MAC Freedom 

1. Stevens  

2. Arcadia 

3. Desales  

4. Misericordia  

5. Lebanon Valley 

6. Kings  

7. FDU  

8. Delaware Valley 

Stevens 

Stevens comes into 2025 looking take home the MAC Freedom title for a 5^th year in a row. Last season Stevens got the job done with a huge 18-3 overall record and going 7-0 in MAC freedom play. Stevens was in the DeeThreeLax Top35 all season and was one of the top 15 teams in the country. This helped Stevens cruise through MAC play and be the number 1 seed heading into the MAC Freedom Tournament. In the Semifinal matchup Stevens took on Misericordia and took care of business defeated the Cougars 17-4. With the win Stevens advanced to the Title game to take on Desales. Desales tried their best to keep up but Stevens controlled the game pretty much from start to finish and took home a 15-7 win and punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament. Stevens took on Roanoke in the second round of the NCAA tournament and secured a thrilling 9-10 win setting a game with Christopher Newport. Stevens went head to head with Christopher Newport looking to extend their season another week, but CNU proved to be to much for Stevens as CNU took down stevens 12-5 ending an impressive run by Stevens in 2024. In 2025 Stevens will look to once again win the MAC Freedom and see how far they can push into the NCAA tournament. The Stevens will once again be firing on all cylinders in 2025 behind the play of Matt Pergola (77 points), Joe Grippo (76 points), Michael Whiteside (31 points), Thomas Robertozzi (22 points), Jackson Penn (16 points), and Thomas Sabatino (15 points). Stevens also picked up a big transfer in the portal with Finlay McKnight from Williams who dropped 29 points last season. Also keep an eye on incoming Freshmen Tenaglia and DiChristifaro that will make immediate impact on the field for Stevens. On the defensive Stevens looks to have a strong core group of guys back and ready to beat up on MAC opponents. Leading the way will be Luke Lesizza (48 CTs, 60 GBs), Bryan CReamer (22 CTs, 59 GBs), Aidan Long (12 CTs, 19 GBs), and Luke Cifuentes (16 CTs, 29 GBs). Stevens also picked up Ford Carney from Babson and Nick DeNave from Union in the transfer portal that will jump right into this defense and help set the tone for the year. An incoming freshmen to watch on defense is Amorosi that is expected to make immediate impact this season. The 2025 Stevens roaster looks to be reloaded and ready to run the MAC again. Getting Stevens ready for MAC play will be key games against Dickinson, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Union this season. DeeThreeLax had the chance to ask Coach Peluso about this thoughts on the upcoming season and he had this to say… 

“Our overall outlook on the 2025 season is that we have Great balance of youth and graduate students at both offense and defense. We return all but 2 returners on defense and and  Nick DeNave(Def) a graduate transfer from Union College and Ford Carney an All American SSDM from Babson. On offense we return 4 of our 6 leading scorers. With the addition of Williams transfer Finlay McKnight. This is an exciting time for us in 2025. Coming off of a great fall we are excited to defend the conference championship for the 5th consecutive year and compete for a National Championship.” 

Stevens is reloaded and ready for the 2025 season and are the clear favorite in the MAC Freedom once again. I expect them to defend their conference Title and once again make a run into the NCAA tournament. The big question for Stevens this season is how far into May can they go? They definitely have peices that are needed to make a deep run. Stay tuned this season to keep tabs on Stevens.  

 Arcadia 

Arcadia comes into 2025 looking to get to the MAC Freedom title game After going 10-8 overall and 5-2 in conferece play last season. They had 1 big road block in their way trying to make the MAC Freedom title game and that was Desales. Arcadia faced Desales in their regular season game on 4/27 where they lost a heartbreaking game 7-8. They were fighting for a rematch with Desales at Home in the game, so with the loss they faced Desales 5/1 at Desales. The game proved to be another classic, but things did not go the way Arcadia would have liked, and they dropped the contest 11-9 ending their 2024. Arcadia has not beaten Desales since the 2022 season and will look to find a way in 2025 to slay the Ghost of Deales and make a run to the MAC Freedom Title game. Arcadia will to the play of Tristan Johnson, Kyle McLaughlin, Dylan Garber, Andrew Borum, Lukas Santore, and Reilly Robichaud to get them over the hump and take down Desales this season. Last season Johnson put up 48 points and will look to lead the offense. Not far behind Johnson was McLaughlin with 38 points and will look to be the right hand man to Johnson. Dylan Garber rounded out the 30 club finishing with 30 points. Borum added 18 points on the season, while Santore and Robichaud added 13 and 12 points respectively. While I do expect the Knights offense to fire on all cylinders this season I would be remised not to mention that they will need to backfill the loss of Billy Burton who led the team with 70 points last season. The knights did pick up two big transfers in the portal this season in Nick Mormando and Gavin Lenart both coming over from Cabrini who will look to make immediate impact and make the knights that much better on offense. The Knights defense will be looking to bring the hammer down behind the play of Cameron Mang (18CTs, 29 GBs), Ryan Gannon (13 CTs, 55 GBs), Jack Keenan (11 CTs, 33 GBs) ,and Will Kazmierski (11 CTs, 24 GBs). A lot of production back in 2025 for this defensive unit and even more between two goalies who saw a lot of time last season in Nathanial Hudgins and Jospeh Tesler. Both posted above a 55% save percentage and will look to help the Knights defense limit goals this season. Key games for Arcadia this season include Haverford 2/19, Susquehanna 2/22, Gwynedd Mercy 3/1, Emerson 3/8, Stockton 3/26, Stevens 4/19, and Desales 4/26. Saving the best for last, as the last game of the season against Desales will likely be a game that decides the number 2 and number 3 seeds for the MAC Freedom Tournament. This Arcadia team is coming into 2025 full of energy and ready to explode for a big season. They have some tough games on the schedule, but I think they can hold their own. They absolutely have what it takes this season to beat Desales again and make a run to the title game. Only time will tell what the Knight accomplish in 2025.  

