Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/9/20
From Press Release
Under the direction of ninth-year head coach Taylor Wray, the Saint Joseph’s men’s lacrosse squad is set to open the 2020 season on the road against St. Bonaventure today at 4 p.m at the Buffalo Bills ADPRO Training Facility in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Saint Joseph’s returns 26 letterwinners, including eight starters, and adds 24 newcomers, including 18 true freshmen, this spring.
The facility received a massive upgrade last year when Terry and Kim Pegula committed $18 million to add 25,000 square feet of space for the NFL team’s use. Sunday’s contest will mark the first NCAA Division I game at the facility.
Space will be limited to approximately 500 fans inside the facility; there are no permanent seats and fans may bring lawn chairs. There will not be an entrance fee.
A live stream of the game will not be made available. Live stats will be provided through GoBonnies.sbu.edu.
On the offensive end of the field, Saint Joseph’s returns 87.8 percent of its goal scoring production from a year ago. Returners with 10 or more goals from last spring include junior attackman Nate Patterson (18g), sophomore attackman Ryan Doran (18g), junior attackman Shane Fable (14g), junior midfielder Austin Strazzulla (11g), junior attackman Matt Tufano (10g), and junior midfielder Evan Campbell (10g).
The defensive end of the field will be led by a veteran group of seniors, as Mike Adler returns for his third year between the pipes, Tyler Makar returns for his third year of anchoring the close defensive group, and Liam Hare (Spring-Ford) returns for his second year as SJU’s top long stick midfielder.
Coming off of the most successful freshman season a Hawk has ever seen at the X, 2019 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year and 2020 Inside Lacrosse NEC Preseason Team selection Zach Cole (Lenape-NJ) is set to enter his second year as SJU’s primary face-off specialist.
Coach Wray shared his thoughts on the upcoming season with SJUHawks.com.
What are your expectations for the team this season?
“I expect our guys to focus on getting better each day. I expect them to be selfless and fully engaged and have a disciplined approach to everything we do. We return a large core of contributors from a season ago, and I believe we can be competitive in our non-conference games and within the NEC. There’s no secret here, we want to win the NEC title, but we also aren’t foolish enough to think that you do that by talking about it. It’s about putting in the work on a daily basis and coming together over the course of an entire season.”
What games are you looking forward to in the non-conference slate?
“All of them! We only have 14 regular-season games. Seven non-conference games. Every opportunity we have to compete against another team is a thrill, and we are pumped for each one. The Philly 4 Lacrosse Classic is a pretty cool event for the lacrosse community in our area. Playing two great opponents in Drexel and Penn in the same weekend presents an incredible challenge for our team.”
What is your outlook for Northeast Conference play?
“The 2020 Northeast Conference is going to be as competitive as ever. The new divisional format is going to something different. It’s pretty neat that we are a part of the first conference ever to form two divisions and create an East-West playoff picture. The addition of a fifth team to the conference play-off and the fourth place vs. fifth place team playing a Tuesday game to gain access to the traditional Thursday/Saturday tournament will make the final regular-season games incredibly exciting as teams jockey for position. Finishing in the top three just became much bigger advantage than in years past. It will be very interesting to see how things play out.”
What do you like from your returners?
“I think our returners approached the off-season with the right mindset. They have been working hard, trying to ensure they aren’t the same players they were a year ago. I believe the experience gained last season will pay dividends. A lot of guys who hadn’t played many minutes got to learn on the fly. Hopefully it gives them confidence to do more for us this spring. I feel like we are deeper and more competitive at every position, and that is keeping our guys on their toes each day at practice. When you have someone nipping at your heels, it can provide a little extra spark to make sure you keep improving. That has been the case for both our upperclassmen and new players.”
What are your early impressions of the newcomers?
“I have been very impressed with our freshman class and some of the new faces we have on our roster. Don’t be surprised to see some guys out there you haven’t heard of before. While we return a veteran group, we are going to have some new players who are going to play a ton for us and make an immediate impact.”
