to build that up to to be competitive. But look at last year, they were above 500 in both total, you know, schedule and uh and their conference.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Yeah, I don't know if you're gonna see that this year.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

I think it'll be tough. I well, you know, once again, they're gonna do well on the offensive side, but they need numbers, man.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

You know, and they've got to stop the other team from scoring. So they got to put out some defenders out there. They need they need goalies.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

And I think even last year, they've got to get out of the box a little bit more. They they had more penalty minutes than vice their opponents. And I think that that's that's gonna hurt them even more because guess what? Their firepower won't have the ball as much.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Well, then you know that's what happens with not having numbers. Starting at the end of the game, guys getting tired, you can't play with their feet anymore, start using their sticks, getting their sticks high, get that, get that, you know, slashing penalty late in games. You know, happens so often for some of these uh D2 teams that don't have big rosters. You see it happen quite often. They wind up in the box at the end of games. Yeah, the build at the end because they just don't have the legs anymore, you know, and they don't have the depth. So um it's gonna be interesting to see what uh the post and uh Eagles come up with in Coach Yannorelli this year. Um, I don't know if they go 10 and 8 this year, Kev. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

We'll see. They we'll see what they do. I'd like I'd love to see their their roster and see who they brought in, but you know, we'll just have to wait and see how that goes. All right, where do you want to go next? What do you say? We go to Bridgeport, Connecticut.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

All right, staying in the States, staying in the States of Connecticut. Uh the Bridgeport Purple Knights. Yeah, located in located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Coach Steven Tampone uh last year.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

They were seven and eight overall and four and four in conference, and that's a huge jump from their first year, Danny. They were one and twelve in 2023 and oh and seven in conference.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Right. Well, it's only their second, that was only their second year last year in division.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

And that's a big jump, though, in in one year, is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Hell yeah, hell yeah. Now you're getting an another freshman class coming in there. This this this whole team is nothing but freshmen and sophomore. There's a senior scattered in there here and there, but basically two years ago when the purple knights came out, they were all freshmen.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Yeah, they got a couple of uh transfers from Palm Beach Atlantic, where Steven Tempone used to be like their their goalie, Pete Nazario. Right. Uh, you know, they lose he's gone now, he's gone, but they do return their face-off specialist, Connor Cullen. He was at 64 percent. Yeah, yeah. And their top five scores return. Well, Kev, most of the team returns. Yeah, yeah. That's a really good thing when you're gonna yeah, starting D returns. I mean, they don't lose they really what they lost was Pete as a as one of the key contributors, you know.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

And that, you know, look at the I think brought a lot of Pete brought a lot of veteran, you know, leadership.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

100%.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

And then he knew Coach Tampone. Yep. And he knew Coach Tampone, and he knew how to talk to the kids almost as if a coach, if he was another coach on the field.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Yeah, and and you saw them in their team stats how they improved, right? That their face-off was up to 59%, man up to 38%, clears improved to 80% from 68%. And they improved there up to 44 shots per game via the 31.1 the previous year. So yeah, it that comes with just getting used to each other, getting more experience. I think they're just gonna continue to be more competitive in their conference.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Yeah. Um, junior midfielder James Napoli comes back, 29 goals, 27 assists. I know James Napoli. I've watched him play as uh like from eighth grade all through high school. He's a good player. He's he's got a he's aggressive, he's a good midfielder. He's good, you know. He's not afraid to shoot the rock, he's not afraid, got that Long Island physical kind of way to him, you know what I mean, Kev? Yeah, and um he can put the biscuit in the basket. They also bring back Aiden Kirkpatrick and 31 goals and six assists, a junior midfielder, Matt Lavantini. Yeah, what about is is Chris Brandei coming back for goalie? I don't know, but you mentioned face off Connor Collins.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Yeah, so he was a junior last year, so he should be coming back. Now, you know, I does he get the start?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Does he get the start?

