Delaware 2021

[Matnum PI]

https://bluehens.com/news/2020/9/2/mens ... ming-class

Blue Hens Add Five To Incoming Class

With the start of the 2020-21 school year just a few weeks away, the University of Delaware men’s lacrosse team is excited to have five new additions to the incoming class of 12 that was formally introduced in January.

Nick Jessen (Chattanooga, Tenn./The McCallie School (Lafayettte)), Drew Lenkaitis (West Chester, Pa./Unionville (Vermont)), Jake Spaniak (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin), Demetrius Stevenson (Dover, Del./Caeser Rodney (Rutgers)) and JP Ward (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh School) will all be joining the Blue & Gold this upcoming year. The five newcomers include three transfers and two high school signees, comprised of three additions to the attack, one to the midfield and one to the faceoff unit.

“Our staff is excited to add these two freshmen three transfers to the 2021 Blue Hen Lacrosse team. We believe that each of these young men will make significant contributions to our program and the University of Delaware community,” head coach Ben DeLuca said.

Jessen, an attackman, comes to the Blue Hens after one season at Lafayette College. In the shortened 2020 season, he started five times for the Leopards, netting four goals and two assists, while picking up eight ground balls.

Prior to Lafayette, he was a four-time selection to the Tennessee Scholastic Lacrosse All-State team and two-time U.S. Lacrosse All-American, finishing his high school career with 159 goals and 137 assists.



Lenkaitis, another attackman, moves closer to his hometown of West Chester, Pa. after spending his freshman season at Vermont.

He tallied over 250 points during his high school career at Unionville, which saw him star in both basketball and lacrosse. He was a three-time captain in high school and an All-Conference selection.

Spaniak, a faceoff specialist, was a three-sport standout at Bayard Rustin, playing four years of lacrosse and wrestling, while also running cross country for three years and playing a year of football.

He will be joining high school teammates Collin Hurley and Matt Montgomery with the Blue Hens this fall.



Stevenson, a midfielder, is one of the more decorated high school lacrosse players in Delaware history and returns to his home state after spending two years at Rutgers. He took a redshirt year in 2019 and played in three games in 2020 for the Scarlet Knights.

At Caeser Rodney, Stevenson was a two-time US Lacrosse All-American and three-time all-state honoree. He was also an all-state swimmer and National Honor Roll Recipient.

Ward, an attackman, adds to the family lineage with the Blue Hens, joining his cousin, George, and uncle, Rusty as part of the program’s history. George is currently a rising junior on Delaware’s attack unit.

He was a two-year varsity starter at McDonogh, netting 27 points in just over a season and a half due to his senior year being cut short. During that shortened senior season, he netted five goals against then fifth-ranked Gonzaga to earn US Lacrosse Mid-Atlantic Player of the Week accolades.

[Farfromgeneva]

Realize there’s a number of returning super seniors but is this the entirety of the incoming class?

[backerzone]

Realize there’s a number of returning super seniors but is this the entirety of the incoming class?

No- they introduced 12 incoming freshmen earlier

[Farfromgeneva]

Ah got it. Don’t follow Del closely so missed that

[Matnum PI]

[AreaLax]

Delaware twitter
Welcome Justin Scott to the #BlueHenFamily! A midyear transfer from Hobart, Scott scored 96 goals while with the Statesmen.

[Henpecked]

As we head into the holidays for 2020, maybe we can begin to look at the upcoming season in earnest? Assuming this pandemic doesn’t ravage the country by January, there is a pretty good chance that we will be watching D1 lacrosse at some point during the spring of 2021.

As far as the 2021 Delaware squad…this will be an EXTREMELY athletic and EXTREMELY deep team playing in Newark this spring. Usually, I have the advantage of seeing the freshman practice and scrimmage before the season. But this year, I have not. Therefore, my insights into any freshman contributors are extremely limited.

The Hens starting attack is made up of three players who stand up to almost any unit in the country with the return of Charlie Kitchen (118g and 66a in 3.25 seasons) and Canadians Tye Kurtz (31g, 21a as a Frosh) and Michael Robinson (17g, 3a in just six games last year as a freshman). On the man-up unit, lefties Jake Govett and George Ward have shown the ability to finish in tight spots. We should also keep an eye on Freshman JP Ward (George Ward’s cousin) who was a bit of a late bloomer at McDonogh. In their opening win versus Gonzaga last year, Ward put up five goals before his promising senior season was sadly brought to a halt.

