Welcome to 2022: The Big East
It's season preview time on LacroCity!
(The following entry is part of a series of D1 conference previews from Craig McMichael. Go follow him on Twitter and check out his Medium page.
I’m quite literally writing my own New England region season previews for laxjournal.com - so, I’m happy to get Craig some reps in the dojo. Here we teach the five-finger-death-punch style of writing. And, of course, no mercy. Enjoy!)
2021 was the year of the transfer. The New Haven, err, Denver Pioneers struck gold in the Transfer Portal with TD Ierlan, Jackson Morrill, and Lucas Cotler all coming to Mile High City from Yale.
Under Bill Tierney and Matt Brown, the Pios have found success in their make-it-take-it brand of lacrosse. Coming into the 2021 season, they looked geared to find their way back to the top of the Big East and Memorial Day weekend.
Too bad nobody told Kevin Warne and the Hoyas. Since 2019, the Hoyas have won three straight championships. They have done it by making few offensive mistakes and playing stout defense. Georgetown used two one-goal wins in the regular season and the Big East Championship game to defeat the Pioneers.
What does Bill Tierney have to do to get the Pioneers back on top? Fix his defense. While they had a top ten offense in 2021, Denver had the 32nd ranked defense.
Not good enough in the shot clock era that neutralizes their preferred brand of lacrosse.
2022 Outlook
Who needs defense when you can score? #GoPios
Tierney has once again used the transfer portal to bolster his offense by adding Calev Kueber (Mercyhurst) and Richie Connell (Richmond). Connell, a native of Evergreen, Colorado holds the all-time record for man-up goals for the Spiders. Kueber is also explosive, posting 127 goals in 45 games for the Lakers. They will team up with returning starters Jack Hannah (37 goals) and Alex Simmons (31 goals) to provide the Pioneers with another potent offense.
Defense wins championships #HoyaSaxa
Keven Warne added to defensive strength with grad transfer Will Bowen of UNC. Bowne will pair nicely with returning starters Gibson Smith, James Donaldson, and goalie Owen McElroy.
The Hoys should be in good shape to again have one of the nation’s top defenses. Warne will need to replace top goalscorer Jack Caraway, he dipped into the transfer portal for and brought in Connor Morin (Notre Dame) and Alex Tripp (UNC). Look for senior, Peter Thompson, a lefty from Michigan, to contribute as well.
The sleeper #NovaLax
The Wildcats were undefeated last year if you take out their five contests against Denver and Georgetown. Oh, you can’t do that? Mike Corado has Villanova playing with a strong offense and they are perennially a bubble team for the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats had a balanced offense in 2021 and return top goalscorer, midfielder Matt Campbell (32 goals), and attackmen, Patrick Daly (21 goals) and Cory McManus (22goals).
2022 Schedules
I love the preseason. It gives us a great opportunity to see who is spending time on their graphics and who is not (we see you Mount St. Mary’s, just send me a DM, I will fix it for you).
Below, we will have (most) of the schedules for the Big East and a few notes on notable games this season. Lacrosse Reference has provided over/under win totals for each team. If you would like to join in on the fun click here.
Georgetown: https://guhoyas.com/sports/mens-lacrosse/schedule (will not embed)
Kevin Warne is going to find out what kind of team he has right out of the gate. Three tough road games to Philadephia, South Bend, and Richmond along with Hopkins and Princeton at home will prepare him for Big East play when it begins in April.
O/U 11.5:
Denver:
O/U; 11.5
Two tough road games for the Pioneers in their nonconference schedule. The Pios will travel to Duke and North Carolina. A weekend they wanted to forget in 2021, I think Chris Gray just scored again. Ohio State and Yale should also prove formidable at home prior to opening Big East play.
O/U 11.5: Over
Villanova:
Two tough road games for the Wildcats as they visit Happy Valley and New Haven. A split or taking both could open them up for an at-large appearance in May.
O/U 7.5: Over
Providence:
O.U 6.5: Over
Marquette:
The spring season is right around the corner! Excited to announce our full schedule, including eight home games at Valley Fields! #WeAreMarquette 📅 bit.ly/303umLb 🖨 bit.ly/3ED9UQf 🗒 bit.ly/3y2MAJeO/U 5.5: Under
St. John’s
O/U 2.5: Under
2022 Prediction
Denver once again will be one of the top scoring teams in the nation and will go undefeated in Big East regular season play. Warne and the Hoyas will take some early lumps and figure out where their goals will come from.
Tournaments and championships though are decided by stops. #HoyaSaxa finds one more stop to win a fourth straight Big East Championship.
Grab your 🍿 and enjoy the games!
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