Desales  

Desales looks to put together another strong season in 2025 after going 11-7 overall and 6-1 in conference play during the 2024 season. The 2024 season marks back to back MAC Freedom title game runs for Desales. The 6-1 conference record put Desales as the number 2 seed heading into the MAC Tournament. The only conference loss that Desales had last season was against top ranked Stevens by a score of 15-7. Desales Semifinal match up was against Arcadia who Desales beat 4 days earlier by a score of 8-7. Everyone in the MAC knew this semifinal match up was about to be electric, and the game did not disappoint as Desales pulled out an 11-9 win securing their trip to the conference title game. Desales was ready for a run at Stevens in the rematch but ultimately Stevens proved to be too much defeating Desales by the same exact score of 15-7. The 2025 season for Desales is going to be focused around securing another trip to the MAC Freedom tournament title game. The competition level in 2025 has picked up another notch and Desales is going to need to play their best lacrosse to lock in another trip to the tournament final. No hiding the fact that Desales will be without 4 of their top 5 point leaders from last season. There will obviously be gaps to fill, but good news for Desales is that they return their top point leader from last season. The Desales 2025 offense is going to powered by Nate Perry, Mark Winkler, Griffin Adams, Jake Fratarcangeli, DJ Verkade, and Micheal Wilburn. Last season Nate Perry went off and dumped in 69 points and he will look to be the leader of this Desales offense in 2025. Mark Winkler and Griffin Adams will look to help Perry this season in a big way and expand off their 22 points they contributed. Fratarcangeli (20 points), Verkade (16 points), and Wilburn (11 points) will all be grinding it out on this offense and adding additional contributions to help the Desales offense pump in goals. On the defensive side of the field Desales will look to Taylor Wikert (24 CTs, 43 GBs), Eric Goliaszewski (17 CTs, 20 GBs), and Sean Barley (13 CTs, 16 GBs) to be the guys playing lock down defense this season. Keep an eye on the goal this season as Desales, the starting goalie from last year appears to have graduated. Desales did pick up a transfer from Cabrini in Hunter Waldron who could be the go to guy for Desales this season. Nonetheless I expect some excitement and competition between the pipes. Games to keep an eye on this season for Desales are Eastern 2/8, Stockton 2/22, Muhlenberg 2/26, Ursinus 3/1, Sewanee 3/12, Widener 3/29, Stevens 4/16, and Arcadia 4/26. Desales will be one of the top teams in the MAC Freedom once again in 2025. There are some question marks around the losses from last season that will need to be answered quickly. I expect a fight between Desales and Arcadia for the 2^nd and 3^rd spot this season but with all the question marks right now I am picking Desales to finish 3^rd in the MAC Freedom.  

