The Vermont men's lacrosse team opens the 2015 campaign this Saturday at No. 14 Penn State. The Catamounts and Nittany Lions will faceoff in University Park, Pennsylvania, with action beginning at 12 p.m.
Click here to access live stats of the contest.
ABOUT VERMONTThe Catamounts bring back eight of their top 10 scorers and 67% of their total scoring from a season ago. Vermont improved its win total for the second consecutive year in 2014 under Head Coach
Ryan Curtis, who's in his ninth season at the helm of the program. The Catamounts averaged 10.08 goals per game and ranked second in the nation in caused turnovers per contest (10.15) and fifth in penalty kill pct. (.746).
Reigning America East Rookie of the Year,
Ian MacKay, who became the third player in program history to win the award last season, returns for his sophomore year in 2015. MacKay led all Catamounts in points (42) and finished second in both goals (28) and assists (14), while tallying multi-point performances in nine of the team's final 10 games. Middies
Andrew Buckanavage (16 g, 4 ast) and
Nick Bartlett (11 g, 10 ast) will look to improve upon their breakout years in 2014 after both players posted career highs in all three scoring categories. Buckanavage ranked third on the squad in goals, and Bartlett led the team with two game-winning tallies. Goalie
Justin Rosenberg returns for his junior season after finishing 2014 with the second highest save percentage (.513) among conference goalies. Rosenberg registered five wins and posted a 10.63 goals against average during his sophomore campaign.
CATAMOUNT NEWCOMERSVermont added 19 players, including four attackmen, six midfielders, two defensemen, three long-stick middies, two faceoff men and two goalies, to help bolster its roster for the upcoming campaign.
The freshmen newcomers consist of:
Bubba Anderson (Montgomery Villgae, Md.),
Graham Bocklet (Waccabuc, N.Y.),
Zack Bucci (Crown Point, Ind.),
Matt Burke (Timonium, Md.),
Dan Flock (Ellicott City, Md.),
Matt Gudas (Concord, N.H.),
Nate Howard (Damascus, Md.),
James Leary (Seabrook, N.H.),
Bailey Martin (Wilmington, Del.),
Jake Richards (Dover, Mass.),
Cam Stafford (Greenwich, Conn.) and
Connor Van Ryn (Whitby, Ontario).
Sophomores
Andrew Duffy (Katonah, N.Y./SUNY Cortland),
Luc LeBlanc (Essex, Vt./Castleton),
Christian Magnan (Bedford, N.Y./SUNY Cortland),
Cam Milligan (Peterborough, Ontario/Towson) and
Kyle Walsh (Garden City, N.Y.), along with juniors
John Brainard (New Canaan, Conn./UMass) and
Patrick Buono (East Greenbush, N.Y.) round out the rest of the newcomers.
2015 CAPTAINSIn January, head coach
Ryan Curtis announced that senior
Andrew Buckanavage and junior
Bryan Capone will captain the 2015 Catamounts.
Buckanavage enters his second season as a team captain after being voted into the role by his teammates last year. In addition to tallying the third-highest goal total on the squad in 2014, Buckanavage also registered multi-point efforts in six contests, including back-to-back three-goal performances to close out the season.
Capone, a junior defenseman, will look to anchor the back line again for the Catamounts in his third season with the program. In 2014, he made 12 appearances on defense and finished the season ranked third on the squad in caused turnovers (9). The Liverpool, New York native forced a season-high three caused turnovers against Providence, and picked up multiple ground balls in three different contests.
SCOUTING PENN STATEThe Nittany Lions, ranked 14
th in the nation in the first USILA Poll of the season, were picked to finish third in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll behind No. 5 Johns Hopkins and No. 8 Maryland. Penn State recorded a 7-6 overall record and 3-2 mark in CAA play last season, but will now be competing in the Big Ten for the upcoming campaign in the inaugural season of lacrosse for the conference.
In 2014, the Nittany Lions averaged 10.31 goals per contest while allowing 8.92 to opponents. The squad lost two of its top three scorers from a season ago, but returns attackmen TJ Sanders (26) and Dan Craig (17), who combined for 32 goals and 11 assists. Sanders, along with defenseman JP Burnside and middie Drake Kreinz, were named Penn State's Players to Watch as part of the preseason poll. Kreinz was the team's leader in faceoffs in 2014, winning 140 of 229 (.611 pct.), good for third-best in the conference. Redshirt sophomore Connor Darcey, who played in just two contests last season, will look to take over duties in net for the Nittany Lions.
ALL-TIME SERIESSaturday will mark the fourth meeting between Vermont and Penn State in the all-time series, and it will be the second time the squads have faced off at State College. The Nittany Lions hold a 3-0 advantage in the series, with the last matchup resulting in a narrow 7-5 victory in Burlington.
NEXT UPThe Catamounts return to Burlington for their home opener vs. Colgate on Saturday (Feb. 14) at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed live for free at
CatamounTV.com. For ticket information, please
click here.
