The 2021 Army Black Knights men's lacrosse team represented the United States Military Academy in the 2021 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season. The Black Knights were led by sixteenth-year head coach Joe Alberici and played their home games at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York. Army competed as a member of the Patriot League.

Previous season In a season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Knights compiled a 6–2 (2–0 Patriot League) regular season record before the rest of the season was cancelled.

Preseason

Preseason poll The Patriot League released their preseason poll on February 5, 2021 (voting was by conference head coaches and sports information directors). The Black Knights were picked to finish in second place and garnered four first-place votes.

1 Loyola Maryland 125 (13) 2 Army 111 (4) 3 Lehigh 104 (1) 4 Navy 77 5 Boston University 67 6 Bucknell 66 7 Holy Cross 40 8 Colgate 39 9 Lafayette 19

Preseason All-Patriot League team The Black Knights had four players picked to the preseason All-Patriot League team, tied for second-most in the conference. Additionally, junior attack Brendan Nichtern was selected as the 2021 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Bobby Abshire, Junior, Midfielder Marcus Hudgins, Junior, Defense Brendan Nichtern, Junior, Attack Wyatt Schupler, Junior, Goalie

Roster The Army men's lacrosse roster as of February 5, 2021:

2021 Army Black Knights men's lacrosse rosterAttack   6 Brayden Duncan, Freshman (6'3, 200)   9 Anthony Seymour, Sophomore (5'10, 185) 10 Drennan Greene, Senior (5'11, 180) 17 Daniel Ross, Senior (5'11, 192) 19 Aidan Byrnes, Junior (6'1, 195) 20 (C) Brendan Nichtern, Junior (6'0, 185) 26 Andrew Bregman, Sophomore (5'10, 180) 28 Paul Johnson, Sophomore (6'1, 195) 46 Connor Funck, Freshman (5'9, 160) 99 Luke Hickam, Freshman (6'0 212)

Faceoff Specialist   4 Ethan Barangan, Junior (5'7, 181) 31 Ryan Pedrani, Sophomore (5'9, 180) 37 Russell Eberding, Sophomore (6'0, 195) 42 Stevie Grabher, Sophomore (6'0, 182) 55 Hunter Mazur, Sophomore (5'9, 176)

Long Stick Midfielder 25 Joey Stillings, Sophomore (6'3, 220) 48 Jack Szalankiewicz, Freshman (6'1, 195) 57 Zane Mazur, Sophomore (6'0, 175) 58 Brandon Gibson, Freshman (5'8, 180) 77 Kyle Beyer, Senior (6'3, 220) 88 Chase Gedney, Junior (6'5, 218) Midfield   0 (C) Nicholas Garofano, Senior (5'11, 195)   1 Gunner Philipp, Junior (5'10, 180)   7 Ryan Sposito, Sophomore (5'8, 170) 14 Bobby Abshire, Junior (6'2, 205) 15 Quinn Binney, Sophomore (6'1, 195) 16 James Pryor, Junior (6'3, 210) 18 Alex Evangelista, Junior (6'1, 200) 22 Doug Jones, Junior (6'0, 200) 23 Danny Kielbasa, Junior (6'1, 205) 30 Liam Davenport, Junior (5'11, 180) 32 Trevor Kelly, Freshman (6'0, 200) 33 Jack Davies, Senior (6'2, 200) 35 Cole Erickson, Freshman (6'0, 185) 41 Reese Burek, Sophomore, (6'1, 195) 43 Bailey O'Connor, Freshman (6'0, 188) 45 Nickolas Edinger, Senior (6'0, 190) 47 Andrew Kelly, Sophomore (5'7, 170) 49 Mike Tangredi, Freshman (6'0, 228) 50 Bo Waters, Junior (6'3, 205) 52 Matthew Horace, Junior (6'2, 215) 66 Alex Gekas, Freshman (6'3, 191) 90 Jacob Morin, Sophomore (6'2, 215)