The Hen’s midfield unit has been a question mark the past two seasons with a lack of size and outside snipers. However, UD will be markedly improved with the addition of two high-profile transfers. Justin Scott, the 6’ 2” 200lb Canadian, will be spending his last year of eligibility playing at the lefty midfield spot following a stellar career at Hobart, accumulating 96 goals and 26 assists. He will be joined by fellow transfer Demetrius Stevenson who scored a boatload of goals as an All-American at Caesar Rodney HS in Dover, DE. After redshirting his freshman year at Rutgers, the monstrous 6’3” 235 middie played in three games for the Scarlett Knights last season. Stevenson can play with either hand and is a plus shooter at range. Both of these transfers add significant size and outside shooting to the Hens midfield. Clay Miller will most likely round out this starting midfield unit. Miller had 21g and 16 assists in his first 20 games as a Hen. Miller is a small but tough and creative player with excellent passing abilities from X. Coach DeLuca will also call on the experienced Kyle Kivinski (Jr), George Ward (Jr), Jake DeMare (So), Mark Beida (Sr) and Brook Rideau (Sr) to contribute at midfield. I have not seen Nick Jessen and Drew Lenkaitis play yet (both left handed attack transfers from Lafayette and Vermont respectively), but they might find some playing time at midfield this year. A very deep and athletic unit to say the least.

The defensive middies will be another real strength for the Hens. This young and athletic unit will be made up of returning SSDMs Jason Seiter (Jr), Peter St. Geme (Sr), Reed Kurtz (So), Harrison Ewing (So) and LSMs Rich Dion (So), Ryan Shaw (GS), Colin Hurley (So) and Josh Bayer (So). There are a couple of freshman who may also vie for playing time. Freshman Matt Acchione made the Canada U-18 team along with Reed Kurtz. He was an instrumental player over the last two seasons at the Hill Academy facing the best high school competition in the country. Also, freshman Aiden Fritz could well reunite with his former Calvert Hall teammate Harrison Ewing at defensive midfield.

The starting close defense includes two of the best take-away artists in the CAA in Owen Grant (Jr) (28 CTs in his first 13 games) and Tate Wasson (So) who had 10 CTs in 6 games as a frosh last year. Joining them in the final close spot is Kevin McCormick (Jr) who had 26 GBs and 6 CTs in his first 10 games playing at UD. There are lots of very physical players off the bench including Jed Raby, AJ Hoffman and newcomers Joe Speers, Nick Krug and Matt Montgomery.

Goaltending will be a question mark for the Hens this year for the first time in a long time after being spoiled by All-American, Matt DeLuca over the past four seasons. Matt Kilkeary (Sr) has always looked sharp in scrimmages during his time at UD but he will be challenged for playing time by freshmen Kevin Ellington (first-team all MIAA over his final two seasons at Loyola Blakefield), Tim Beach (mentored by legendary goaltender Trevor Tierney) out of Erie, Colorado and Junior Peter Ripperger.

At FOGO, the Hens are hoping that Jake Hervada is fully recovered from back-to-back seasons with knee injuries. Over his career Hervada has won .500 at the faceoff X, while his back-ups have languished in the 30-40% range. Aside from Hervada and returnees Roland Hockenberry and Joe Lenskold, DeLuca has brought in some talented freshman to compete for the spot. Jake Spaniak had a successful HS career at Bayard-Rustin in SE Pennsylvania and Logan Premtaj from New Jersey will vie for playing time in this crowded position.

Since taking over three years ago, Coach DeLuca has made the Hens a much more competitive and athletic team. He has found student athletes who excelled as leaders in multiple sports and has given them the opportunity to grow in this team environment where a ton of players are expected to contribute. It has been fun to watch. Hoping for a successful season, should it happen. We shall see.

[Farfromgeneva]

Scott developed from more of a shooter into a complete two way player in 2019&2020. You’re going to love him.

[Farfromgeneva]

https://hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=13917

[Henpecked]

Pretty good interview with Coach DeLuca (10 minutes) on Lax Sports Network as he wrapped up the fall with this new squad. Talked about the new stadium and training facility, challenges in getting freshman up to speed and his opinion about the upcoming season.

Go Hens!

https://www.ftfnext.com/videos/lsn-inte ... -prospects

[catchnshoot]

I don’t see Justin Scott on the Hens roster did his transfer not work out?

[oldbartman]

I don’t see Justin Scott on the Hens roster did his transfer not work out?

Pretty sure he's enrolled for the spring semester.

[Tdemling6]

I don’t see Justin Scott on the Hens roster did his transfer not work out?

He's coming in mid-year. So will be there in spring.

