BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University men's lacrosse team is ready to begin the 2024 season with a non-conference match versus Lebanon Valley College on John Makuvek Field on Wednesday, February 21 with action beginning at 4:00 p.m.
Head Coach Dave Carty, who is in his ninth season with a 52-52 record and his 22nd year as a collegiate coach, returns 31 players from last year's 7-8 squad.
The Greyhounds return one Landmark All-Conference player with junior midfielder Aaron Judge back after being on the Landmark All-Conference Second Team a year ago after scoring a team-high 35 goals to go with six assists, 21 ground balls and five caused turnovers.
Graduate student attack Connor James returns for a sixth year, and he was on the Landmark All-Conference Second Team in 2022. Last spring, James had 23 goals, seven assists, 16 ground balls and five caused turnovers despite missing five matches, and James enters the season second all-time with 129 goals and fourth in school history with 158 points.
Senior attack Trevor Dzama led the Blue & Grey last spring with 37 assists and 57 total points as he added 20 goals and 17 ground balls, and Dzama begins the year just 12 assists shy of becoming the second player in program history to reach 100 career assists. Sophomore attack Vincent Devito had 29 goals, ten assists and 16 ground balls a year ago while junior attack Dan Kelly had 12 goals, nine assists, 20 ground balls and six caused turnovers. Senior attack Brennan Fluehr added ten goals and five assists while junior midfielder Nick Sullivan contributed ten goals.
Junior midfielder Aden Moskovitz netted six goals to go with four assists, 27 ground balls and eight caused turnovers while junior midfielder Steven Salica recorded seven goals, an assist and 17 ground balls. Sophomore attack Ryan Kokoszka netted six goals with an assist while junior defender Austin Hittle and senior long stick midfielder Matt Baer both registered two goals to go with 28 ground balls. Hittle added nine caused turnovers while Baer had five caused turnovers.
Senior midfielder Joey Furino contributed a pair of assists while senior midfielder Jack Swistak and sophomore midfielder RJ Toogood both scored one goal.
Junior Gannon Mesko returns in the face-off circle, where he went 190-of-357 last season to go with 71 ground balls and a goal while senior Connor Estes was 24-for-46 on face-offs with ten ground balls and two assists.
Defensively, the Greyhounds return three goalies from 2023. Junior Thomas Lee registered 125 saves, 40 ground balls, five caused turnovers and a 7-8 record in 732 minutes last season while senior Avery Napolitano had 19 saves in 125 minutes of action and junior Sean Boyer had seven saves in 42 minutes of play. Junior defender Jason Levy contributed a goal, an assist, 34 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers and junior midfielder Kyle Weiss had 32 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers last spring and sophomore defender James Panico added 21 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers.
Watch a season preview video including interviews with Coach Carty, Dzama and Levy below.
