FREELAND, MICH.  --  The Trine University men's lacrosse team was picked to finish fifth in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Preseason Coaches Poll.

Trine finished with 19 points to place fifth of seven teams.   Hope (Mich.) College was tabbed as the favorite with 35 points and five first-place votes.  Albion (Mich.) College was second with 32 points and two first-place votes and both Calvin (Mich.) University and Alma (Mich.) College were selected to finish in a tie for third with 21 points each.

The Thunder ended the 2020 season with a 4-1 record after the remainder of the season was cancelled due to COVID.  

Cabe Maskevich had led the team in scoring last season with 17 total points thanks to nine goals scored and eight assists.  In his first two games of the season, he tallied seven goals and six assists with a season-best four goals in a 25-3 win against Anderson (Ind.) University and season-high four assists in a 16-8 win against Concordia Chicago.  Matt Zanichelli was second in scoring with 16 points after scoring a team-tying high 10 goals to go along with six helpers.  The trio of Tyler Corless, Andrew Douglas and Jarod Schepp all finished in a tie for third in scoring with 14 points each.  Corless and Douglas both scored nine goals and had five assists, while Schepp matched Zanichelli for the team lead in goals with 10 and also had four assists.  Corless was also among the team leaders in ground balls with 14.

Dave Keptner recorded a team-high 32 ground balls in five games last season and also had a team-best 14 caused turnovers defensively.  Additional team leaders from a year ago include Brandon Clark who had a 64.7 faceoff percentage (33-of-51) and was followed by Collin Stonebraker who had a 45.8 faceoff percentage (22-of-48) and John Konicek who won 53.6 percentage of faceoff opportunities (15-of-28).

In goal, Anthony Marasco saw the majority of the playing time starting all five games and had an 8.22 goals against average with 60 saves and a 61.9 save percentage.  

The 2021 schedule is set to begin on Feb. 27 when Trine hosts Albion at Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium.  The game is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.