SPEAKER_00 29:05

It'll be interesting to see. Because it was basically Pete in every game last year. So we will see who gets a start.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

They had a fresh guy also, but another guy on Bridgeport that reminds me of Tom Forty from Limestone. From Limestone. A kid by the name of Dewey Schoenfelder. Yeah, 25 goals, 26 assists. But he's a ground ball kid, he's a cause turnover kid. Yeah, he's one of those blue-collar kind of does everything kid. Yeah, you know, and again, most of these kids were freshmen and sophomores last year. So now you have some junior leadership on the team, still juniors, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Yeah, they they, I really think, are gonna be a threat this year. And can they really turn it and take and take down a post or Georgian court or Chestnut Hill or a Wilmington?

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Well, that's what I was just gonna get to. They, although their record is formidable, a lot of their wins are against teams with less than 500. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? They, you know, Franklin Pierce was 3-10, St. Thomas Aquinas was 5'11, Dealville was 2 and 14, Holy Family was 21. These are teams that they beat. Right. Okay. So they're not beating the better teams, not yet, anyway. Not yet.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Let's see what they do this year. I would not be surprised if they notch a couple W's in their belt, but with an over 500 team this year.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

I from what I see on their on their um website, they brought in five freshmen and I counted 29 on the roster, if I'm not mistaken. Now, I don't know, even with I think how this team is going to improve, I don't know if 29 is going to get it done.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Right. It's a depth thing again. Right. Yep. Yep, I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

So they'll they'll be formidable. It's again, they're only if they only bring in five guys, I'm surprised at that actually. So I wonder why they didn't bring in some more. You know, from what I saw on the on the I only counted five freshmen.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Yeah, I I'm right with you. I I don't know. That's a small class.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

And and 29 on the roster, you know, I just don't know if that's gonna be enough to take them to that next step to beat those above 500 teams. Very good point. Very good point. So we'll we'll see about um Bridgeport. We'll see about Bridgeport, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

All right, let's move on to the Dominican Chargers, the Dominican University on the East Coast in Orangeburg, New York.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

That's right, Kevin. Located in Orangeburg, New York, the Domingue Dominican Chargers, Coach Shelly Shiner. We have a program. Yeah, he takes over a four and nine squad uh that was two and six in conference. Um, you know what I like about Coach Shiner? 21 years of Keene. Yeah. As a division three head coach.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

And I think brought him to the conference tournament 18 of those 21 years.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

He's been coach of the year several, several times in his conference down there. So Coach Shiner brings a lot of pedigree, Kev. You know, he's been a D3 guy his whole life, and now he moves into the D2 world.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

But like you told us, right? He knows the coaches in this conference because he scrimmaged against them in fallball and probably in January.

unknown 33:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

So it's not like he's coming in and he doesn't know what D2 competition he's going up against. I think they're gonna be interesting. I see them improving this year. He's very excited about the talent. Now he just doesn't have the depth he has, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:22

I I agree with you. I think there's gonna be an exciting kind of feel at Dominican for the first time in a long, long time. They had 34 on their roster, Kev, last year. They're only graduating seven.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

So he said this this roster he's gonna have is in the high 30s. So I I think it's not where he wants to be, but it's better than some of the teams we it's better than Bridgeport. Yeah, if we can get it close to 40. His goal is 50, as we remember. So, Danny, their out of conference for this year is Malloy, DeUville, AIC, Franklin Pierce, UDC, Virginia State, Southern New Hampshire, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Well, you know what? With the returners that they have, they might be able to bump up with two games. Maybe three.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a good out-of-conference. I think that will be that will be a schedule where they actually could, yeah, you're right, they could win a few extra games.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Yeah. And and they might be a better team in conference all around this year, Kev. I I just like what Coach Shiner brings. He brings a lot of pedigree. He knows what it's like to win. He's been a winning coach, he's had you know college programs in good places before. He comes to Dominican, which isn't a bad team, right? Just lacked in numbers in depth in in years past. So if he gets the numbers up to where he wants, I think I think this could be a decent year for Dominican. I really do.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

I totally agree, totally agree. Okay, let's move to Caldwell, the Cougars.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

The Caldwell University Cougars, located in Caldwell, New Jersey, Cap. It's the blue color. That happens. Yeah. Blaze Manate Mantaneo is the uh head coach. We had him on our show a couple of weeks ago.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

