NEW YORK – Defending NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Champion Denver was once again selected by the BIG EAST head coaches to win league title for a third consecutive time, as announced Monday by the Conference. The unanimous favorite in the 2016 preseason poll, the Pioneers won the BIG EAST’s first-ever national title in 2015. Earlier this year, Denver was also voted preseason No. 1 in the national media polls.
Georgetown was selected second in the BIG EAST with 21 points and received the remaining first place vote, while Marquette was picked third with 16 points. Rounding out the league vote was Villanova in fourth (13 points), Providence (8 points) and St. John’s (7 points).
Denver’s No. 1 ranking was bolstered by four preseason All-BIG EAST selections as well as a unanimous selection for Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Connor Cannizzaro and Co-Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Christian Burgdorf. Burgdorf split the votes for Defensive Player of the Year with Marquette’s long-stick midfielder Liam Byrnes.
Along with Cannizzaro, Burgdorft and Byrnes, 10 additional BIG EAST players were selected to the 13-member Preseason All-BIG EAST team. Of the 13 players, 12 were unanimous votes in a positional roster that included three attack, three midfielders, three defenders, a goalkeeper, a long-stick midfielder, a specialty player and an at-large member.
The Preseason All-BIG EAST team and Preseason Coaches’ Poll were voted on by the league’s six head coaches who could not cast votes on their ballot for their own teams or players.
A 2015 Tewaaraton Award Nominee and USILA First Team All-America selection, Cannizzaro broke the Denver single-season record for points in his first year with the program, tallying 90 points on 57 goals and 33 assists in his sophomore season. Cannizzaro’s 57 goals were also the second most in Denver’s Division I single-season history. The Maryland transfer recorded 12 hat tricks in the campaign, including four or more goals in seven games, helping lead the Denver offense to the program’s first National Championship. Cannizzaro was also MOP of the 2015 BIG EAST Championship.
Burgdorf is a two-time USILA All-America selection and is the reigning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. Burgdorf has started 37 games in the first two years of his collegiate career. In 2015, Burgdorf tallied 25 ground balls, picking up multiple ground balls in seven games, while forcing 12 caused turnovers, including seven in the NCAA Tournament. Burgdorf was also the 2015 Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, a unanimous selection.
Byrnes,
an Inside Lacrosse Preseason Third Team All-American, was the BIG EAST's unanimous choice at long stick midfielder in 2015. The West Islip, N.Y., native is Marquette's all-time leader in ground balls and recorded 52 in 2015 along with a team-best 26 caused turnovers. He has also notched four goals and a pair of assists and ranks among the NCAA's active leaders in career points from a long pole player.
Along with Cannizzaro and Burgdorf, Denver’s Preseason All-BIG EAST players included junior midfielder Zach Miller and sophomore faceoff specialist and midfielder Trevor Baptiste. Both Miller and Baptiste were named to the 2015 NCAA All-Tournament Team as well as unanimous 2015 All-BIG EAST First Team honorees. Baptiste was also voted the 2015 BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year and was a Tewaaraton Award nominee and USILA First Team All-American. He finished the season topping the national statistical rankings in faceoff win percentage (.680) and led the league in ground balls per game with 7.37, 140 total. Miller, a USILA Third Team All-America selection, was second in the league in assists with 1.84 per game. Due to graduation, Denver lost a lot of talent and scoring production in BIG EAST Attack Player of the Year and NCAA Tournament MOP Welsey Berg, as well as all-BIG EAST players Erik Adamson on attack and keeper Ryan LaPlate, LSM Mike Riis and defender Carson Cannon, but have a reloaded roster for 2016. Denver was undefeated in BIG EAST play for the second straight year in 2015. The national champions finished with a 17-2 overall record.
Picked second in the league and featured in the national preseason polls, the Hoyas were the BIG EAST runners up in 2015. Georgetown, bolstered by sophomores and juniors, had three players voted to the preseason squad, sophomore keeper Nick Marrocco, sophomore midfielder Craig Berge and junior midfielder Peter Conley. Marrocco was an All-BIG EAST first team goalie as a freshman last year with a 10-6 record and a .549 save percentage in 938.31 minutes in goal. In league action he had a 4-1 record and a .608 save percentage. Berge, who was selected to the All-BIG EAST Second Team in 2015 returns for his second year as a Hoya after accounting for 37 points via 16 goals and 21 assists as a rookie. Berge was a 2015 USILA All-America honorable mention as well as a member of the BIG EAST All-Tournament team. Conley returns to the turf after missing half the season last year due to injury. Before his injury, the junior accounted for 19 goals and three assists in seven games during non-conference action. The Hoyas will have to fill the holes that Bo Stafford and Reilly O’Connor left behind on the scoring end as they combined for 56 goals, 50 assists last year. Georgetown finished the season with a 10-6 record and finished second in the BIG EAST with a 4-1 slate.
