ALBANY, N.Y – The University at Albany men's lacrosse team plays its second of two games on the road to open the 2022 season with a trip to defending CAA champion Drexel on Saturday.
 
Game Info
Saturday, February 26 at Drexel (12:00 pm)
Live Stats | FloLive | Game Notes
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany has won each of the last six meetings against Drexel
• The last two games against the Dragons have each been decided by one goal
• Freshman attack Amos Whitcomb scored two goals in his Great Dane career debut last week at #17 Cornell
• UAlbany recorded an assist on each of its goals at Cornell

Scouting Drexel
Drexel, 2021 CAA champion, has opened the 2022 season 0-2 with losses at America East opponent UMBC and at Lafayette.  The Dragons were picked to repeat as CAA champions in the 2022 CAA Preseason Coaches' Poll, with five players named to the Preseason All-CAA team.  Saturday is Drexel's home opener for the 2022 season.  After falling to four-seed Notre Dame in the First Round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Drexel was ranked 18th in the 2021 preseason media poll.  Drexel is one of UAlbany's most-played non-conference opponents, holding an 11-8 record against the Dragons in 19 meetings since 2002, including a mark of 6-2 in the series' road games.
 
Last Time vs. Drexel
UAlbany last played Drexel during the 2020 season, taking a 14-13 victory over the Dragons in one of the only five games the Great Danes were able to play before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Except for two occasions, when Drexel took a two-goal lead mid-way through the second quarter, and when UAlbany led by two late in the third, the game score was separated by one goal or less.  After UAlbany took an 11-9 lead, Drexel scored four of the next five goals to least 13-12 mid-way through the fourth.  The Great Danes scored each of the last two, including the go-ahead goal from Ron John with 11 seconds remaining to clinch UAlbany's first victory of the season.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany opened their 2022 season at #17 Cornell in the Big Red's first game in nearly 800 days and, and their first game at home in more than 1,000 due to the Ivy League not playing in 2021.  Cornell jumped out to a 5-0 lead before UAlbany closed within 8-6 at halftime.  The Great Danes hung around through the third quarter but were ultimately outscored by Cornell 8-2 after halftime and fell in the opener 16-8.
 
Around the America East
Stony Brook continues to hold the early lead in the America East standings, having won its first two games of the season, against Fairfield and Robert Morris.  UMBC is also undefeated, beating Drexel in their season opener in Baltimore.  Defending champion Vermont is the only other America East school to record a victory so far, with UAlbany, Binghamton, UMass Lowell, and NJIT still seeking their first wins.
 
Saturday's America East Games

• NJIT at Army West Point, 12:00 pm
• UAlbany at Drexel, 12:00 pm
• Vermont at Brown, 12:00 pm
• Siena at UMass Lowell, 1:00 pm
• Binghamton at Lafayette, 6:00 pm

Family Affair
Saturday's game at Drexel will feature two members of the Marr family on opposing sidelines.  Scott Marr has been head coach of UAlbany for the last 21 years, while his son, Kyle, is a volunteer assistant at Drexel working with the faceoff and goalkeepers.  Both Scott and Kyle played their college careers at Johns Hopkins, but Saturday will be the first time they will meet for a game, since Johns Hopkins and UAlbany did not play while Kyle attended.
 
Captains
The Great Danes selected three players to serve the team as captains in 2022: seniors Corey Yunker, Zane Sands, and Tanner Hay.  Hay and Sands are defenders and Yunker is UAlbany's top returning scorer from 2021.
 
Approaching 200
At the end of the 2021 season, his 21st at the helm, UAlbany men's lacrosse head coach had won 194 career games, leaving him six away from the 200-win milestone.  Marr has averaged more than nine wins per season in his career, and has led UAlbany to nine America East championship titles.  Marr's ranks ninth among active Division I head coaches, just behind Penn State's Jeff Tambroni's 203.
 
Picked Third
After making a return appearance in the America East title game in 2021, the UAlbany men's lacrosse team was picked to finish third in the 2022 America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.  UAlbany was picked just behind Stony Brook, and just ahead of UMBC, with just two points separating the three teams in the poll.  Defending champion Vermont was the unanimous favorite, earning 36 points and all possible first-place votes.  UMBC, defending regular-season champions, secured the last remaining first place vote and 25 overall points.  In between, Stony Brook landed 27 points and UAlbany earned 26.
 
