ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany men's lacrosse team plays its third-straight game at home to open the 2020 season, welcoming its second Ivy League opponent, Harvard, to Casey Stadium on Saturday.
 
Game Info
Saturday, February 29 vs. Harvard (1:00 p.m.)
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Tickets
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany leads the America East in six categories, including points per game and man-down defense
• Corey Yunker shares the conference lead in points per game
• UAlbany is one of three teams in the country to not allow a man-down goal this season
• Harvard is 7-4 in non-conference road games in the last three seasons, including 5-2 in February

 
Scouting Harvard
Harvard is 1-1 on the season, opening with a one-goal victory at #19 UMass, 10-9.  The Crimson followed up their performance with a one-goal defeat at Holy Cross, 9-8.  Harvard was picked to finish sixth in the Ivy League this season, ahead of just Dartmouth in the poll.  Harvard went 5-8 last season, but returns 98% of its scoring from last year.  Since 2011, UAlbany is 7-1 against the Crimson, with four of the eight games decided by two or fewer goals.
 
Last Time vs. Harvard
UAlbany visited Harvard last season, falling to the Crimson by one, 13-12.  During the game, Sean Eccles and Tehoka Nanticoke each recorded their 100th career points.  The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak against the Crimson.  UAlbany held a narrow edge in faceoffs, Harvard a narrow edge in shots, and the teams played evenly on the ground balls.  UAlbany, however, committed 18 turnovers to Harvard's 10.  Despite taking 2-0 lead just over three minutes into the first quarter, Harvard clawed back to tie the game at five by halftime.  UAlbany took back the lead shortly into the second half, before Harvard scored four-straight to permanently take the lead.
 
Last Time Out
In a repeat of one of the most exciting games of the 2019 season, the latest edition of the Drexel matchup once again went down to the wire, with the Great Danes emerging victorious with a late goal.  Neither team led by more than two goals throughout the game, and UAlbany scored three of the last four to win by one.  Ron John sealed the game for the Danes, finding the back of the net with 11 seconds remaining to put UAlbany up permanently, 14-13.  Tehoka Nanticoke finished with four goals and two assists, while Corey Yunker finished with a hat trick with three assists.  In goal, Nate Siekierski recorded 10 saves.
 
Around the America East
Last Saturday, America East ran the table, winning each of the seven games played.  Three of the games were decided by one goal, UAlbany over Drexel, Stony Brook over Brown, and Binghamton over Lafayette in triple overtime.  Since then, following a handful of mid-week games, Stony Brook remains atop the standings a 3-1 overall, followed by a three-way tie for second between UAlbany, Vermont, and UMBC, each of which are 1-1.  UMass Lowell is fifth at 2-3, followed by Binghamton and Hartford, at 1-3 each.
 
Saturday's America East Games

• Stony Brook at Rutgers, 12:00 p.m.
• Merrimack at Vermont, 12:00 p.m.
• Sacred Heart at UMBC, 12:00 p.m.
• Harvard at UAlbany, 1:00 p.m.
• Dartmouth at UMass Lowell, 1:00 p.m.

 
Hogg Wild
After his first-ever game in a Great Dane uniform, UAlbany freshman Graydon Hogg was named America East Rookie of the Week.  Hogg scored two goals in the season opener against #12 Cornell, while also recording two assists, winning two ground balls, and causing two turnovers.
 
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
The Great Danes leave the friendly confines of Casey Stadium for the first time this season, visiting UMass on Tuesday, March 3 for their road opener.