Well, that we just talked to him a couple of weeks ago. He we had him on last year, so it's his second year of this program. Remember, he was an assistant under Coach Lopes when Coach Lopes was there for a year. So he is actually building stability and consistency. And like when we talked to him on the phone talking about his team for 2025, I think he said it exactly right. Look, it they're not a team that's gonna build through the transfer portal. They don't have those kind of creds that people that that players are really gonna go there. He is trying to build this with incremental improvement. And remember, this is still a young program. They only got in like 2020, and it's their third head coach. So now he's bringing that stabilizing factor, and he's trying to build slowly. They were four and eight last year and three and five in conference.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Yeah, only 12 games. Yep. Now they still have a small roster. Most teams are playing like 16 games, 17, some of them. Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

They still have a small roster, they're only at 28. But like he said, he's just trying to build it slowly and get it right for the long haul. So it's still gonna be tough for them, but if he can see incremental improvements, that's what he wants.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Kev, they only had 26 on their roster last year, and they graduated nine.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Yeah, so they're gonna have to they they're they're up above the 26 number, from what coach said. Not a lot, but they're it's what they're looking for, Danny, is they're not gonna be a 500 team. Can they win a couple other games? Can they improve in some of their stats?

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Like right.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

That's what they're looking at.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

They've returned some players. Sophomore attack, Owen Tarnowski comes back. 28 goals and eight assists last year. Junior attack, Gavin Starr. Cool name. 14 goals, six assists. Junior Mitchell, Zach Gartfelter comes back. Sophomore goalie, Ethan Shearer at 47%. He comes back. But Kev, we got to admit the Cougars are a work in progress. Totally, totally. Yeah, they need they need to improve in every every category.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

They they do. Interesting. The one thing Coach pointed out is they lose one of their critical offensive players, Jason Stott, where the ball went through all the time. And he actually said with the players coming back and the freshmen stepping up, their offense is actually running smoother. Because they're not standing around waiting for Stott to dodge and to do his thing.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

So you have some more players who get in touches a little bit, and the offense is running a little bit instead of just isolating one guy and watching him play. Right. Which isn't gonna get it done in the division two level.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

No, but what they're looking for is improvement in the in the team stats and to close the gap on scores on the tough teams.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Again, that's what it's gonna be for them this year.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

It's a work in progress.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Yep. Yep. We're maybe in a couple years, you know, if he can build up to that 40-man roster, they'll be more they'll be competitive in the conference. Yeah, yeah, I agree. All right. How about the Golden Falcons of Felician?

SPEAKER_01 38:59

The Felician University Golden Falcons. Located, Kev in Rutherford, New Jersey. Up by MetLife Stadium there. Yeah. Uh Brendan Bonacom in there for a while now. Four and ten last year overall, one and seven in conference. Another small roster team, Kev.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

Yeah. They they I, you know, a couple years ago, I thought they were building and getting their roster. It seemed like they've now been steady state, not only in their wins and losses, but also in their roster size. They were and are extremely young. Their out of conference this year, Danny, is UDC, St. Mike's, Tiffin, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Diouville. I think that out of conference, Danny, is a pretty good mix for them, but it really comes down to kind of what you said. And my question is, can they get their roster up in numbers and they can they really compete?

SPEAKER_01 40:11

Yeah. Again, you know, with small rosters, it's hard to compete at the Division II level, Kev. And you know what? They do have good players there with Jaden Rios and Liam Dunn and Ethan Toddner all the time.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

Yeah, yeah. They've got some really good players. They and some of them that were just freshmen last year. So they are still young and building. It's almost like they had a feels like they they're almost like starting where Bridgeport was a year or two ago.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Yeah, you know, it does. Again, if they can up their roster, get the get the depth that they need. Um, you could see maybe a game or two in improvement again. UDC, St. Michaels, Tippin, St. Thomas, Deuville. Then they open up CACC play against Chestnut Hill. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

Well, but you look at you said that who they're returning on offense, but even a D, they lose LSM Matt Branco, but they return Dominic Sala, who was a transfer last year after spending two years at Western Connecticut, Cole Youngurkeys, Joseph Salentano, and goalkeeper Nick Griebe. So they've got they returned to the game.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

They return a good number. Yeah. Good number of guys.

unknown 41:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

So is it enough? Is it enough? That's what I'm saying. You know?