Schedule Strength
Not one to shy away from a tough schedule, Coach Marr's 22nd year features yet another gauntlet of top-ranked opponents.  Seven of UAlbany's games feature matchups against teams ranked in the preseason top-20.  The Great Danes open the season at preseason #15 Cornell, before a second-straight road game against preseason #18 Drexel.  A trip to preseason #2 and 2021 national runner-up Maryland follows, before UAlbany hosts preseason #12 Syracuse for the first time in program history.  The game against the Orange precedes a home game against preseason #17 Vermont in a rematch of the 2021 America East title game.  Finally, UAlbany closes the season against two ranked Ivy League opponents, at preseason #7 Yale and then at home against preseason #11 Penn, the latter of which is the first-ever meeting between the programs.
 
Coaching Tree
Coach Marr's extensive coaching tree expanded once more in 2021, when Robert Morris hired Craig McDonald '08 as their head men's lacrosse coach.  McDonald was a four-year member of Marr's program, appearing in 61 games while scoring three goals and recording three assists with 148 ground balls.  He was part of the 2007 team that went 15-3 and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
 
PLL Year Four
The Premier Lacrosse League announced on February 8 that the University at Albany would once again serve as a host for one of the league's weekend slates.  Additionally, the league announced that UAlbany would host the 2022 opening weekend, a change from the campus' traditional window of August.
 
First Times
2022 will feature a series of firsts for the UAlbany men's lacrosse program.  Most prominently, the annual matchup against Syracuse will be played in Albany for the first time after playing the first 19 games in the series in Syracuse.  Syracuse was originally scheduled to visit UAlbany in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down collegiate sports.  The game was rescheduled to this season, with new Syracuse head coach Gary Gait honoring the agreement originally made under former head coach John Desko.  Additionally, UAlbany will play Ivy League opponent Penn for the first time in program history this season, in the regular-season finale at Casey Stadium.
 
Peer Vote
As voted by its players, the Premier Lacrosse League counted down the top-50 players in the league following the 2021 season.  Goalkeeper Blaze Riorden, 2021 MVP and league champion with the Chaos, was voted as the best player in the PLL following his spectacular 2021 season.  And in his first year in the league following the MLL merger, Lyle Thompson was picked third, giving the Great Danes two players in the top-three.
 
PLL Champions
Two former Great Danes, Blaze Riorden and Troy Reh, were crowned 2021 Premier Lacrosse League champions when the Chaos defeated the Whipsnakes.  The game was a rematch of the 2020 title game where the Whipsnakes came out on top.  Riorden led the Chaos to their redemptive title behind an MVP and Goalkeeper of the Year season, while also earning MVP honors for the championship game.
 
Humanitarian Efforts
Lyle Thompson, in his first year in the Premier Lacrosse League following the merger with Major League Lacrosse, was named winner of the 2021 Welles Crowther Humanitarian Award, recognizing his efforts in raising awareness about atrocities committed against Indigenous youth in residential schools in Canada.  Thompson's efforts were also featured in an issue of Sports Illustrated.
 
Super Sixes
Five UAlbany men's lacrosse alumni competed for the Iroquois National Senior Men's Team in October at the World Lacrosse Super Sixes Tournament.  The five Great Danes on the roster were Lyle Thompson, Ty Thompson, Jakob Patterson, Ron John, and Tehoka Nanticoke.  Also competing that weekend was UAlbany women's lacrosse assistant coach Taylor Frink with the Iroquois National Senior Women's Team.
 
2023 NCAA Quarterfinals
On October 14, 2020, the NCAA announced among its selections for over 450 championship sites for the 2023-26 seasons that the University at Albany was awarded hosting responsibilities for a quarterfinal bracket in the 2023 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament.  It will be the first time the Great Danes host a quarterfinal, having previously hosted three First Round games, in 2007, 2017, and 2018.
 
PLL Year Three
UAlbany hosted its second weekend of the PLL summer schedule in 2021.  After a successful first year, the Great Danes were awarded hosting privileges for year two, before the format was changed to account for the COVID-19 pandemic.  The league made its triumphant return to Albany in 2021, playing six games over three days in Tom & Mary Casey Stadium.
 
Next: UAlbany hosts its 2022 home opener against Siena on March 2 at 7:00 pm.