Following last year’s incredible run to a National Championship, the Le Moyne men’s lacrosse team is faced with the challenge of starting over and doing it all again. Teams from across the nation are looking to knock them off their throne, but this collective group is more than ready to accept the challenge.

Despite the loss of numerous key contributors, head coach Dan Sheehan is quite confident that this year’s crop of talent is capable of continuing the high level of play the team has always produced.

“The expectations within our program are always high,” Sheehan said. “[We have]a strong core of returning players that now have the experience that now understand  what it takes to get to that point.”

Returning for the Dolphins on the offensive front are four of their top five goal scorers. Among them are senior midfielder, Andrew Chadderdon, and senior attackman, Chris Button. Outside of leading goal scorer Nate Frechette, Chadderdon was the only Dolphin to finish in the top five in goals and assists on the team.

On the defensive end, graduate student Alex Cameron-Carter returns to cap off his stellar career. Joining him is junior, Gerald O’Brien who missed last year’s playoff run due to an untimely ACL injury. Both were named to insidelacrosse.com’s preseason All-American team.

One area where the Dolphins may be facing some uncertainty is in goal. Following the departure of four-year starter Jeff White, there is an open competition on who is in net when the Dolphins open their season on February 15th.

Outside of junior Pat Brothers, all other goalies started their careers at other schools. From Syracuse University arrives junior Ben Romagnoli who Sheehan described as “our best communicator.” In his second year at Le Moyne after starting off at Onondaga Community College is Alex Krawec. In a recent dual scrimmage with Hofstra and Syracuse, it was Krawec who Sheehan became very impressed with, calling his performance “fantastic.”

While there is no definitive answer as to who the starter for the season opener may be, Sheehan mentioned that it isn’t just the scrimmages he and his staff are evaluating, citing every drill and practice as a chance for the goalies to all prove themselves.

Even with the strong collection of returning talent, there will be plenty of new faces for fans to get acquainted to. One name that came up frequently was freshman midfielder Brian Rogers. Sheehan noted his strength and physical tools as keys for being able to compete and stay healthy for the duration of the season. Sophomore Mike Jenkins will be looked to carry a larger portion of the offensive load. Even though he only started eight games a year ago, Jenkins racked up 21 assists which was good for third on the team. Jenkins is already off to an optimistic start after scoring or assisting on four of the team’s eight goals in the scrimmage against Hofstra.

Heavy lies the crown, and while the expectations are always elevated on the Heights, winning the title has only increased them. Button was blunt in describing what the team will be facing  this year. “Coming off the National Championship the pressure is even higher this year.”

Team captain, Cam Fedish, echoed that sentiment saying, “We always have a target on our back when we start the season and because of that we know everyone’s always gunning for us. With that said I feel that we have a great group this year that is up for the challenge.”

The road from here to Baltimore will be long and treacherous. Back-to-back championships do not come around too often, but this group of Dolphins is in a prime position to capitalize on a golden opportunity. The adventure starts this Saturday at home against Assumption.