It seems that the goal remains the same for the Army men’s lacrosse team and its coach Joe Alberici.
Reach the NCAA tournament in May and let’s see if the squad can do some damage there.
Alberici will start his 21st season as coach of Army when the Black Knights play their first ever January game on the 31st at home game against UMass. He is confident that the schedule, released earlier this week, is strong enough to prove to NCAA officials that Army belongs in their tournament and will also allow the team to develop as the season goes on.
The Black Knights will face six non-conference foes this season, including Rutgers and Michigan from the Big 10, Yale from the Ivy League and North Carolina from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The nine-team Patriot League should be stronger than last year as well.
“I believe we are facing an extremely competitive non-conference schedule that should make us more relevant on the national scene,” Alberici said. “It will also prepare us for what is definitely going to be an extremely competitive and balanced Patriot League that is filled with a lot of excellent teams.”
Winning the Patriot League remains a priority for Army. Despite a stellar 10-0 non-conference record over the last two seasons, the NCAA declined to give Army an at-large bid into its 17-team tournament after the Black Knights lost in the Patriot League tournament and failed to gain the league’s automatic bid.
The last time the NCAA selected two teams from the Patriot League was the 2021 season.
Army finished the 2024 campaign with an 11-3 record and were ranked first in two national polls for two weeks in the middle of the season. This past season, the Black Knights went 12-2 and were left out of the tournament, as well.
“The most important thing is making and winning the Patriot League tournament,” Alberici said. “If we win the league tournament, we are automatically in the (NCAA tournament). They cannot deny us and we know that.”
Alberici is confident that his 2026 team will be competitive, even with the loss of 22 seniors, five of whom were first team All-Americans.
“It was the biggest lost of talent of any team in the country,” Alberici said. “But we had an excellent fall practice and we are placing many guys in different positions of impact and they did a great job during the fall.”
After the first game with UMass from the Atlantic 10 Conference, Army visits Rutgers on Feb. 7, followed by its first game against Michigan since 2013 at a neutral site in Atlanta on Feb. 21. Army stays in Georgia for a Feb. 23 game against Mercer.
The eight-game Patriot League season kicks off on Feb. 28 with a home game against Holy Cross. The Black Knights also play league games against Lehigh, Navy and Colgate at home while traveling to Lafayette, Boston University, Bucknell and Loyola Maryland. The North Carolina game will be played in Chapel Hill, N.C. on March 21.
