Men's Lacrosse Hosts #12 Cornell In Season Opener

ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany kicks off its 2020 season this weekend with the first of three-straight home games. Saturday, #12 Cornell visits Casey Stadium.

Game Info
Saturday, February 15 vs. #12 Cornell (1:00 p.m.)
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Tickets

Leading the Pack

UAlbany returns its top two scorers from last season in Jakob Patterson and Tehoka Nanticoke
UAlbany opens their season at home for the first time since 2009 against Denver
UAlbany opens the season against an opponent other than Syracuse for the first time since 2015
Cornell has three players selected as Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-Americans: Jeff Teat, Connor Fletcher, and Brandon Salvatore
UAlbany is unbeaten against Cornell at home

Scouting Cornell
The Big Red pulled in the #11 ranking in the Inside Lacrosse preseason poll, and enter Saturday's season opener ranked #12. Cornell finished 2019 10-5 overall, and 4-2 in the Ivy League, ultimately falling in the Ivy League semifinal against Yale. The Big Red returns 20 letter-winners from last year's team, including seven starters. Two of Cornell's top three goal scorers from last season, John Piatelli and Jeff Teat, return to lead the 2020 offense. Since their first meeting at the Division I level in 2007, UAlbany is 4-3 in seven meetings against Cornell, winning four-straight before last season's defeat.

Last Time vs. Cornell
In its third-straight road game to open the 2019 season, the Great Danes visited #3 Cornell after splitting their first two matchups against Syracuse and Drexel. Trailing by five heading into the fourth quarter after Cornell scored seven in the third, UAlbany stormed back to tie the game with Jack Burgmaster's goal with 1:13 to go, only to see Cornell score in the final 14 seconds to clinch the game 17-16. Jakob Patterson led UAlbany with six points (three goals and three assists) while five other Great Danes added multiple goals each. UAlbany controlled the faceoff, with Austin Jones winning 25 of 37 attempts.

Around the America East
Four teams in the America East have seen their seasons begin already, with 2019 regular-season champion Stony Brook notching a victory over St. John's, 13-12. UMass Lowell also won its season-opener, 10-9 over Quinnipiac. Hartford and Binghamton dropped their openers, to Sacred Heart and Marist, respectively. All seven America East squads will be in action on Saturday, with UAlbany, defending conference champion UMBC, and 2019 conference runner-up Vermont making their season debuts.

Saturday's America East Games

Hartford at St. John's, 1:00 pm
Boston University at UMass Lowell, 1:00 pm
#12 Cornell at UAlbany, 1:00 pm
Stony Brook at Fairfield, 1:00 pm
Vermont at Holy Cross, 1:05 pm
Binghamton at #5 Syracuse, 2:00 pm
#15 Georgetown at UMBC, 3:30 pm

America East Success
UAlbany is looking for its 10th conference championship. The Great Danes have won three of the past five titles, including two of the past three. UAlbany has a 34-5 regular-season record in the league dating back to the 2013 season, and the Great Danes haven't lost a regular-season home game to an America East opponent since April 28, 2012 (Stony Brook, 12-11).

Schedule Strength
Once again, UAlbany features one of the toughest schedules in the country. The 2020 schedule includes five teams ranked in the preseason top-20, including three in the top five, and four in the top-11. Highlighting the schedule are trips to preseason #3 Yale and #4 Maryland, as well as the home opener against preseason #11 Cornell, and, for the first time in history, a home game against preseason #5 Syracuse.

Picked Third
For the first time in eight years, UAlbany was not picked as the favorite in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll, landing instead in third behind 2019 runner-up Vermont and champion UMBC, who were picked first and second, respectively. The Great Danes had been picked first in each of the previous seven editions of the preseason poll. This year, UAlbany drew 28 points and one first place vote, narrowly behind favorite Vermont (31 points, two first-place votes), and projected runner-up UMBC (30 points, three first-place votes). Defending regular-season champion Stony Brook was picked fourth, drawing 24 points and the final first-place vote.

Preseason Accolades
Senior attack Jakob Patterson, reigning America East Offensive Player of the Year, was selected as the America East Preseason Player of the Year by Inside Lacrosse. Patterson scored 25 goals and recorded 32 assists in 2019 to lead the team with 57 total points. He was joined as a Preseason All-Conference selection by junior Alex Burgmaster, who scored twice with two assists and 11 ground balls in 12 games for the Great Danes last year.