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Yeah, I agree. If you look at some of their stats, their clears are only at 77%. That kind of shows they're not winning middle of the field. Faceoffs 47%. Only 123 goals, vice 221 for opponents. So there's things that they've got to fix.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

And here's one stat that kind of like really stuck out at me. Sorry for interrupting, but uh they averaged 37 shots a game, but only seven on goal.

unknown 42:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

On average. Like they're not putting the ball on net. So they got to improve, you know. That's that's the bottom line.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Well, let's see where their roster is. And with this core coming back, can they really? I don't think they're gonna threaten the the big dogs, but can they be competitive with that middle of the pack? The Dominicans, the Caldwells, teams at their at their level on this, you know, that's kind of where they want to be.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

They want to say watch out for watch out for Dominican this year a little bit. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_00 42:40

Yeah. All right. Last team in the conference. New last year, the Holy Family Tigers.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Yeah, Holy Family University Tigers. Located in Philly, Kev. That's right. We got two teams in the CACC from Yeah. Coach Noah Morris, uh, two and two and thirteen overall, oh and eight, but it was their first season.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Yeah, and remember, they had a kind of a fit and start as a brand new program. Remember, Daniel Keating was the head coach, he left, and then Noah Morris comes in just in fallball for their first real year. So not a lot of time to get to know the players. And the first year, growing pain, small roster. Their roster is not out yet this year. They were only at 21 last year.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Yeah, 21 roster. That's dope.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

The good news is all their starters should be returning. They're all freshmen. Yeah. Yeah, and their stats were typical of the first year program, right? They only had 28.7 shots per game. Man up was at only 14%, clears at 62%. They got killed in ground ball and turnovers. All the things kind of you'd expect for a small team starting out.

SPEAKER_01 43:58

Kev had twenty one. On the roster. Yeah. How how do you compete? You know, Julian DeFantis went out there and balled his ass off, got 19 goals and 12 assists. James Bienhea, 17 goals, 12 assists. Adam Camille, 18 goals, 15 assists. Brent McCulligan, 13 goals, six assists. Formidable numbers, but on good teams, these are the seventh and eighth scorers down the list. Yeah. You understand? They got outscored last year. 262 to 99. They only scored 99 goals all season, Kevin. Yeah. That's six goals a game. Yeah. They gave up 17 goals. They're only 24% on man up, 41% on face-off. Now, a team needs depth to improve. Four years from now, where is this holy family tiger family gonna be? Because when you're starting a program and building a program from one, you're not gonna get it done in one or two years. No, no unless you're building Duncan, unless you're a coach Duncan and Flagler who start with a club, uh club program. Right. You know, some not too many teams coming in division one, any division, any just a new squad, a new school participating at the division two level with only 21 in the roster is going to take their bumps and bruises.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

Look at we talked about that with the new teams coming in this year, right? Like Emery and Henry, and it's the same thing. The goal is not wins and losses, the goal is it's improvement in other areas to help you build for the second, third, and fourth year.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

100%. And I think you know, a couple of these schools are gonna need those two, three, and four years to get going. Totally agree.

SPEAKER_00 45:51

So if they get the resources and they were able to build their roster over time, they they'll they'll do fine. I think they'll be there. They're just gonna it's gonna take them a while.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

You know, Kev, I was thinking today uh about this conference, and you know, seeing that where most of the schools are located, Central Atlantic, okay? You're near the Philly area, you're near the Maryland area, you're in Jersey, you're in Connecticut, and you're right next to Long Island and New York. How come this conference isn't better with all the players that they have literally in their backyards?

