Tuesday, February 28, 2006

MORAVIAN MEN’S LACROSSE TEAM PICKED 9th IN MIDDLE ATLANTIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL

ANNVILLE, PA --- The Moravian College men’s lacrosse team has been picked to finish ninth in the Middle Atlantic Conference in a preseason poll of the conference’s coaches released Tuesday.

The Greyhounds received 30 points. Widener University was selected first with 100 points and received ten first-place votes while Messiah College was picked second with 91 points and one first-place vote. FDU-Florham was third with 78 points. The remainder of the poll included Elizabethtown College, Lycoming College, Drew University, Susquehanna University, King’s College, Moravian, DeSales University and the University of Scranton.

Moravian looks to continue to build the program in just its third year as a varsity sport in 2006. The Greyhounds return 12 letterwinners and seven starters from last year’s team that was 6-10 overall and 3-7 in MAC action. Head coach Fran Meagher expects the team to be even more competitive and improve.

Junior attack Daniel Larson (Dover, DE/Dover HS) led Moravian with 38 goals, and he contributed 18 assists for 56 points while sophomore midfielder Ken Blom (Rochelle Park, NJ/Bergen Catholic HS) had 17 goals and ten assists for 27 points. Blom also won 83 face-offs last season to go with 70 ground balls and five man-up goals while Larson scooped up 26 ground balls and had three game-winning goals.

Junior attack Nick Cacciutti (Media, PA/The Haverford School) netted 38 goals, and he added three assists for 41 points. Cacciutti scored eight man-up goals and a man-down goal, and he had eight ground balls for the Greyhounds.

Junior midfielder T.J. Hirsch (Putnum, NY/Walter Panas HS) added 13 goals and an assist for 14 points a year ago, and Hirsch won 81 of 149 face-offs to go with 79 ground balls.
Sophomore midfielder Aaron Satterfield (Mt. Arlington, NJ/Pope John XXIII HS) netted six goals and two assists while junior midfielder Tristan Flis (Harleysville, PA/North Penn HS) added four goals. Satterfield grabbed 48 ground balls for Moravian while sophomore defender David Poppe (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury HS) had 33 ground balls.

Senior defender Greg Hawzen (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough HS) contributed 34 ground balls and one assist in 2005. Sophomore defender Adam Melroy (Newton, NJ/Pope John XXIII HS) added 23 ground balls while senior defender Rocco DiPoalo (Keyport, NJ/Academy of Marine Science) had 18 ground balls for the Greyhounds. Junior midfielder A.J. Herold (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough HS) had six ground balls last spring.

Sophomore goalie Peter Coutros (Chalfont, PA/Central Bucks West HS) posted a 6-11 record in the cage for the Greyhounds with a 12.76 goals-against average, 208 saves and 36 ground balls in 945 minutes of action.

Moravian has already begun its 2006 season with a 1-1 record, and the Greyhounds will return to action on Saturday, March 11th in a non-conference match versus Marymount (VA) University at Sylvan Lake Park in Sanford, Florida.

2006 Middle Atlantic Conference Men’s Lacrosse Preseason Poll