PLL in Albany
In its inaugural season, Premier Lacrosse League hosted one of its weekends of competition at Casey Stadium on UAlbany's campus. The league announced on April 22, 2019 that UAlbany would serve as a host site on August 24-25. Among the players in the PLL were a eight former Great Danes, including Miles Thompson, Ty Thompson, Connor Fields, Kyle McClancey, and Blaze Riorden. The first of three games in Albany the Atlas vs. the Chaos, was played in front of a sellout crowd of 6,472 fans, and saw Chaos starts Myles Thompson score twice, Troy Rey, McClancey, and Fields score once, and Riorden record 13 saves.

Great Danes in the NLL
UAlbany is well-represented in the NLL this season:

Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm
Miles Thompson, Georgia Swarm
Blaze Riorden, Philadelphia Wings
Joe Resetarits, Rochester Knighthawks
Corey Small, Buffalo Bandits
Dave Brock, New England Black Wolves
Connor Fields, San Diego Seals

The NLL is the largest professional indoor lacrosse league in
North America, with seven teams in the United States and four in
Canada. UAlbany has been well-represented in the league. At least
one former Great Dane has been chosen in the league's draft every
year since 2012.

Honoring the Thompsons
Lyle and Miles Thompson, two of the most decorated men's lacrosse players in University at Albany history, were honored in the "People of New York" exhibit that opened Thursday, February 14, 2019 in the State Capitol building. The exhibit, whose opening was announced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, "features the people of New York - past and present - and their firsthand accounts of perseverance and migration." "The First Peoples" portion of the exhibit includes life-size cutouts of the Thompson brothers, and accompanying text details their achievements for UAlbany. In the images, they're wearing uniforms of the Georgia Swarm, the National Lacrosse League franchise for which they now play. Born in Onondaga Nation, near Syracuse, N.Y., Lyle and Miles became two of the most celebrated lacrosse players in the world while at UAlbany. Lyle was the first male recipient of the Tewaaraton Award in consecutive seasons, and he set new NCAA Division I records for career points (400) and assists (225). As a senior at UAlbany, Miles was the co-recipient of the Tewaaraton Award with his brother and set a NCAA Division I record for most single season goals (82). They both were drafted by the Swarm, Miles as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NLL Draft and Lyle as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NLL Draft. In 2017, the tandem was instrumental in the Swarm winning its first world championship.

2019 in Review
One year following their historic run to the NCAA Final Four, the Great Danes had to replace all-time players in Connor Fields, who graduated, and TD Ierlan, who transferred to Yale. The Danes' schedule featured five teams ranked in the top 20, including Maryland, Syracuse, Cornell, UMass, and defending NCAA champion Yale. After tying a program record with 16 victories, the team took a step back, finishing 2019 with a record of 5-9, and exiting the America East Tournament in the semifinal round. Jakob Patterson was named America East Offensive Player of the Year, and led the team with 57 points on 25 goals and 32 assists. Patterson led a total of four Great Danes on the America East First Team, joining Tehoka Nanticoke, Matt Perla, and Jack Burgmaster. On the Second Team, UAlbany landed Sean Eccles and Erik Dluhy.

Decade Recap
Since 2009-10, the University at Albany men's lacrosse program posted an overall record of 104-65. The Great Danes won five America East titles in six years starting in 2013, the year that saw the team take a big leap forward, improving on their 2012 record by a total of seven wins. In two seasons, UAlbany won a program-high 16 games, including a run to the NCAA Final Four in 2018. The Great Danes saw Miles and Lyle Thompson become the first co-recipients of the Tewaarton Trophy in 2014, and Lyle become the first men's back-to-back winner in 2015. Lyle graduated the program as the NCAA record-holder for career points with 400, scoring 175 goals with 225 assists in his four years. Together, Lyle and Miles hold three of the top four single-season points performances in NCAA history. In addition to the Thompsons, whose careers overlapped with their cousin Ty, Connor Fields, who graduated in 2018, ranks fourth in NCAA history in career points.

Next: UAlbany stays at home to host Drexel on Saturday, February 22.

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