Marist had knocked off a top 10 opponent on a Tuesday before, just as the Red Foxes did this week against Army.
The similarities end right about there. On an April night in 2016, Marist needed overtime to escape Stony Brook with a victory. There was no such uncertainty tied to Tuesday’s 17-9 drubbing of the Black Knights.
“This game was such a different feeling because of the way it transpired during the game and how convincing it was,” coach Keegan Wilkinson said. “It was a big statement for us as a program to show up and perform at that level.”
To be sure, no one will confuse Marist (2-1) with one of the sport’s bluebloods. It has three NCAA tournament appearances to its credit, and its lone postseason victory came in a play-in game against Bryant in 2015.
But it is a program with some sustained success. The Red Foxes have won two of the last five Metro Atlantic tournaments. They have four 10-win seasons in the last seven years. They’re 33-16 in league play over Wilkinson’s first eight seasons.
It helps explain why Marist is willing to take on a trickier non-conference schedule than most in its conference. The Red Foxes dropped a two-goal game at Richmond last weekend and have games against Bucknell and Delaware still to come.
On paper, Marist’s offensive breakout against an Army defense that yielded nine goals in its first three games seemed surprising. But Wilkinson argues the Red Foxes’ showing in the second half of last season — coupled with losing just 4.47 percent of its points to graduation, the seventh-lowest total in Division I — hinted at improvement at that end.
Regardless, scoring and clearing are the two biggest year-over-year areas of improvement for the Red Foxes.
“We had started to make some pretty good strides on offense, and we were playing a lot of freshmen who got more experience and confidence,” Wilkinson said. “We returned a bunch of highly competitive, tough kids. That [scoring bump] is not quite as surprising, but the clearing aspect has been tremendous for us. We did graduate all three of our close defensemen. We knew we had to get better there and knew we’d be doing it with a more youthful group of guys.”
While defense has remained a strength, Marist has seen some younger offensive talent continue to mature. Jamison Embury, a sophomore attackman Wilkinson describes as a “lacrosse rat,” had four goals and three assists against Army and has a team-high 13 points on the season. Sophomore Jojo Pirreca has multiple goals in all three games. Junior Jake Weinman has a team-best nine goals, and sophomore midfielder James Lyons has six goals on nine shots in the early going.
Tuesday’s rout hinted at the potential for a good program to take a step forward, but Wilkinson isn’t about to say the Red Foxes have arrived because of one game.
“We know we have a lot of work to do,” Wilkinson said. “We’re just scratching the ground floor. We have film today, and there’s plenty we need to improve on after Army. We’re not having a celebration down Main Street. We’re getting back to work to try to get ready for next week against Hartford.”
Spencer’s Homecoming
Pat Spencer was the center of attention nearly every time he took the lacrosse field for Loyola over a storied career that included last year’s Tewaaraton Award. He was back in Maryland on Tuesday in his new role — as a graduate transfer on Northwestern’s basketball team.
Spencer had seven points, two assists and no turnovers in 32 minutes in the Wildcats’ 76-67 loss to the Terps. He also had a healthy crowd of friends, family and former teammates in the crowd at Xfinity Center.
“It was incredible,” Spencer said. “I had so many people that were here supporting me, and I’m thankful for all those people that were supporting me along the way.”
Among them was Loyola coach Charley Toomey, who was part of a large contingent from Cold Spring Lane to make the trek down Interstate 95 to College Park.
“I texted him right afterward and said I was proud of his effort and that it was fun to see him get out there and do his thing,” Toomey said. “A lot of people are amazed by his ability to not only play, but be an impact player. Obviously, we had a lot of our players and our whole staff were there. There were a lot of people there wearing Loyola colors who were rooting for Northwestern.”
While it took some time after last season ended for Spencer to find a home at Northwestern, he’s thrived even as the youthful Wildcats have struggled to a 6-19 record. He ranks second on the team in scoring (10.6 points per game), third in rebounds (3.8) and first in assists (3.8) in his lone season of college basketball.
“I don’t think I needed any outside validation; I just wanted to prove to myself I could play at this level,” Spencer said. “I thought that I could. I’ve played against a lot of the guys that are playing at this level in high school. [Maryland’s Darryl] Morsell and those guys are playing at a high level, but I knew what I was capable of in high school, and I felt like after four years of high-level Division I sports I’d be able to compete at this level, and I’ve certainly validated that for myself.”
The week in numbers
Yale senior TD Ierlan had 13 ground balls in the Bulldogs’ season-opening 18-12 victory at Villanova. He now has 762 for his career, the most in Division I history … North Carolina’s 24-8 rout of Lafayette was the 300th home victory in program history … Hobart’s Jason Knox broke his own school record for goals at the Division I level, scoring 10 times in a 26-9 drubbing of Siena. It was the most goals for a Statesman since John Topichak had 14 against Brockport on May 21, 1969 … Michael Kraus became the fourth player in Virginia history to record 100 goals and 100 assists in his career, joining Kevin Pehlke, Danny Glading and Steele Stanwick … Princeton senior Michael Sowers’ 14-point game on Tuesday in the Tigers’ 20-11 rout of Colgate was the first by a Division I player since Albany’s Miles Thompson had 14 points against Stony Brook on April 27, 2013. Sowers was also the first D-I player with 11 assists in a game since UMBC’s Steve Marohl had 12 assists against Penn on March 18, 1992 … Maryland scored a combined 54 goals in its first three games, its most since delivering 55 goals in the first three contests of the 1978 season.