FREELAND, Mich. – In a preseason poll of the seven Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) coaches, the Trine University men's lacrosse team has been selected to finish fourth.
The Thunder finished with 21 points to earn their spot. The point totals are determined by votes cast by the association's coaches, who cannot vote for their own team, with low point total receiving the top spot. Hope College was named the favorite with six points including the max possible first-place votes with six. Albion College received the final first place vote and came in at second with 11 points. Calvin University rounded out the top three with 16 points.
"The conference as a whole has become extremely competitive," said head coach Ryan Kuhn, "No one has the luxury of taking games off anymore, you have to show up for every game."
Last spring the Trine finished with a 5-7 overall record while going 3-3 in MIAA play. The season was an odd one for the MIAA with competition limited to MIAA members in a double round robin format, with only the second time through the slate counting toward the standings.
The team finished the regular season in fourth earning a home game for the opening round of the MIAA Tournament and picking up a 10-7 victory over Alma College to advance to the semi-finals where they would fall to the regular season champion Britons, who would go on to fall to the Flying Dutch in the finals.
A pair of Thunder were named All-MIAA team for their performances during the season. Now graduated Tyler Corless made an appearance on first-team, while returning Dave Keptner (Midland, Mich. / H.H. Dow) was named to the second team.
Keptner made his presence known on the defensive side of the ball as a long pole midfielder. He would lead the team over the course of the season with 16 caused turnover, with eight of those coming during conference play. He would also finish fourth on the team with 23 groundballs. In addition, he was able to tally five goals and two assists during the season.
The team returns all of its goalies from last year as well. During last season, the majority of the time was split between senior Anthony Marasco (Naperville, Ill. / Nequa Valley) and sophomore Nick DiPaolo (Flemington, N.J. / Immaculate). DiPaolo finished with team best tallies in saves (71), goals-against average (11.06) and save percentage (57.3) while Marasco came up with four wins on the back of a 11.51 goals-against average and 67 saves.
Junior Jack Konicek (Geneva, Ill. / Geneva) returns as the team's top faceoff man. Last season he finished with 154 faceoff victories and a team high 90 groundballs.
Offensively, senior Matt Zanichelli (Rolling Meadows, Ill. / William Fremd) returns having led the team with 22 goals and finished second with 27 points last season. Junior Noah Markus (Woodbury, Minn. / East Ridge) was also a key contributor finishing fourth on the team with ten goals, fourth on the team, and 14 points, fifth on the team. Senior Austin Lindell (Geneva, Ill. / Geneva) also returns having finished with nine goals last season.
"We are excited for the challenges this season has to offer," continued Kuhn, "And we are ready to face them head on as a team."