[catchnshoot]

You’ll love him

[Matnum PI]

Straub.
https://lacrossebucket.com/2020/12/24/p ... -delaware/

[Henpecked]

Schedule is out. Villanova, St. Joseph's, NJIT and MSM out of conference and Drexel, Towson and Fairfield twice in the CAA.

Here tis:

https://bluehens.com/news/2021/1/21/men ... edule.aspx

[Henpecked]

Social media posts report that the 2021 Hens were back at it, practicing late last week after the postponement of the home opener versus Villanova. And since I haven’t seen anything indicating the cancellation of this week’s game at Mt. St. Mary’s, we can safely assume that the game will indeed be played (fingers crossed). The date appears to have changed to Wednesday at 12pm and will be broadcast on NEC Front Row.

Last Year: The games between UD and MSM over the last nine years have been very competitive with the Hens winning six of those nine contests. Coach Gravante brings back everyone from last year’s team that put an early scare into the Hens when they went up 4-1 in the first quarter. UD went on to score 10 of the next 12 goals in the game taking a comfortable 11-6 lead into the fourth quarter before winning 14-8.

What’s new in 2021: From what I see MSM returns just about everyone from the team that beat Towson and took Hopkins to OT last year. That includes stud FOGO Sam Stephan and talented snipers Brendan McCarthy, Kelly Gouin, Luke Frankeny and Joe Bethke. The last three are all big physical players who find and/or make open space to get off shots easily. Having watched four of their games last year, I gained an appreciation for the discipline that this team shows on offense. Dylan Furnback is back for his senior year in goal. He is a hot and cold stopper who can make the occasional spectacular save but has generally teetered around or just below the .500 save percentage for his career.

The Hens lost two starters from last year (Bryce Reid and Thomas Aloe) but bring back a ton of offense and a mostly young and seasoned defensive squad led by poles Owen Grant, Kevin McCormick and Tate Wasson and most likely, Matt Kilkeary in net. MSM will have to try to tame the returning UD attack unit of Charlie Kitchen, Tye Kurtz and Michael Robinson who lit them up last year for 11 of the 14 goals. They will also have to contend with a dramatically upgraded midfield with the addition of Hobart transfer Justin Scott (95 career goals) and Rutgers transfer Demetrius Stevenson (6’3” 230lb) a powerful outside shooter who is deadly with both hands. Also returning on midfield will be Clay Miller who has 17 goals and 15 assists in his first 17 starts at midfield along with Jake DeMare, Kyle Kivinski, Brooke Rideau, George Ward and senior captain Mark Beida.

Unknowns: There are a ton of unknowns and probably will be for most of the year. UD’s biggest unknown will be at the goalie position where senior Matt Kilkeary will attempt to fill the enormous shoes left behind by Matt DeLuca. DeLuca had 19 saves in last year’s game vs MSM and that made the outcome a lot less sweaty than it could have been.

Second, how effective will Jake Hervada be returning from a knee injury? I am hoping that the Hens can stay competitive at the faceoff spot. They have a ton of athletes on the wings that should help Hervada and company battle for the 50/50 GBs.

Third, how many of the starters will be cleared to play? Hens have a lot of depth at all positions, so I wouldn’t expect it to potentially impact them as much as a missing starter from MSM.

And finally, how many freshman will contribute? I haven’t seen any of them play (in high school or fall ball). Looks like some really big, athletic poles, two new goalies (including a first team all MIAA) and some hyped SSDMs were added. But beyond that, I have no clue.

Outlook: Weather looks to be cold but no snow in Emmitsburg (32 and sunny). We shall see which team makes the least amount of errors. That seems to have been the difference in these early games where most of the teams seem a little disjointed. Not sure what to expect but hoping for a decisive Hen victory. Can’t wait!

[youthathletics]

Social media posts report that the 2021 Hens were back at it, practicing late last week after the postponement of the home opener versus Villanova. And since I haven’t seen anything indicating the cancellation of this week’s game at Mt. St. Mary’s, we can safely assume that the game will indeed be played (fingers crossed). The date appears to have changed to Wednesday at 12pm and will be broadcast on NEC Front Row.

Thanks for the write up....
Is the 12pm a this week game time change or is it still 3pm as noted on the UD website?

[Henpecked]

MSM has the game on Wednesday at noon - rescheduled from Tuesday at 3pm. No patrons allowed.

I confirmed the date and time change with someone close to the program.

[youthathletics]

MSM has the game on Wednesday at noon - rescheduled from Tuesday at 3pm. No patrons allowed.

I confirmed the date and time change with someone close to the program.

Thank you. Dang it, I was going to go since I live nearby.