Misericordia 

Misericordia is put up a solid 9-9 overall record in their 2024 campaign. The Cougars also went 4-3 in conference action. This performance was strong enough to land the Cougars a a trip to the MAC Freedom tournament at the end of the season. Entering the tournament as the 4^th seed having a date with number 1 seed Stevens. Earlier in the season when these two met Stevens took care of Misericordia by a score of 14-6. The Cougars were hopeful that they could take some learnings from the first go around and take down Stevens. Unfortunately, things did not work out that way and Stevens beat Misericordia 4-17 ending the cougars 2024 season. The Cougars had all relatively close games with the top half of the MAC Freedom opponents. The outlook in 2025 will be pull out some of those wins to help climb the ranks within the MAC. If Misericordia is going to get the job done and move up the ranks the following guys will be leading the way. Connor Bevan, Jared Pelliccione, Brendan Stanley, and Connor Gunderson. The Cougars offense is in good shape with 4 of their top point leaders returning in 2025 an many other contributors returning as well. Last season Connor Bevan led the team with 87 points and will look to pick up where he left off scoring early and often his season. Pelliccione had a solid 2024 season dumping in 67 points while Stanley Brendan added 38 points. Rounding out the key contributors back on offense this season Gunderson looks to add to his 30 points last season and help push the Cougars forward. Slowing down opposing MAC offenses this season for the Cougars will be Trey Stasse (37 CTs, 72 GBs), Ryan Ott (18CT, 21 GBs), Michaeal Scarpulla (12 CTs, 43 GBs), Danny D’Amato (7 CTs, 17 GBs), and Travis Burton (4 CTs, 8 GBs). As you can see there are a plethora of defensive options and key returners for the Cougars this season. In net Chris Dindino makes his return after a very solid junior season. Last year Dindino posted 238 saves and posted a 59% save percentage. In his senior season he will look to leave it all onthe field and make big save after big save to help the Cougars win more. Schedule is not yet released but key games for the Cougars this season include matchups with Desales and Arcadia. They will be two key games that will affect the seeding for the Cougars this season. This Misercorida team looks to bring back a lot of fire power on both ends of the field and I expect they will be an improved team from last season. Ultimately I think it is up to them with how much they climb the ranks in the MAC Freedom, they have all the tools they need to get the job done and move up. I am excited to see how things play out for the Courgars in 2025.  

Lebanon Valley  

Lebanon Valley cruises into 2025 looking to climb the ranks in the MAC Freedom in 2025. In their first season in the Freedom coming over from the MAC Commonwealth in 2024 the Dutchmen went 7-10 overall and 3-4 in conference play. Their three conference wins came against Kings 15-5, Delaware Valley 21-6, and FDU 22-7. The Dutchmen missed the MAC tournament but in 2025 will be focused on finding a way to make a trip to the MAC tournament at the end of the season. The Dutchmen will need to do a little reloading on offense in 2025. Some good news is the return of Trey Ralston (48 points), Colin Hughes (42 points), Hayden Carling (21 points), Rowan Myers (18 points), Ethan Keenan (11 points), and Dylan Rinyak (11 points). While Lebanon Valley is looking to backfill some missing pieces this season, they have a ton of guys who made contributions last season that can step up in 2025 to fill the gaps that are needed. The Dutchmen defense looks to be in a very good spot with a ton of key pieces returning this season. The defense will be held down by Sheadan Makosy, Zach Wanous, Owen Cummins, Easley Pierson, and Branden Manderbach. Last season Makosy led the Dutchmen in caused turnovers with 36 while also collecting 49 GBs. Wanous posted a solid 18 CTs and grabbed 38 GBs on the season. Cummins was right there with 16 CTs and 31 GBs and Pierson contributed 13 CTS and 20GBs. Branden Manderbach also contributed a solid 9 CTs and 21 GBs. This defense has a ton of production back in 2025 and will look to limit goals this season to help put Lebanon Valley in positions to win games. Even more good news for Lebanon Valley is that they have their strating goalie back in Kellen Markely. Last season Markely made 184 saves and posted a 49% save percentage. With the starting cast in front of Markley I do expect his overall save percentage to increase this season. Key games for Lebanon valley this season include Albright 2/26, Goucher 3/1, Wilkes 3/8, Saint Vincent 3/22, Neumann 4/2, Kings 4/5, Delaware Valley 4/12, Misericordia 4/16, FDU 4/19. This Lebanon Valley team has some questions marks on the offensive side of the ball with production gaps that need to be addressed, but they do have plenty of guys waiting for their call this season. If those guys can step up and get things going on offense the defense will be doing their thing to help this Lebanon Valley team have a solid season. I think they will most likely be fighting for the 4/5 seed within the MAC Freedom in 2025.  

