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The Hampton Pirates are the 60th team in our 2017 schedule preview. The Pirates went 0-5 overall in their first season of Division I lacrosse in 2016, and becoming the first HBCU school since Morgan State to field a Division I men’s lacrosse team. Let’s dive into their schedule.
HAMPTON
The Pirates add three more games to their schedule after playing five games in their first year of play. They’ll once again open up at home against Division II Roberts Wesleyan on February 17. A week later, they welcome another D2 school in District of Columbia on the 25th. That’s the team’s only games in February.
Hampton plays three games in March, first by hosting Division III Greensboro on March 4. Their first Division I opponent is against Wagner on March 10 in Staten Island. Their final game of the month is in West Virginia against Division II Ohio Valley on the 25th.
The Pirates also have three games in the month of April to wrap up the season, and two of them are against Division I opponents. They’ll host VMI on April 1, before traveling to Sparkill, New York to take on Division II St. Thomas Aquinas. The season finale is at home against NJIT on April 15.
It’s not fair to evaluate how the Pirates will do in 2017, but if they can slowly be competitive in games, they can make a big impact on lacrosse. Lloyd Carter has two juniors in Kendall Sapp and Darrel Kidd, as they led the team in points last year. Defenseman Devin Williams had a team-high six caused turnovers in 2016. Hampton’s focused isn’t winning games at this point in time. Instead, it’s building their own program with quality players, as well as spreading the diversity in the sport. If Morgan State does return to lacrosse as they were rumored to be discussing in the summer, it would create a great HBCU rivalry in a sport that needs diversity.
Hampton is the last of the three independents to announce their 2017 schedule. And yet, ZERO (0) ACC TEAMS have announced theirs yet.
To see every team’s schedule and which one’s we’ve highlighted, check our our master schedule list.