US Lacrosse Magazine released the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Preseason Top 20 on Dec. 17. Team-by-team previews will be unveiled on uslaxmagazine.com through the end of the month and will also appear as part of the magazine’s NCAA preview edition in February.

Don’t get the mag? Join US Lacrosse today to start your subscription.

No. 20 Army

2019 Record: 13-5 (5-3, Patriot League)
Coach: Joe Alberici (15th season)
Assistants: Kyle Georgalas, Justin Ward, Rick Lewis

All-Time Record: 794-386-7
NCAA Appearances: 17
Final Fours: 2
Championships: 0

2020 Schedule

Save the Date
March 22

The last time Army was on the field at the Ridley Athletic Complex on May 5, 2019, it was crowned Patriot League Champion after defeating Lehigh, 11-7. Two days earlier, they upset the top-seeded Greyhounds, 7-5, in a defensive battle and held Pat Spencer scoreless. The regular season contest this year in Baltimore will likely have playoff implications once again.

Alberici Looking to Committee to Lead the Way

During Army’s final team meeting in December, Joe Alberici challenged his squad to take any excuses off the table.

“This is a tough place and there are of things that you have to overcome in order to be successful on the field,” Alberici said. “But the best teams I’ve been apart of are the ones that are able to keep moving forward.”

Still, Alberici doesn’t shy away from discussing the key contributors he can no longer rely on. “It’s not the volume of players, it’s just the ones we lost are really critical,” he said.

On the offensive end, attackman Nate Jones led the team with 56 goals in 2019 and finished 13th all-time in scoring at Army. The Black Knights, who won their first Patriot League Tournament Championship since 2010, also boasted the second-ranked scoring defense in the nation last year thanks in large part to Schmeisser Award winner Johnny Surdick and goalie AJ Barretto — a USILA Second Team All America selection.

“You don’t necessarily replace those guys,” Alberici said. “So it has to be by committee.”

This spring, it’s unlikely sophomore attackman Brendan Nichtern will take anyone by surprise. Since the second half of Army’s first game of the season against UMass, he’s drawn the opponent’s No. 1 defender. “If any coach is looking at a kid in the fall and says this freshman is going to score 80 points for us, I think they are lying to themselves,” Alberici said. “Nobody ever expects a freshman to do that.”

Nichtern scored the game-winner 29 seconds into overtime against the Minutemen. It was his fourth goal of the game. He didn’t look back and finished the season with 30 goals and 50 assists to achieve USILA All-America Honorable Mention.

While Alberici called Nichtern’s production “outstanding,” he also extolled the offense’s balance, which made it difficult for defenses to give too much attention to Nichtern. They played four attackmen consistently. They ran six or seven middies every game. The Black Knights will still rely on their versatility. With the exception of Jones, they return all of their double-digit scorers from a year ago. The offense is laden with seniors, including midfielders Matt Manown and Connor Dwitt, both captains.

The other captain is senior defenseman Tom Rigney, who impressed in the fall and will play a critical role buoying the Black Knights defense. So we can talk about who’s no longer suiting up for Army, their questions in goal, and their struggles at the faceoff X, but Alberici’s remains clear. They’ll focus on the little things. They’ll get back to work.

Projected Starters

A - Brendan Nichtern - Soph. - 30 G, 50 A
A - Sean O’Brien - Sr. - 21 G, 12 A
A - Miles Silva - Sr. - 39 G, 0 A
M - Matt Manown - Sr. - 19 G, 14 A
M - Connor Dewitt - Sr. - 11 G, 1 A
M - Nicholas Garofano - Jr. - 16 G, 7 A
F/O - Ethan Branagan - Soph. - 39.9 FO%, 34 GB
LSM - Kyle Beyer - Jr. - 11 CT, 26 GB
SSDM - Anthony George - Sr. - 11 CT, 27 GB
D - Tom Rigney - Sr. - 51 GB, 12 CT
D - Bennett Taylor - Sr. - 3 GB, 2 CT
D - Matthew Russell - Jr. - (2 games played, no stats)
G - Greg Coleman - Jr. - 2 SV

Tewaaraton Watch
Brendan Nichtern, A., Soph

It’s fitting that Nichtern’s family has a dog named Alpha, since that’s what he turned into for West Point. The attackman from Massapequa (N.Y.) was the top-scoring freshman in the country, and he also set West Point’s single-season assist record (50) and paced the team in goals (30).

X Factor
Sean O’Brien, A. , Sr.

O’Brien ramped up his production when it mattered most. The 6-foot-4 attackman had 16 points in the spring's last five games, including a hat-trick against Loyola to help send Army to the Patriot League championship game. “He is so versatile and a guy who is going to help us get where we want to go,” Alberici said. “He’s done some of his work in the shadows, but is a terrific player.”

National Rankings

22

No, this isn’t a Gary Gait reference. It’s the number of Army games since 2017 that have been decided by two goals or fewer. “The attitude of the team so far this year is that they've been willing to work hard because the known margin between being successful and being seen as unsuccessful is a very thin line for us,” Alberici said.

Enemy Lines

“Every single year, they’re the same. You know what you’ll get. They have an unbelievably stingy defense, a top-five or top-10 defense in the country. I don’t see that changing. I know they have to replace their goalie. Replacing Surdick is going to be a difficult task. On the offensive end, they have most of their players back, including Nichtern, who I think will be a first team all-Patriot League player.”