SPEAKER_00 46:31

I think it could come down to resources for the team and the program.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

You know, I just I just think about it. There's so many players from the Philly area in Pennsylvania. There's so many, Jersey's putting out an insane amount of lacrosse players, going to all three, all three divisions. Connecticut puts out an insane amount of lacrosse players.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

But if you players, if you don't have, and I don't know the situation for all the teams, but if you don't have the scholarships to entice kids to come, if if your facilities are not that great. You know, and we talked to when we talked to John Grant Jr., he says that that shouldn't even be a thing. Like it should be what you want to do. Got it, but there are a lot of players that are like, do I want to have go for a team that doesn't have locker rooms? I mean, Dominican just finished their new turf field. That's been in the works for years. I think I think that will help them for recruiting. But then 100% will help them. So I think it's things like that. I don't know the status for every team. We know Wilmington is fully funded. And we had Coach Zwickard on, he talked about that. I think you got teams like Chestnut Hill and Georgian Court that are close to that. I think some of the other teams aren't that aren't resourced as well, would be my guess.

SPEAKER_01 48:00

It might be. It's just surprising, just knowing the caliber of lacrosse players that's in their backyard these schools, you know, and that just to not be a better conference nationally overall.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

Well, what I would say is, and we talked about this off podcast a couple weeks ago. You look at the teams like Georgian Court, Wilmington, Chestnut Hill, right? Those are damn good teams. It's the bottom half of the conference that's not there yet. And so the real question is when they get to AQs, is that going to raise the bar for every team for recruiting, for one thing? Because now they have a chance. I think it could in years coming. Not this year, but if they can build and say, look at this is a conference, the what Coach Schneiner said. He basically said, I think it's more wide open than some other conferences, and we can get there. All right. So if you can kind of get that from a recruiting thing and you can bring in players and say, I have a chance at Caldwell to go to the NCAA because we if we can get ourselves competitive against Chestnut Hill and Georgian Court Wilmington, I think that is going to raise the bar for the whole conference. The other thing I would say is I'm really interested to see whoever wins the tournament and gets that qualifier, how they compare. Because you remember you've looked at Georgian Court a year, two years ago, Wilmington last year, Wilmington three years ago, Chestnut Hill always wins the tournament in the end. So, but they're they're just about scratching at the surface and in and out of the top 20.

unknown 49:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Right? Those three teams in and out of top 20. So what can they do when they get to the tournament? I think that will be telling as well.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

Yeah, well, you know, we're used to seeing so many of the same teams in the NCAA tournament over the years, you know. From the north, it was always Lemoyne, Adelphi, Mercyhurst, you know, and uh Mercy, and in the South, it was Limestone and Wingate and Lenore Ryan and Tampa. And, you know, now you're gonna see different teams in these tournaments playing each other. I don't know. I don't know. You know, like again, just thinking about this conference, just thinking about, you know, I'm from this area, Cap. You know, I'm from the New York area. I know what kind of lacrosse players are in the Philly area. They're just damn good high school lacrosse in Philly and in Bethlehem and in parts of Pennsylvania, even out west near Erie. They're playing good lacrosse out there in the high school levels. Jersey might have some of the best lacrosse in the country now. Look at Lawrenceville. Lawrenceville sending all Division I school top, top schools, kids are going, coming out of Lawrenceville high school in Jersey and going to Hopkins and going to Duke, and they're going to all the big schools. So, and then like again, Connecticut as well. And you're right next to Long Island in New York. It's an hour drive over the bridge, and you're at some tournament on Long Island. You know what I mean? So I'm just I was just saying to myself, this is a conference that should be better overall.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

Well, like I said, I think I think it comes to like I said, I think it comes to resources, and I think this AQ could change things around. Yeah, I think so too.

SPEAKER_01 51:27

Let's see what happens. But over in all, overall, overall, it's a blue-collar type of, you know, New Jersey, Philly, Connecticut, that hard physical, cold weather type of NE10 type teams, you know, are in this conference. And uh is this the year that Chestnut Hill makes the NCAA tournament? Is this the year that Wilmington takes a hit losing so many players? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 51:53

They lose their 246 points. You know, does is is is Georgian Court then step up because they've bring you back a lot and they were a fairly young team.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

It's it's going to be does Dominican make a move this year, having a coach like Coach Shiner, and you know, getting their their depth is moving up. You know, they're getting more players to come to Dominican now.

SPEAKER_00 52:17

And so I think you watch how this season goes and you watch how they play each other in conference and then watch out for the conference tournament, which I always think is a really fun conference to watch, their their conference championship.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

So, right now, if you had to pick somebody, who would you pick?

