Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/2/18
From Press Release
The Villanova men’s lacrosse team is set to open the season this Saturday, February 3rd on the road against the Penn State Nittany Lions. Head coach, Michael Corrado, breaks down the 2018 team position-by-position as the Wildcat take their final practices before their season opener. This contest will be the 24th in program history between the Wildcats and Nittany Lions.
The Wildcats are returning 27 letterwinners and eight starters from last season. Villanova finished 9-6 overall and 4-1 in conference play in 2017. Christian Cuccinello, Devin McNamara, and Danny Seibel were named to the All-Preseason BIG EAST Team and the Wildcats were selected to finish second by their fellow head coaches.
Villanova will hit the road for their first three games this season before hosting Drexel for their home opener on Tuesday, February 28th. The Wildcats find themselves receiving votes in the Maverick Preseason Media Poll and 21 in the Inside Lacrosse Preseason Poll.
Faceoff: Luke Palmadesso will continue to serve as the Wildcats primary faceoff specialist this season. Also Dan Fisher (St. Joseph’s Prep) will see time at the center X along with sophomore Connor Kirst.
2017 Leaders:
Luke Palmadesso: 69-135 (.511)
Connor Kirst: 34-91 (.374)
Attack: Seniors Christian Cuccinello (All-BIG EAST Preseason Team, 1st Team all-BIG EAST) and Danny Seibel (All-BIG EAST Preseason Team) will lead the Wildcat’s attack line this season. Both have been three year starters and bring experience to the offense. Kieran Byrnes has been fighting hard this preseason and will see minutes as a part of the Wildcat’s man-up offensive line.
Also rotating in this season will be Timmy Hardy who will switch between attack and midfield. Pushing hard for minutes this offseason has been Luke Prybylski (Hun School) and Corey McNamanus, both have been doing well during preseason play. Keegan Khan, a freshman, will start on the attack line this season, making the projected starting lineup Cuccinello, Seibel, and Khan.
2017 Leaders:
Christian Cuccinello: 33 goals, 31 assists
Danny Seibel: 26 goals, 8 assists
Midfield: Graduate students John Kluh (All-BIG EAST Second Team) and Devin McNamara (All-BIG EAST Preseason Team, All-BIG EAST Second Team) will both bring the experience to offensive midfield this season. Sophomore, Connor Kirst, will also see a lot of minutes of the offensive side this season along with Jared Nugent and Colin Crowley.
Senior’s Nick Ellis (West Deptford-NJ) and Max Derham (Germantown Academy) both played multiple positions this season, Ellis will serves as an offensive and defensive middie, while Derham will switch between midfielder and attack. Also adding depth and working hard this offseason has been junior Andrew Gallahue, sophomores Owen Black (Hun School) and Jack Kinnear, and freshmen Eric Overbay and Stevie Peters.
Serving as the Wildcats defensive midfielder’s this season will be TJ Comizio, Chris Donovan (Hun School), and Brendan Quigley. Roberto LoCascio has emerged this offseason as the Wildcat’s top longstick midfielder. Brendan Black has been also playing hard this offseason and will see time as an LSM along with Michael Clark and Colin Hunt.
Junior Joey Froccaro will miss the 2018 season due to an injury he sustained during the fall season.
2017 Leaders:
Devin McNamara: 14 goals, 14 assists
John Kluh: 10 goals, 5 assists
Connor Kirst: 11 goals, 7 assists
TJ Comizio: 37 groundballs, 12 caused turnovers
Defense: Returning as a starter on the Wildcat defense this season will be Zachary Kryza, joining him this season will be fellow sophomore Matt Webster (La Salle) and freshman Owen Prybylski. The young backline will have depth and experience added thanks to senior Matt Wysota and juniors Fernando Delgado and Kevin Kelly.
2017 Leaders:
Zachary Kryza: 6 groundballs, 3 caused turnovers
Fernando Delgado: 11 groundballs, 7 caused turnovers
Goalkeeper: Transfer Matt Barrett (Malvern Prep) will serve as the Wildcat’s primary goalie this season. Also seeing time this season in goal will be junior Nick Testa, who was Villanova’s starter last season. The Wildcat’s have depth between the posts this season with junior Paul Egloff, sophomore Michael Toomey, and freshman Brendan Haggerty.
2017 Leaders:
Nick Testa: 14 starts, 10.45 GAA, .478 save percentage