By Jake DiBlasio/Sports Editor
After a lackluster 2023 season with a record of 6-11, Delaware Valley’s Men’s Lacrosse team is off to a much better start. Four games into the 2024 season, the Aggies have two wins and two losses. Their two wins have come over Rosemont College and Cairn University. After the disappointing season last year, how have the Aggies turned the program around?
One of the main reasons for the improved start in the 2024 campaign has to do with the amount of older players returning. This year, The Aggies have Nine Seniors and Graduate students on the team this year.
“When you have an experienced roster, you can rely on upperclassmen for leadership on a daily basis…. we have tremendous maturity and confidence. These men are the heart & soul of Team 10″ Head Coach Will Lawlor said in a recent interview with Maxx Mann’s Delaware Valley’s Director of Sports Information. This will be Lawlor’s second year leading the Aggies and his 10th year coaching. Lawlor has preached how important coming together as one team has been since taking the job after the 2022 season.
“Will brings tremendous energy and vision to our men’s lacrosse program, he has clear parameters and principles for directing a program and I’m confident he will focus on the total development of each student athlete in respect to our University’s core values”
David Duda, Delaware Valley University Athletic Director
In his short time with Delaware Valley, Lawlor’s vision is already taking place. Chris Marren, a Graduate Student from Woodland Park, New Jersey broke the University’s record for Goals in a single game. In the Aggie’s second game against Cairn University, Marren scored eight goals in a game where the Aggies would go on to win 15-5. A combination of Marren’s experience and buying into Lawlor’s plan, allowed the Aggies to start the season 2-0.
Since then, things have not been great for Delaware Valley. The Aggies have lost their last two games to Albright College and Hood College. Neither game was pretty for the Aggies as they lost to Hood by 10 goals and Albright by 20! In both games, Delaware Valley struggled to help goalie Jim Murphy. Murphy is a Senior from Rutland Massachusetts. The Aggies have put Murphy in a tough situation, allowing 67 shots on goal in the last two games, and have lost 37 of 46 faceoffs during the same timeframe. Despite the rough stretch the Aggies are currently facing, the season is far from over. With 13 games left in the 2024 season, a lot could happen.
“As a program, we are preparing to play in May and to compete in the MAC playoffs,” Lawlor said in the same interview mentioned earlier. With the good start in 2024, this is still in the range of possibilities for how the Aggies season could end. An important stretch of games for the Aggies will start on April 5th against DeSales University and end on April 27th against King’s College. During this time, the Aggies have seven consecutive games against conference opponents within the MAC Freedom. These will be the last seven games for Delaware Valley and will determine if they are in the playoffs or not.
To keep up with the rest of the Aggies Men’s Lacrosse season check out https://athletics.delval.edu/sports/mens-lacrosse. From there, final scores, highlights, upcoming games, and more are all available. If interested in coming to a game, the Aggies have seven more home games, one of them being Senior Day on April 27th against King’s College which is also their final regular season game of the year.