WEST POINT – Army’s men’s lacrosse team may have saved their best performance of the regular season for the last and most important game.
With the Patriot League regular-season championship at stake, the Black Knights showed the crowd of about 2,000 at Michie Stadium Friday evening exactly how well they can play as both a team and as individuals.
The result was an impressive 18-6 victory over Loyola (Md.) that clinched the league title for the second straight year for Army and enabled the Black Knights to host next weekend’s semifinal and championship games. The winner of the Patriot League postseason tournament gets an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament that begins in early May. It’s hard to fathom that Army (12-1, 7-1 Patriot) ranked No. 4 in the nation, would be denied a postseason berth in the tournament if they somehow lose in the league playoffs.
Everything appeared to be clicking for the Black Knights Friday. The nation’s best defense, averaging just 6.8 goals per game, essentially shut down the Greyhounds, who finished the season at 3-11 overall and 3-5 in the Patriot League, with a physical performance that allowed just 18 shots on goal. It also took the pressure off starting goalie Sean Byrne who still made 10 saves on the 14 shots he faced in the game.
“It was a complete team effort the entire way through and Sean made some great saves,” said All-American senior defender AJ Pilate, who gave a lot of credit to the defensive midfielders for keeping the pressure on Loyola. “There are a lot of improvements we can improve on, which is a bright side. It means that we can still get better.”
Offensively, it seems that everyone from the starters to reserves to maybe even a team manager or two got in on the fun. Of course, senior Jackson Eicher was again the star of the impressive offensive performance, scoring six goals in less than three quarters of play to tie a school record for most goals in a season that was set in 1971 with 51 scores.
But the supporting cast was extensive. Freshman Hill Plunkett scored one goal, had five assists and seemed to be just about everywhere on the field. Junior Gunnar Fellows scored four times and eight other Black Knights scored one goal, including freshman Tyler Clark, who scored a goal for the first time this season in the second quarter. Freshman Brayden Fountain (one goal) and junior Evan Plunkett, Hill’s older brother, each had two assists for Army.
“We just came together as a unit,” said Hill Plunkett, who plays the first-team midfield line with his brother and freshman Aidan Weisenborn. “(Assistant) Coach (Justin) Ward put together a great game plan for us and we just produced. All week our scout team defense put together a great scout for us on how (Loyola) played the zone. Everyone played their role and no one tried to do too much, which was awesome.
“Having Gunnar, Jackson and Brayden to throw the ball to is absolutely amazing. They are always finding the gaps and we worked this week on finding the gaps and they were doing their thing scoring the ball. The biggest thing is not beating ourselves. If we play our game, we are unstoppable.”
And, while All-American faceoff specialist Will Coletti was just good at the X, winning just 55 percent of the faceoffs he took, he more than made up for that with 10 ground balls that helped the Black Knights control the tempo of the game throughout the contest.
“It was very complete, starting with our goaltending with Sean in net and excellent defensively from the get go,” said Army coach Joe Alberici, who added that for much of the game he thought that Hill Plunkett was the best player on the field with his assists and passes. “We made them earn everything they got. Moving to the offensive end, 16 of our 18 goals were assisted. Whether it was zone or man, we seemed to have an answer. In transition, we were able to capitalize there.”
Eicher lost his entire sophomore year to an ACL injury suffered in preseason camp. He scored 37 goals during his junior year along with 21 assists. This year, Eicher has 28 assists.
“It means a lot to me that Jackson tied the record,” said Alberici. “That record was set in 1971 by Tommy Cafaro, who was one of the legendary players in our game and one of the great, great players of all time. For Eicher to tie that record is a tribute to him and the work that he has put in and the effort that he puts in to keep developing his game. My estimation is he is one of the best attackman in the country and we will need him to keep playing that way in the playoffs.”
As the top seed, Army will face the lowest seed remaining from the Tuesday’s quarterfinal games on Friday starting at 4:30 p.m. Lafayette, seeded third in the tournament will face sixth-seeded Navy, while fourth-seeded Colgate will meet fifth-seeded Lehigh.
Boston University, the second seed and the only team to defeat Army this season when they knocked off the Black Knights 11-10 in overtime in early April, will face the higher seed immediately after the conclusion of the first semifinal game.
The championship game will be played at 11:30 a.m Sunday at Michie Stadium.
