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Delaware Lacrosse News |
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January 6, 2009
Men’s Lacrosse Picked No. 20 Nationally; No. 2 in CAA in Faceoff Magazine Pre-Season Poll
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BALTIMORE -- The University of Delaware men’s lacrosse squad has
earned its second Top 25 pre-season notice of the season as the Blue
Hens were picked No. 20 in the Inside Lacrosse/Faceoff Yearbook poll
announced recently.
In addition to the national recognition, the Blue Hens were picked to
finish second in the Colonial Athletic Association standings and had
three players - junior attackman Curtis Dickson, junior midfielder
Martin Cahill, and sophomore defender Pat Dowling - named to the
pre-season all-conference team. The selections were made by a committee
of Inside Lacrosse staff members and contributors with input from
college coaches.
Delaware, which was also picked No. 23 in the LAXnews.com poll announced
in December, returns 19 letterwinners and four all-conference performers
from last year’s team that went 9-7 and advanced to the CAA semifinals
for the fifth straight season.The Blue Hens will open the 2009 season
Feb. 7 at home against Saints Joseph’s.
Virginia, the 2006 national champion and a 2008 national semifinalist,
was the pre-season No. 1 pick followed by 2008 national champion
Syracuse, Maryland, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins in the top five.
Georgetown was picked sixth followed by Duke, North Carolina, Notre
Dame, and UMBC. Navy was at No. 11 followed by Albany, Brown, Princeton,
Hofstra, Denver, Colgate, Bucknell, Loyola, Delaware, Ohio State, Army,
Drexel, Penn State, and Stony Brook.
The Blue Hens, who will be gunning for their school-record sixth
straight winning season this spring, will play seven Top 25 teams,
including games vs. No. 6 Georgetown (Mar. 11 at home), No. 10 UMBC
(Feb. 14 at home), No. 12 Albany (March 6 at Albany, N.Y.), No. 13 Brown
(Mar. 28 at Providence, R.I.), No. 15 Hofstra (Apr. 4 at the Big City
Classic at Giants Stadium), No. 22 Drexel (Apr. 25 in Philadelphia), and
No. 25 Stony Brook (March 14 at Stony Brook, N.Y.).
Defending champion Hofstra was picked as the pre-season favorite in the
CAA followed by Delaware, Drexel, Towson, Villanova, Sacred Heart, and
Robert Morris.
Delaware will feature one of the CAA’s most prolific scoring
combinations in Dickson and Cahill while 2008 CAA All-Rookie selections
Dowling and Tim Langmaid will spearhead the defense. Other top returning
players are senior midfielder Beau Davis (13 goals) and sophomore
midfielder and faceoff specialist Anthony Ruiz (four goals, 52.2 faceoff
efficiency). Dickson earned All-American honors a year ago when he led
the team with 46 goals while Cahill was a first team All-CAA pick when
he contributed 29 goals last spring. This year’s recruiting class
features four high school All-Americans.
Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw, a two-time national Coach of the
Year, will begin his 31st season as head coach of the Blue Hens and will
need just one win to earn his 250th victory at UD.
Source: University of Delaware Sports Information Dept.
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