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Clarkson University Athletics

2024 Clarkson Men's Lacrosse Preview

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Ben Moeller

Men's Lacrosse | 2/16/2024 3:35:00 PM

The last two seasons have seen the Clarkson University Men's Lacrosse team score more goals than in any other two-season stretch of the program's 70-plus years of existence, and the Golden Knights will look to ride that offense to further success in the 2024 season.

Guided by long-time head coach Bill Bergan and assistant Jake Riley, the Green and Gold return virtually the entire offense that posted 189 goals last season and 221 in the 2022 season. Earning notice in multiple pre-season national rankings, the Golden Knights hope to make noise in the Liberty League in 2024, a tall task considering the depth and quality from top to bottom that the conference possesses.

The Golden Knights will be without graduate students Bryan Penney and Jacob Mattice, with the former the team's leading goal scorer in 2023 and the latter a stalwart in the crease for the past two seasons. While Clarkson figures out its goalkeeping situation, the Knights will lean upon the team's talented returning offense.

A season ago, the Knights were put in an immediate bind as Sebastian Geiger and Connor Holly suffered injuries in the early going, but the offense plugged the holes as others stepped in to fill their roles. Geiger returned for the second half of the season and still ranked fifth on the team in scoring with 22 points, including 21 in six Liberty League contests, helping him earn Liberty League Honorable Mention All-Star status despite nearly the entirety of March. Classmate Thomas Fiebich is also back for a grad year, and the attacker produced a team-best 47 points on 22 goals and 25 assists. Thirty more helpers from Fiebich will allow him to become just the fifth player in program history to reach triple digits in assists, while just 19 more goals would put Geiger at 100 career goals, a club that has only eight former Golden Knights. Meanwhile, Connor Holly scored 14 points in his first season and will be relied upon more on offense, as will former conference all-star Matt Reilly (19-13-32), Andrew Kearney (16-11-27), Connor Matthews (19-2-21), and Alex Seiler (12-8-20). With so much offense returning, the lineup will be difficult to crack for newcomers, especially with other scorers such as Sam Mancabelli, Joe Kelly, and Tyler Hall ready to put up bigger numbers as well.  

The Knights will miss the expertise of Matthew Hansen on faceoffs, but Logan Wilkinson will change around the dynamic in the center as a non-FOGO player who can provide a little more offense and has a multi-faceted game. Some newcomers to the program will also serve as faceoff players, including Max Miller, Gabe Vassallo, and Lucas Lasher. Other midfielders not mentioned among the faceoff players or larger scoring options that could see some time in their first season with the Knights are Mario Streiff, Derek Torres, James Auszura, and James O'Rourke.

Defensively, the Knights return two starters, including senior Matt Szwagulinski, a player who was chosen by multiple outlets as a Pre-Season All-American. In his junior campaign he ranked third on the team in groundballs with 50 and ranked among the Liberty League leaders in caused turnovers with 25, which was the top figure for the Knights by a wide margin. Mason Volley also is back on defense, where he produced 15 caused turnovers and 23 groundballs in his second season with Clarkson. Upperclassmen Tyler Griffin and Andrew Schneid should see themselves with increased roles, while several newcomers could see some minutes as freshmen, including Tristen Dillon, Steve Getsie, and Dylan Coan.

The starting goalkeeper is still up in the air following the departure of Jacob Mattice, as all three turning goalies showed promise in the fall and in the spring practices. Standing at an imposing 6-6, senior Brett Bohlmann fills much of the crease and is a tough figure to work around for opposing offenses. Sophomore Griffin Emerson is no slouch either at 6-2, while Eric Gellasch has actually seen the most time in the past two seasons in relief of Mattice. Coach Bergan did not leave out the possibility of splitting time or rotating starters in the early going, allowing the competition to be fierce in non-conference games to start the year.  


 
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Players Mentioned

Brett Bohlmann

#49 Brett Bohlmann

GK
6' 6"
Junior
Thomas Fiebich

#34 Thomas Fiebich

A
5' 10"
Senior
Sebastian Geiger

#14 Sebastian Geiger

A
6' 1"
Senior
Eric Gellasch

#6 Eric Gellasch

GK
5' 9"
Sophomore
Tyler Griffin

#28 Tyler Griffin

D
5' 11"
Sophomore
Tyler Hall

#2 Tyler Hall

M
5' 8"
Senior
Matthew Hansen

#30 Matthew Hansen

M
5' 8"
Senior
Connor Holly

#25 Connor Holly

A
5' 9"
Sophomore
Andrew Kearney

#31 Andrew Kearney

M
5' 10"
Junior
Joe Kelly

#46 Joe Kelly

A
6' 1"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Brett Bohlmann

#49 Brett Bohlmann

6' 6"
Junior
GK
Thomas Fiebich

#34 Thomas Fiebich

5' 10"
Senior
A
Sebastian Geiger

#14 Sebastian Geiger

6' 1"
Senior
A
Eric Gellasch

#6 Eric Gellasch

5' 9"
Sophomore
GK
Tyler Griffin

#28 Tyler Griffin

5' 11"
Sophomore
D
Tyler Hall

#2 Tyler Hall

5' 8"
Senior
M
Matthew Hansen

#30 Matthew Hansen

5' 8"
Senior
M
Connor Holly

#25 Connor Holly

5' 9"
Sophomore
A
Andrew Kearney

#31 Andrew Kearney

5' 10"
Junior
M
Joe Kelly

#46 Joe Kelly

6' 1"
Sophomore
A