2019 Men’s College Lacrosse Year In Review: #32 Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers

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:

• #37 Rutgers
• #36 Canisius
• #35 Detroit Mercy
• #34 Villanova
• #33 North Carolina

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!

#32 Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers

Conference: NEC
2019 Record: 9-7 (5-1 in NEC)
Postseason: Lost to Robert Morris in NEC Semifinals
Head coach: Tom Gravante (24th Season)

Statistical Leaders

Goals: Chris DiPretoro (36)
Assists: Brenden McCarthy (13)
Points: Chris DiPretoro (43)
Faceoffs: Sam Stephan (162-of-310; 52.3%)
Ground balls: Sam Stephan (104)
Caused turnovers: Bryan McIntosh (33)
Goals against average: Dylan Furnback (10.37 GAA)
Save percentage: Dylan Furnback (53.9%)

Personnel Losses

Key seniors departing: A Chris DiPretoro (36 Gs, 7 As, 13 GBs, 6 CTs), M Jack Mangan (9 Gs, 11 As, 59 GBs, 23 CTs, 62.5% FOs), LSM Shawn Milione (10 CTs, 34 GBs, 2 Gs)
Senior scoring departing: 65 of 246 points (26.4%)
Senior starts lost: 30 of 160 (18.8%)

Season Summary

If you thought Mount St. Mary’s was going to be one of the best teams in the NEC at the beginning of the 2019 season, you were one of very few people that did. For the first time since 2011, the Mount finished above .500 overall and in NEC play. That resulted in head coach Tom Gravante being named the NEC Coach of the Year for the third time.

The season did not have a pretty start for the Mountaineers, losing all four games in February. But in their final loss of the month against Georgetown, Mount played the Hoyas well for three quarters, taking a one-goal lead into the final 15 minutes. But Georgetown opened the quarter with the first four goals to eventually hold on for a two-goal victory.

Mount would lose three games for the rest of the season, one in each month. Their best win might have came in a midweek showdown against Richmond. Down one late in the fourth, Luke Frankeny scored a buzzer-beating goal with a second left on the clock to force overtime. Chris DiPretoro scored the game-winner to give the Mount their first win over a ranked opponent since 2013. The thrills carried over into their next game against Mercer, this time with Brendan Doyle scoring the winning goal with 27 seconds left in regulation.

After a loss to Johns Hopkins, Mount St. Mary’s ran off five straight wins, including four in NEC play. The biggest came against defending conference champion Robert Morris, who scored eight straight goals to take a three-goal lead into the final quarter. But the Mount rallied with all six fourth quarter goals for the big upset win. The thrills continued with another comeback victory, this time on the road against Utah where they scored the final two goals in 4:56 of the game.

The Mount suffered their first conference loss in late April when they fell to Hobart, but recovered with a solid one-goal win over Saint Joseph’s in the regular season finale. All of a sudden, the Mountaineers saw themselves as the top seed and hosts of the NEC Tournament. But they had to beat Robert Morris to get to the NEC title game. After an even first half, Mount St. Mary’s took a 12-7 lead with 1:42 to go in the third. But the Colonials found a way to answer and eventually won the game in overtime thanks to NEC Player of the Year Tyson Gibson.

DiPretoro was one of four players that started all 16 games this season and the only attackman to do so. Brenden McCarthy and Jared McMahon were the main starters at attack for most of the season, with Stephano Mastro and Justin Weick also getting time. The midfield was very consistent for the majority of the season with Frankeny, Doyle, and Joe Bethke. Frankeny started all 16 games, with Bethke starting in 15 of them. Some players saw time at both attack and midfield throughout the season. Matt Haggerty, Connor McMahon, and Rich Holle also contributed up top.

Bryan McIntosh anchored a defense that allowed an NEC-low 10.17 goals per game to go with a team-high 33 caused turnovers. Joshua Davies started in 15 games with Chase Pirozzi and Zach Roberts splitting as the third defenseman. Shawn Milione, Alex Lucius, and Noah Daniels were notable long stick midfielders, while the key to the defensive midfield was probably do-it-all middie Jack Mangan. Mangan recorded 23 caused turnovers and 53 ground balls while also recording nine goals and 11 assists. Evan Falkowski, Brian Reilly, Sam Portillo, and Aaron Weisel were other short stick defenders. Goalie Dylan Furnback was the NEC Defensive Player of the Year with a 53.9% save percentage, while FOGO Sam Stephan recorded above 50% on faceoffs for another season.

Looking Ahead

After the surprise season the Mount had in 2019, there will be added pressure to repeat and perhaps top what they did in 2020. DiPretoro, Mangan, and Milione are the main senior departures on the Mountaineers. There were only four seniors on the team last season, but there’ll be 15 of them next season, three of them redshirts. That should help the squad in terms of leadership. With a small senior class, that can usually mean underclassmen step up in the locker room and have their voices heard.

Mount’s defense should continue to be strong with the entire close defense back as well as Furnback in goal. Mangan will be a big loss in the middle of the field on both offense and defense.

During his time in Emmitsburg, Gravante has led the Mountaineers to five conference championships. A sixth would be great for a program that has been near the bottom of the country for the past few seasons. Mount is certainly due for trip back to the top of the NEC and a trip back to the NCAA Tournament.