Kings 

King College posted an improved season in 2024 from going 0-15 in 2023 to 3-11 in 2024. The Monarchs also posted a 2-5 record in conference action. Kings three wins came against Marywood 6-5, FDU 18-7, and Delaware Valley 12-7. It is also worth noting that the Monarchs had 4 losses in a row that were all decided by 2 goals or less and two of the losses were in OT. Overall, this was a huge improvement for Kings in 2024 and in 2025 they will look to keep the momentum going and continue the upward trend. Good news for the Kings offense this season is that they return 6 of their top 7 point leaders from last season. This group will look to get things going early and put the Monarchs in a position to pull out those tight games they dropped last season. The offense will be led by Ryan Lynch (32 point), Ben Spencer (29 points), John Wall (28 points), Brendan Dennis (16 points), Joe Giannella (16 points), and Jake Cierech (12 points). The defense does look to have lost a few key pieces from last season that they will need to rebuild. The Monarchs defense will be anchored by Ryan Dolphin who caused 22 turnovers and scooped 45 ground balls last season. Keep an eye on Junior Ardila who will look to build off of his 15 caused turnovers and 23 groundballs from last season. This defense will be young in 2025 so expect to see a rotation of different names over the course until the Monarchs find the right fit. Keep an eye on the following games for Kings as I think these games will be good tests for them to get ready for MAC Action. Neumann 2/26, Marywood 3/5, Hood 3/8, Wilkes 3/23, Immaculata 3/22, and Alvernia 3/29. Once the Monarchs get into MAC play key games for them are going to be FDU 4/16, and Delaware Valley to finish the regular season 4/26. For the Monarchs in 2025 I do see an improved overall season, I think they will fight hard in the early season out of conference games and pick up wins that they dropped last season. When it comes to the MAC I think they will probably be in a similar position to last season with wins over FDU and Delaware Valley. Outside of that I think there will be challenges but I am interested to see how the young defense comes together and what the Monarchs offense can get going. Stay tuned to see it unfold in 2025 for Kings! 

 FDU 

The Devils of FDU are coming into 2025 after going 1-15 and 0-7 in MAC Freedom action. They will be looking to bounce back from a challenging 2024 season. Their lone win came against Albertus Magnus in a 21-7 outing.  The focus this season for the Devils will be on rebounding and getting back to the culture of lacrosse the program is used to being a part of. If they are going to get back to that level of play and try to push for the MAC tournament at the end of the season, they will need some guys to step up. The good news for FDU was that a lot of guys making contributions last year were young. On the offensive side of the ball, it appears that FDU is returning 5 of their top 6-point leaders from a season ago. The guys leading the offense and looking to step up big this season are Jarret Dugenio, Justin Perillo, Bud Snyder, Anthony DiGiacomo, and Luke Dugan.  Last season Dugenio led the Devils with offensive production putting up 35 points. He will be one of the upper classmen on offense looking to help lead the younger players this season. Perillo and Bud posted 18 points last season. DiGiacomo was right behind those two with 17 points and rounding out the offensive production was Dugan with 12 points. If the Devils are going to get back to paying more competitive lacrosse these will be the names that you hear all season long. On the defensive side of the field keep an eye on Zachary Van Zile (21 CTs, 51 GBs), Ryan Elbassjouny (16 CTs, 20 GBs), Adian Boss (13 CTs, 52 GBs), and Steven Leuthener (6 CTs, 15 GBs). This is the defensive group that will look to hold it down in 2025 for the Devils and try to slow opposing MAC offenses. Keep an eye on games with Rosemont 2/15, Albright 2/22, Centenary 2/26, Immaculata 3/1, Cairn 3 / 4, Kings 4/16, Delaware Valley 4/19, and Lebanon Valley 4/23. Overall, I do see an improved season for the Devils. I definitely think there will be some growing pains as they are still a young team and they will need to work through those pains and mature into the team they are going to be but I think they will  likely be fighting for somewhere between the 6-8 spot come the end of the season. Make sure to follow DeeThreeLax to see how the FDU team does this season.  

Delaware valley 

Delaware Valley is coming into 2025 looking to improve their standing within the MAC Freedom. Last season Delaware valley posted a 5-12 overall record and went 1-6 within the conference. Thier lone conference win came against FDU who they beat 11-8. They will be focused on winning the games they can within the MAC and looking to push teams for more competitive games with the top half of the MAC Freedom. If Delaware Valley is going to make the push and have an improved season they will be relying on guys like Kieran Schneider and Ryan Lindberg. Delaware valley had a ton of seniors on the roster last season, and I assume most of them have graduated that will create a bunch of gaps that Delaware valley will need to make up for. 5 of their top 7 point leaders were seniors or graduate students last season. Last season Schneider put up 26 points across 16 goals and 10 assists while Lindberg added 5 points with 1 goal and 4 assists. Delaware valley will be looking to transfers and incoming freshmen to make immediate impact to help this offense in 2025. On defense Delaware Valley looks to be in a similar position as the offense, but they do have Ashton Benkwitt and Robert McCarnan returning this season. Last season Benkwitt was doing his thing and posted 13 caused turnovers and scooped 30 GBs. McCarnan will look to build off of his 8 caused turnovers and 11 groundballs. Looks like the Aggies will need to backfill someone between the pipes in 2025 as well. Games to keep an eye on for Delaware Valley this season will be Rosemont 2/22, Cairn 2/26, Mount Saint Vincent 3/1, Alvernia 3/15, Centenary 3/28, FDU 4/19, and Kings 4/26. While we dont have any information on incoming freshmen or confirmed graduate students for the 2025 season it appears that Delaware valley has a lot of pieces that need to be addressed this season. They have some games on the schedule that look winnable for them, but I think they will have their challenges in conference action. Stay tuned this season to see how things shake out for Delaware Valley.