Hill Plunkett made it known Saturday that he’ll be just fine at his new position this year.
The sophomore scored five goals and added two assists to help power the Black Knights to an impressive 14-8 victory over visiting UMass in both team’s season opener. The non-conference game was played indoors, without any fans, at the Foley Athletic Center because of the severe cold weather in the area.
Hill Plunkett isn’t unknown in college lacrosse circles. As a freshman last season, he teamed with his older brother Evan, now a senior co-captain, three-time All-American and the preseason Patriot League offensive player of the year, at midfield to score 12 goals and added 16 assists to help the Black Knights to a 12-2 record. Hill was also a first-team All-Patriot League selection as a midfielder last season and was named to the preseason All-Patriot League team this year at attack.
No matter how you slice it, Army coach Joe Alberici needs some creative mathematics to figure out how to make up for the 52 goals scored by the now-graduated Jackson Eicher last season. The Black Knights coaching staff turned to Hill Plunkett and moved him to his natural position at attack, which he played at Roswell High School in Georgia.
The goal is simple. They hope that Hill Plunkett will join with other attackers at Army, including Fellows, a senior co-captain, and Fountain, a sophomore, who each scored 35 goals last year, to create a lethal offensive trio for the Black Knights this season.
“It was my first game at attack in a very long time,” said Hill Plunkett. “Coach (Alberici) said this is the best spot for me to play and I was recruited for attack. If it helps the team win, I am all for it.
“This kind of game does great things for my confidence and that should help me over the season. But, the key was my two linemates (Gunnar Fellows and Brayden Fountain) who did a great job getting me open, getting the ball to me and letting me play my game. It all paid off very well today.”
Against the Minutemen, the strategy did work like a charm. Hill Plunkett scored five of the Black Knights first 10 goals to help Army take an 8-5 lead at halftime and 10-6 advantage after three quarters. Army outscored UMass, 4-1, in the final quarter to finish with its six-goal margin.
“Hill was outstanding and was able to get leverage on his man that allowed him to create a lot of opportunities all by himself,” Alberici said. “Brayden Fountain was also outstanding and Gunnar Fellows once again did so many great things on the field that don’t appear in the stat book.”
There were other stars as well for the Black Knights. Besides Fountain, who scored two goals and had an assist, freshman Gus Bell also scored two goals and had one assist in his college debut. Starting faceoff specialist Robert Simone won 12 of 19 faceoffs, a solid 63% ratio, and recovered nine groundballs, while freshman Caleb Caldwell won all four of his faceoffs.
In goal, senior Sean Byrne, who led the NCAA Division I in save percentage and goals-against average last season, was solid against UMass, stopping 11 of 19 shots.
Army won the groundball battle with UMass, 28-15, and outshot the Minutemen, 51-24.
“I am really pleased with how our team played,” said Alberici. “We were really strong up the middle and what I mean by that was that we got a great game from Rob Simone and Caleb Caldwell at faceoff, Sean Byrne played like one of the best goalies in the country, which he is, and our defense was rock solid.
“We dominated the groundball action. Our guys were terrific there, swarming the ball and creating a lot of good opportunities for us to put pressure on their cage.”