Defensive Midfielder 40 Eamon Murphy, Freshman (6'1, 205) 44 Brendan Ryan, Senior (6'1, 205) 81 Jackson Tyler, Sophomore (6'3, 210) Defense   3 Brent Hauck, Junior (6'0, 190)   5 Jack Whalen, Senior (6'0, 210)   8 Deacon Donaldson, Sophomore (6'5, 193) 11 Marcus Hudgins, Junior (6'1, 200) 12 (C) Matthew Russell, Senior (6'2, 210) 24 Tyler Olbrich, Junior (5'10, 190) 27 Bryan Lehman, Junior (6'1, 185) 29 Jake Bieler, Junior (6'0, 210) 36 Ned Lynch, Freshman (6'0, 186) 51 Jack Rigley, Freshman (6'2, 210) 54 Cole Biggins, Freshman (6'0, 195) 91 Jack Weigand, Junior (6'3, 220) 98 Mitch McEntee, Freshman (6'3, 180)

Goalie   2 Knox Dent, Sophomore (5'11, 190) 13 (C) Greg Coleman, Senior 5'8, 165 21 Wyatt Schupler, Junior (6'0, 185) 34 Kyle Walker, Sophomore (6'0, 200) 60 Matt Chess, Freshman (6'0, 185)

Standings Patriot League men's lacrosse was split into two divisions for the 2021 season; a four-team North division and a five-team South division. The top-three teams in both divisions will qualify for the Patriot League Championship tournament held in May. The divisional winner with the best overall winning percentage will earn the right to host the semifinals and finals. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds from each division will play each other in the quarterfinals, with the winner playing the opposite division's No. 1 seed in the semifinals. Only the first game played against divisional opponents counts towards the division standings.

2021 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Standings Division record Conference record Overall record North No. 13 Army 3 0 5 2 7 4 Boston University 2 1 4 2 6 5 Colgate 1 2 2 4 3 7 Holy Cross 0 3 1 3 2 4 South No. 8 Lehigh * 4 0 8 0 10 1 No. 12 Loyola 3 1 4 3 9 5 No. 17 Navy 2 2 4 2 6 3 Bucknell 1 3 1 5 2 6 Lafayette 0 4 0 8 0 11Championship: May 9, 2021 † conference regular season champion not awarded in 2021; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: Inside Lacrosse Top 20 Poll; Source:; Updated May 9, 2021

Schedule

Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance Regular Season Cancelled February 14 Noon at No. 6 Virginia No. 15 Klöckner Stadium · Charlottesville, VA ACCNX L 9–140 February 21 Noon at No. 4 Syracuse No. 13 Carrier Dome · Syracuse, NY ACCN W 18–110 February 27 Noon Saint Joseph's No. 7 Michie Stadium · West Point, NY ESPN+ W 13–50 March 6 Noon at Boston University No. 7 Nickerson Field · Boston, MA ESPN+ W 12–100 Cancelled March 27 3:00 p.m. Holy Cross No. 8 Michie Stadium · West Point, NY ESPN+ W 13–3200 April 3 1:00 p.m. at No. 10 Lehigh No. 7 Frank Banko Field · Bethlehem, PA ESPN+ L 12–13196 April 10 1:00 p.m. at No. 13 Loyola No. 10 Ridley Athletic Complex · Baltimore, MD CBSSN W 12–70 April 17 2:00 p.m. Boston University No. 10 Michie Stadium · West Point, NY ESPN+ W 14–8100 April 24 Noon at No. 19 Navy No. 10 Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium · Annapolis, MD (rivalry) CBSSN L 4–95,285 April 30 2:00 p.m. Colgate No. 11 Michie Stadium · West Point, NY ESPN+ W 13–11100 Patriot League Tournament May 7 7:00 p.m. vs. No. 16 Loyola No. 11 Frank Banko Field · Bethlehem, PA (Semifinals) CBSSN L 10–11261Rankings from Inside Lacrosse Media Poll released prior to game · All times are in Eastern time

The game between Holy Cross and Army was originally scheduled for March 20 but was postponed due to a positive Covid-19 test within the Black Knights' Tier 1. The game between Colgate and Army was originally scheduled for March 13 but was postponed due to a positive Covid-19 test within the Black Knights' Tier 1.

Schedule source:

Rankings

PollWeekPre123456789101112131415 (Final) Inside Lacrosse15–1377778710101011111313 USILA CoachesNR121266667711111014141313 Nike/US Lacrosse1514157775449981091212

References