Newburgh, N.Y. – Coming off the most successful season in program history, the Mount Saint Mary Men's Lacrosse team opens the 2017 campaign Saturday afternoon at Western Connecticut. Face-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. with Live Stats and Video available for those who cannot attend the contest.
 
At A Glance: The Knights reached double digits in wins for the first time in program history in 2016, finishing 10-6 overall, including a seven game winning streak to open the season. The Mount set single season program records for points, points per game, goals, goals per game, assists, assists per game, goals against average, save percentage, man-up goals and percentage, caused turnovers and caused turnovers per game.
 
The Knights closed the campaign as the conference leader in goals per game, assists per game, points per game, shooting percentage, man-up goals and man-up percentage and according to laxpower.com, the Knights completed the 2016 season as the fifth most improved team in the country in terms of change in power ranking and 10^th in terms of record.
 
Individually, the Knights had three players set single season records, including Dylan De Meo (Franklin Square, N.Y.) who now stands atop the single season leader board in points (85), points per game (5.31) and assists (47). Nationally, De Meo ranked inside the top-10 in points per game and assists per game.
 
Christopher Doerr (Pleasantville, N.Y.) posted the single season standard for the Knights in save percentage (.527) and goals against average (10.13) in 2016.
 
Attack: Juniors Tristan Earle (Millrift, Pa.) and Kenneth Gallagher (Northport, N.Y.) lead a talented group of returning players with the duo combing for 63 goals and 99 points in 2016. Earle netted 27 goals and added 26 assists as a sophomore and finished the season second in the Skyline Conference in assists per game, third in shooting percentage (.433) and fourth in points per game (3.60).
 
Gallagher rounded out his sophomore season with 36 goals and 46 points for the Knights and found himself ranked second in the conference in shooting percentage (.461) and fifth in goals per game (2.25) at season's end.
 
The Mount also welcomes back Kenneth Atkins (Wallkill, N.Y.) who rounded out his sophomore season with seven goals and eight points in 12 games played for the Knights.
 
Joining the trio of returning players at the position will be newcomers Billy Holland (Pearl River, N.Y.), Joe Schofield (Modena, N.Y.) and Mike Genualdo (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) in 2017.
 
Midfield: De Meo anchors the midfield unit as a junior and enters the season 40 points shy of the career point record at the Mount. He finished off a stellar sophomore season with 85 points on the strength of 38 goals and 47 assists. He also paced the team with 44 groundballs. He was made the program's first ever First Team All-Skyline Conference selection in 2016 and the program's fifth ever All-Conference pick.
 
Junior Danny Kugler (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) returns after leading the team in goals in 2016 with 42, including nine with the man advantage, to go along with 37 groundballs. He finished his sophomore campaign as the conference's leader in goals per game (2.62) and finished seventh in the league in points per game.
 
Mount Saint Mary also welcomes back Caleb Hildebrand (Bristol, Conn.), Christian Hildebrand (Bristol, Conn.), Nicholas Graziano (Franklin Square, N.Y.), Joseph Luciano (Wantagh, N.Y.), Sean Jennings (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), Michael Capetola (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.), Gregory Ruocco (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Joseph Timmons (Staten Island, N.Y.).
 
Graziano totaled seven points, including six goals, to go along with 13 groundballs in 2016, while Jennings scooped 17 groundballs while appearing in all 16 games. Capetola scooped 23 groundballs for the Knights a season ago with Ruocco assisting on three goals for the Knights in 2016.
 
Timmons, who won 16 face-offs last season, and newcomer Marco Spagnuolo (Staten Island, N.Y.) look to handle the bulk of the face-off duties for the Knights in 2017.
 
Mount Saint Mary will turn to newcomers Ryan Maraio (Staten Island, N.Y.), Michael Gallucci (Northport, N.Y.) and Tom DeNicola (East Meadow, N.Y.) for contributions from the outset in 2017.
 
Defense: Sophomore Peter Beidl (Clifton Park, N.Y.) and senior Kyle Russo will look to anchor the Mount Saint Mary defense in 2017. Russo started 15 games as a junior and picked up 33 groundballs while finishing tied for second on the team with 19 caused turnovers. Beidl rounded out his rookie campaign with 40 groundballs, fourth on the team, and caused 15 turnovers.
 
Junior Nicholas Boffoli (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) was limited to four games due to injury in 2016 and Jakob Hama (Seaford, N.Y.) returns after seeing time in six games as a freshman.
 
Trevor Dyess (Monroe, Conn.) and Joe Tristano (North Massapequa, N.Y.) will add depth to the backline for the Knights in their rookie campaigns.
 
Goalie: Doerr started all 16 games in 2016 and played 871 of a possible 955 minutes in the cage. He made 164 saves for the Mount and had nine games in which he made at least 10 stops. He led the team with 50 groundballs last season.
 
A.J. Galletta (Commack, N.Y.) saw time in 11 games in 2016, posting a stingy 2.84 goals against average a .810 save percentage. He chipped in with seven groundballs and a caused turnover.
 
Mount Saint Mary welcomes a pair of new goalies to the fold in 2017 in Eli Laikin (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) and Alec Durkin (Mattituck, N.Y.).
 
The Schedule: Following Saturday's season opener, the Mount will play back-to-back home games against Marywood and Cazenovia. The Knights open conference play on March 18 at Farmingdale State leading into a five game home stand that features conference games against St. Joseph's-L.I., Mount Saint Vincent, Montclair State and Maritime.