Previewing Army West Point’s 2020 men’s college lacrosse schedule

The Army West Point Black Knights are the 61st team in our 2020 men’s college lacrosse schedule preview series and the seventh team from the Patriot League. Army West Point finished 13-5 overall in 2019 and 5-3 in Patriot League play. The Black Knights defeated Lehigh in the Patriot League Championship game before losing to Penn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Here’s their entire 2020 schedule:

Who’s In?

• Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4/11)

Who’s Out?

• NA

Circle These Dates

• 2/8 vs. UMass: These two teams have met for the past nine seasons to kick off their respective seasons. The Minutemen won the first four games before Army turned the corner to win the following five, including last year’s overtime finish thanks to Brendan Nichtern’s game-winning tally. UMass tied it with a second to go on a Chris Connolly goal and bring back plenty of guys on offense. But both teams do have some big holes to fill defensively.
• 2/23 at Syracuse: Since Joe Alberici took over the Black Knight program in 2006, the Army-Syracuse matchups has only had one blowout of more than five goals. That came in 2009 when the Orange won by 11. The two programs have played each other every year outside of a short hiatus in 2014, and the majority of those games have been very entertaining. Syracuse won by two goals last year after Army put the pressure on in the second half. That was the first time a game wasn’t decided by a goal since 2015.
• 2/29 vs. Holy Cross: For quite a bit of time, Holy Cross wasn’t thought of as much in the Patriot League conversation. But they’ve seen a bit of a rise in recent years, especially with Peter Burke now leading the program. They’ve been in some tight low-scoring games the past couple of years with the Black Knights, losing 5-3 in 2018 and 7-6 last year. AJ Barretto made 19 stops for Army in the win, but he and Johnny Surdick have graduated. But so has Holy Cross’ Matt Farrell, who finished with four caused turnovers for the Crusaders.
• 3/14 vs. Lehigh: Historically, Army has dominated the Mountain Hawks. But seven of their nine all-time losses to Lehigh have come since 2006. The two split their meetings last season with the Black Knights taking the more important game in the Patriot League Championship. Down by two early in the fourth quarter, the Army offense broke through with a game-ending six-goal run. Three of those goals came from Nichtern. The Mountain Hawks should be a serious contender in the conference this season, along with the Black Knights.
• 4/18 vs. Navy: After winning their first six meetings with the Naval Academy to start the decade, Army has since gone 3-4 against the Midshipmen since 2015. But the Black Knights were able to stop a four-game regular season losing skid to Navy last year thanks to Matt Manown’s overtime winner in Annapolis. Navy enters the new decade with a new coaching staff led by head coach Joe Amplo who will look to put the Mids in the Patriot League conversation with a returning group of players including Christian Daniel, Nick Cole, and Ryan Kern.