Marquette tied Denver for most players selected to the Preseason All-BIG EAST team with four. Grad student defender B.J. Grill, redshirt senior midfielder Kyle Whitlow and senior attackman Conor Gately join Byrnes on the preseason all-league roster. Grill was a 2015 All-BIG EAST First Team selection who grabbed 21 ground balls and caused 11 turnovers last year. Also an All-BIG EAST First Team honoree, Whitlow scored 24 goals with seven assists for 31 points at midfield. Gately added 25 goals last season along with 14 assists and 15 ground balls at attack. He earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors. Marquette finished 10-6 last year, 3-2 in league action.
Picked fourth, just three points behind the Golden Eagles were the Villanova Wildcats. Villanova finished 6-8 last year with a 1-4 BIG EAST record, but was the fourth team to qualify for the BIG EAST Championship after winning a three-way tiebreaker. The Wildcats gave Denver a good showing in the first half of their BIG EAST Semifinal contest before the Pioneers pulled away to a 16-9 victory. The Wildcats bring back almost a full roster from last year as eight starters and 30 letterwinners return.
The Providence Friars tied with Villanova and St. John’s for fourth in the standings last year with a 1-4 league record and 5-9 overall record. The Friars will be led by Preseason All-BIG EAST defender Jarrod Neumann who was a league first team selection in 2015. The junior scored one goal while collecting 18 ground balls and causing 13 miscues. The Friars will have a to find a new goalie this season as Peter Badgley, the 2015 BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year, has graduated. The Friars will play on an all-new field this season, Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium.
Picked just one vote behind Providence, St. John’s lost Stefan Diachenko and Mark DiFrangia to graduation from last yar, but returns preseason All-BIG EAST selection Eric DeJohn. The senior attackman accounted for 38 goals and 26 assists with 17 ground balls in 13 games. His 1.86 assists per game led the BIG EAST. In league play, the first team All-BIG EAST honoree led the conference in assists per game with 2.60, 13 total and was fourth in scoring with 3.00 goals/game, 15 total. The Red Storm faces a tough schedule overall with six of St. John’s 14 games against opponents ranked in the national preseason media rankings. St. John’s finished 3-11 in 2015.
BIG EAST men's lacrosse action officially starts Feb. 6 as Providence plays at Boston University. The first big weekend of lacrosse will be Feb. 18 – 21 as all six teams will compete. League play will start Saturday, April 2 with Denver at Georgetown; St. John's at Providence and Villanova at Marquette. The 2016 BIG EAST Championship will be hosted by Denver, May 5 and May 7.
Follow all the action for BIG EAST men’s lacrosse this season with the hashtag #BIGEASTmlax.
2016 Preseason Men’s Lacrosse All-BIG EAST Team and Awards
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
Connor Cannizzaro, Denver, Jr., A^
Preseason Co-Defensive Players of the Year
Liam Byrnes, Marquette, Grad Student, LSM
Christian Burgdorf, Denver, Jr. D
Preseason All-BIG EAST *
Nick Marrocco, Georgetown, So., GK ^
Connor Cannizzaro, Denver, Jr., A^
Eric DeJohn, St. John’s, Sr., A^
Craig Berge, Georgetown, So., M
Conor Gately, Marquette, Sr., A^
Peter Conley, Georgetown, Jr., M ^
Zach Miller, Denver, Jr., M ^
Kyle Whitlow, Marquette, R-Sr., M ^
Christian Burgdorf, Denver, Jr., D ^
B.J. Grill, Marquette, Grad Student, D ^
Jarrod Neumann, Providence, Jr., D ^
Liam Byrnes, Marquette, Grad Student, LSM ^
Trevor Baptiste, Denver, So., FOS ^
Preseason Coaches’ Poll
First place votes in ( )
- Denver – 25 pts. (5)
- Georgetown – 21 pts. (1)
- Marquette – 16 pts.
- Villanova – 13 pts.
- Providence – 8 pts.
- St. John’s – 7 pts.
^ - denotes unanimous selection