SPEAKER_00 52:40

I'm picking Chestnut Hill. I told you this last year. I am not going against and not picking Chestnut Hill. I don't care if they lost all their defense. I'm picking Chestnut Hill. I'm going to stick right there.

SPEAKER_01 52:52

Yeah, it's kind of hard not to when they've won three in a row, right? Yeah. But I think I think my surprise team in this in this conference is going to be Dominican, New York, Chargers with Coach Shiner.

SPEAKER_00 53:04

I think you watch out for uh uh actually Georgian court too. Yeah, George and Court's, you know, Coach Hober puts out good teams.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

He gets good players. They they and they play tough out of conference schedule. They play the Adelphis, they play the paces, they play those.

SPEAKER_00 53:20

Coach Swickert will be emailing or texting us very soon after he listens to this too. I can guarantee it. That's all right. I don't think if I go to the Hopkins game again this year, he may not talk to me.

SPEAKER_01 53:31

Don't worry, Coach. He's a good guy, right? He's a good guy, he'll talk to you. He'll be all right. All right, now that's that's the way the conferences are, you know. You have your up years, you have your down years. Yeah, yeah. You know, you have years that recruit really well, and then some years you're like, oh man, I didn't get those three players I wanted. You know, and yeah, you know, it's a it's a tough game in the college coaching game. It's a tough game. It is and to keep your program.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

That's why I'm behind the mic, Danny. I'm just a mouthpiece.

SPEAKER_01 54:01

You know, I think to keep your program, you know, relevant year in and year out, it's a hard thing to do. It is, it is, without a doubt. Especially with the portal now, getting kids to stay. You know, you recruited this kid for two and a half, a year and a half. You watched him play, you went to his games, he comes to campus, he's not getting burned right away, and he leaves. You know, and you like as a coach, that's got to piss you off a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

Yeah, I don't know if that's as prevalent, especially in the D2 ranks. I mean, I think players may be leaving a little bit for that. We've talked to several coaches about that. I think also with the portal, a lot of players in a lot of coaches in D2 are looking at it as an augmentation, not their main way they're gonna build their teams. Whereas you see it in D1 basketball and football high levels.

SPEAKER_01 54:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:51

I mean, it's it's it's shuffling the cards almost, shuffling the deck almost every year. I don't think you're gonna see that here, but I think a lot of these teams in the CACC who are not at the top, they've really got to build their rosters and and then be more competitive. And I'm hoping the whole AQ helps them in their argument to do that. Yeah, me too.

Shout Outs

SPEAKER_00 55:15

Okay, Danny, now it's time to close out. Do you have any shout-outs for this week?

SPEAKER_01 55:20

Yeah. Shout out to Coach Gordon Purdy, named uh Division II Coach of the Year. I had that one on mine too. What else you got? Coach Joe Catt from Delphine University, named Assistant Coach of the Year. Okay, and Coach Mariano. There we go. What did he get? The Tommy.

SPEAKER_00 55:40

He got the USILA Howdy Myers Man of the Year.

SPEAKER_01 55:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:45

It's that man goes above and beyond beyond normal efforts. And we know for sure that they picked the right man this year for that.

SPEAKER_01 55:56

You ever see coaches' Instagram?

SPEAKER_00 55:58

All the time.

SPEAKER_01 56:00

He's amazing, man. He's on the field all the time. Whether it's youth, whether it's high school, whether it's girls, because his daughter plays, and then he's only gonna be a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 56:12

He's also and he's also promoting nonprofits like 15 for life. And he's also making all of his kids games.

SPEAKER_01 56:20

Yeah, he's quite the guy, man.

SPEAKER_00 56:22

Yeah, so well deserved for all three of them. Coach Purdy, Coach Cat, and Coach Mariano. Big huge shout-outs. You and I had the exact same shout-outs listed, and we didn't even talk to each other about it.

SPEAKER_01 56:36

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 56:39

It's a great note to end on.

SPEAKER_01 56:41

So for tonight, Danny. The star is a line.

SPEAKER_00 56:44

The stars aligned. But for tonight, that's a wrap. That's a wrap, yeah.