2019 Men’s College Lacrosse Year In Review: #41 Albany Great Danes

With the 2019 college lacrosse season complete, it’s time to look back at how all 73 teams did during the season, along with an early look at each squad for 2020.

Note: These are not end of season rankings.

Here’s our last five Year In Review posts we’ve done:

• #46 Princeton
• #45 Cleveland State
• #44 Ohio State
• #43 Bucknell
• #42 Holy Cross

To see all of our posts, check out the 2019 Year In Review section on the site.

Let’s continue our 2019 Year In Review!

#41 Albany Great Danes

Conference: America East
2019 Record: 5-9 (4-3 in America East)
Postseason: Lost to Vermont in America East Semifinals
Head coach: Scott Marr (19th Season)

Statistical Leaders

Goals: Jakob Patterson and Tehoka Nanticoke (25)
Assists: Jakob Patterson (32)
Points: Jakob Patterson (57)
Faceoffs: Austin Jones (131-of-244; 53.7%)
Ground balls: Austin Jones (65)
Caused turnovers: Connor Filipowski (15)
Goals against average: Nate Siekierski (11.54 GAA)
Save percentage: Nate Siekierski (51.9%)

Personnel Losses

Key seniors departing: M Sean Eccles (18 Gs, 9 As, 5 GBs), M Jack Burgmaster (9 Gs, 1 A, 35 GBs, 12 CTs), D Matt Perla (14 CTs, 28 GBs), D Erik Dluhy (6 CTs, 22 GBs), M Noah Taylor (4 Gs, 1 A, 4 GBs, 2 CTs)
Senior scoring departing: 38 of 240 points (15.8%)
Senior starts lost: 55 of 140 (39.3%)

Season Summary

Albany had a record-setting 2018 season led by Connor Fields and TD Ierlan. Their season ended with a loss to Yale in the national semifinals.

But the Great Danes lost a lot of pieces with the graduations of Fields and goalie JD Colarusso, as well as Ierlan transferring to Yale. Albany was still seen as a favorite to win the America East and were in the top 20 to begin the season.

The season started with a tough 13-5 loss to Syracuse up in the Carrier Dome before barely edging Drexel by a goal in Philadelphia. Jakob Patterson scored five times, while Davis Diamond registered four goals. Tehoka Nanticoke only had a goal and an assist after a phenomenal freshman season.

Things would get a little worse for the sophomore. He did not play in Albany’s one-goal loss to Cornell. Originally an “internal matter” as described by head coach Scott Marr, the NCAA later revealed it was an indefinite suspension imposed by the university due to an Instagram post from Nanticoke. It was short-lived, as he was able to play a couple days later against UMass, where he scored a hat-trick in the loss. But he didn’t play in the defeat to Maryland four days later.

He did play for the rest of the season, but was listed as a midfielder for the next six games. Nanticoke at midfield coincided with the team’s start of America East play with wins over UMass Lowell and Binghamton. Albany’s nonconference struggles continued with a one-goal loss to Harvard, but rebounded with a conference win over Hartford. The Great Danes had a big test in Vermont against the Catamounts the following week, but lost that game by a goal. It was the team’s first loss to Vermont since 2011.

After holding on for a two-goal win over UMBC, Nanticoke returned to attack for a closer-than-expected 10-5 defeat against Ierlan and Yale. The Bulldogs loss began a season-ending three-game losing streak that included Stony Brook in the regular season finale and Vermont in the America East semifinals.

With Fields done, Patterson assumed the role as the quarterback of the Great Dane offense with a team-high 57 points, including 32 assists to lead Albany. Nanticoke was tied with Patterson with 25 goals despite missing two games. Diamond, Corey Yunker, Kyle Casey, and Mitch Laffin all saw time at attack throughout the season. Sean Eccles was the leading scorer up top with 23 points, with a bevy of players at that position. Ron John, Noah Taylor, Steve Ramirez, Peter Schwab, and two-way midfielder Jack Burgmaster.

The defense was a veteran unit with seniors Erik Dluhy and Matt Perla starting all 14 games. Juniors Connor Filipowski and Steven Kunz split starts as the third close defenseman. Patt Barrow was the primary LSM with Sean Gleason also contributing on defense as a long pole. Alex Burgmaster was another Burgmaster that was able to play both sides of the ball. Austin Jones was a good replacement for Ierlan at the faceoff X with a 53.7% faceoff percentage, while Nate Siekierski started in goal for the first 13 games of the season before Will Ramos took over in the Vermont loss.

Looking Ahead

Whereas the offense took a hit entering this season, it will be the defense that feels some of the pain. Dluhy and Perla graduate, but look for Filipowski and Kunz to assume starting roles. If Barrow and Gleason stay where they are, perhaps players such as Tanner Hay, Matthew Spahr, and Owen Weathersby can compete for some more playing time. Jack Burgmaster is a huge loss as well on both sides of the ball, primarily on defense. The goalie situation is interesting with Siekierski and Ramos both back. Expect a goalie battle in the fall between those two.

As for offense, Eccles is their biggest loss up top, but there were a lot of players that saw time last season. Patterson and Nanticoke should be locks to start at attack, with Casey being a starter either at attack or midfield. Players such as Laffin, Diamond, John, Yunker, Ramirez, Schwab, Ashton Bradley, and Teioshontathe McComber are all good options to start for Albany. Throw incoming freshman Cam Hay to the mix as well.

The struggles of 2019 should help the Great Danes in the long run for returning back to the top of the America East in 2020.