Army co-captain and senior midfielder Evan Plunkett is well aware that the Black Knights mens’ lacrosse team lost five all-Americans to graduation last spring. He and everyone involved with the team knows what those players contributed over the years and how it will take a Herculean effort to replace their scoring and defense.
But Plunkett remains extremely confident that the 2026 version of Army lacrosse is ready to assume their own place in the long and storied history of the Black Knight lacrosse program.
“We try to focus on the fact that every year we start over with a new team,” said Plunkett, who was selected as the Patriot League’s preseason offensive player of the year earlier this month. “We are going into this season with a positive, forward-looking outlook, knowing that we have a lot of younger guys here who are eager to step up and we are all excited to work together to as a team to play our best on the field as well as in practice.”
The Black Knights are eager to get going this year. Army finished last season with a stellar 12-2 record, including victories over highly-rated North Carolina, Yale and Rutgers. Shockingly to many, Army did not receive an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament after dropping a 16-13 decision to Colgate in the Patriot League semifinals.
The season starts Saturday when Army hosts UMass, which the Black Knights defeated 16-9 last year, in a game that was moved indoors to the Foley Athletic Center because of severe weather. The game is not open to the public.
Army will have a season filled with tough games, including non-league contests against No. 5-ranked North Carolina as well as Yale, Rutgers, Michigan and the improving Minutemen. The Patriot League also seems to be deeper this year, with Boston University, Colgate, Lehigh, Loyola, Lafayette and, of course, Navy expected to be extremely difficult opponents.
“We are all very excited to get this season going,” added Plunkett, who scored 14 goals and had 16 assists last year. “We know who we are and what we are capable of, but our focus is game to game and right now all we care about is UMass and getting better week by week.”
Army coach Joe Alberici, entering his 21st year at the helm of the Black Knights, is also optimistic that his team, which is ranked 12th and 14th in preseason polls, can keep growing throughout the season and attain its goal of reaching the NCAA tournament and do some damage in that tournament.
Despite the team’s overall youth and the fact that he lost those five all-Americans (Jackson Eicher, AJ Pilate, Christian Fournier, Christian Mazur and Will Coletti) among 22 seniors, Alberici believes he has a solid core of experienced players and talented newcomers that can lead the Black Knights.
At goalie, Sean Byrne, who was named the league’s goalkeeper of the year last season and is the preseason pick for the same award this year, returns for his senior year. In 2025, Byrne had a NCAA Division I-leading goals-against average of just 7.5 and a save percentage at nearly 61 percent.
Byrne will be backed up by Evan Richardson, who Alberici said is playing extremely well in practice, Brady White and freshman Tade Wynn.
“Our goalie room is solid this season,” Alberici said.
Despite losing Pilate, the first Army defender to start all four years, Alberici is confident his defense will be a strong point for the Black Knights. Returning is senior co-captain John Sullivan, another four-year starter and a preseason first-team Patriot League pick. He will be joined by a pair of sophomores, Jimmy Manley and Tommy Stines, with freshman Jack Cappadona also expected to see a lot of action.
The short-stick midfield group will be anchored by seniors Keegan Treacy, another all-Patriot preseason, first-team pick and a co-captain, and CJ Monturio. Junior Grant Masterson was shifted to defense. He and junior Isaiah Rose is expected to see a lot of playing time.
The defensive long-stick group will be led by junior Drew Miller, who ably backed up Fournier last season. He will be joined by sophomore Sam Ralston, and Gavin Cooper, a highly-touted freshman out of Pennsylvania.
Plunkett, who is a three-time all-American, will anchor an experienced midfield group. He will be joined by senior Cal Lambert, who was hindered by injuries last season after a breakout sophomore year, sophomores Ben Calabrese, Aidan Weisenborn, who had 10 goals last year, and Tyler Clark. Junior Mike Harney is expected to return from injuries last season to play a big role. Alberici said he expects to see significant playing time for freshmen Tyler Mathews and Gus Bell, who will also play attack.
Losing 54 goals and 31 assists from Eicher is enough to keep any coach awake at night. Alberici is confident his attackers are solid with the next four top scorers returning. Anchoring the attack is the always-tough Gunnar Fellows, who scored 35 goals last year and 26 in his sophomore campaign, and Brayden Fountain, who also scored 35 goals in his freshman year at Army last season.
They will be joined by Hill Plunkett, Evan’s brother, who was moved from the midfield to his natural position on attack this season. Hill Plunkett scored 12 goals and had 16 assists in his freshman year and the Army coaches expect even more from the sophomore this season.
The biggest concern might be at the all-important faceoff position where Coletti was dominant for three-plus seasons before getting injured in his senior year. Alberici is confident that junior Robert Simone is ready to take on the position full-time after playing in all 14 games and filling in for Coletti when he was out last year. Sophomore Pat Murphy and freshman Caleb Caldwell will also get playing time at the faceoff spot.
“It is unheard of for a team to lose five all-Americans to graduation in one year,” said Alberici. “But we have the guys here to make up for that. We don’t want to replace the guys we lost to graduation because they are irreplaceable. Instead, we are working on building another great team here, one that benefitted from playing with those guys.
“This team is focused on ascending and improving throughout the season so they can finish on the highest of notes. We are young and there is a lot of talent here and our ceiling is high. We think we can do it with this team.”
