BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University men's lacrosse squad is set to start the 2022 season with a non-conference match versus Lebanon Valley College on Wednesday, February 23 at 3:30 p.m. on John Makuvek Field.
Head Coach Dave Carty, who is in his seventh season with a 38-38 record and his 20th year as a collegiate coach, returns 29 players from last year's team that reached the Landmark Conference Tournament for the first time in program history.
The Greyhounds return a pair of Landmark All-Conference players with sixth-year senior defender Jimmy Schicke returning after earning his fourth All-Conference honor and third First Team accolade in 2021 and senior midfielder Zach Bergeron back after making the All-Conference Team last spring. Schicke has 224 ground balls, 82 caused turnovers, eight points, three goals and five assists in 55 career matches, all of them in the starting lineup with 60 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers in 2021, while Bergeron was fourth on the squad in scoring last year with 14 goals and five assists to go with 21 ground balls and seven caused turnovers in a total of 18 matches.
Senior attack Connor James is Moravian's top returning scorer with 36 goals and 12 assists last season to go with 23 ground balls, and he has 59 goals, 13 assists and 43 ground balls in his career while senior attack Griffin LeBlond is back after 25 goals and eight assists last spring and 37 goals and ten assists in 20 matches. Senior attack Nick Nolder has seven goals and 12 assists in 2021 while sophomore attack Trevor Dzama had six goals and six assists last season.
Senior midfielder Ben Walek returns in the face-off circle, where he went 77-of-165 last season to go with 39 ground balls and an assist while junior midfielder Shane Cassel added three goals last year. Sophomore midfielder Joey Furino contributed two goals and an assist last spring while junior midfielder Jack Bakey had two goals. Senior midfielder Kevin Berlin and sophomore attack Brennan Fluehr both had a goal and an assist in 2021.
Defensively, the Greyhounds return both goalies from 2021. Junior Sean DeMott registered 151 saves, 15 ground balls and a 5-7 record in 703 minutes last season while sophomore Avery Napolitano had four saves in 17 minutes of action. Sophomore defender Jacob Stetson had 19 ground balls last season while senior defender Nathan Hannis added six ground balls. Sophomore defender Matt Baer also had four ground balls last year while senior RJ Guffy added depth on the defense.
Watch a season preview video including interviews with Coach Carty, James and Bergeron below.
