Preseason Predictions
1. Colorado College
2. Transylvania
3. Hanover
4. Anderson
5. Earlham
6. Mount St. Joseph
7. Centenary
8. Spalding
Colorado College- In 2023 Colorado College went 9-7 overall and 2-0 in Heartland Conference play. To be completely honest I am not sure how they only played 2 conference games during the season. I can only assume it has to do with geographic location, nonetheless it will be something I dig further into this season to better understand. The 2-0 record was enough to land Colorado college in the Heartland Conference Tournament. Once in the tournament Colorado college routed both Anderson and Southwestern in convincing fashion and claimed the Athletic Conference Tournament Title. Winning the tournament secured their ticket to the NCAA tournament where they would unfortunately fall to the eventual national champion Salisbury. So the question going into 2024, is can Colorado college run it back? Well lets take look at their upcoming as they did not shy away from scheduling top competition in 2024. This season Colorado College will see Baldwin Wallace 3/5, Muhlenberg 3/13, Illinois Wesleyan 3/16, Hope College 3/21, and Christopher Newport 4/21. I think there out of conference schedule makes up for the lack of actual conference games and will have them ready to roll going into the Heartland Conference Tournament. Some big time returners are in the mix this season including Thomas Power 40 Points, Declan Maguire 32 points, Charlie Faldi 26 points, and Dylan Brown 25 Points. It always helps when you have a returning goalkeeper in your lineup and luckily for Colorado College they are returning Ben Anastos who posted a 51% save percentage a season ago. In front of Anastos will be Stefan Feiler 10 GBs 9 CTs, Ben Clarke 47 GBs 10 CTs, Ferris Berg 10 GBs 2 CTs, and Kernan Brooks 8 GBs 3 CTs. Colorado college should be well battle tested coming into any Heartland games they face and I expect this team will claim the top spot and make another appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Transylvania – Transylvania has joined the Heartland Athletic Conference in 2024. They are entering the conference after an up and down 2023 season where they went 6-11 overall. They played Illinois Wesleyan in tight 11-14 game to end their season and almost made the NCAA tournament with a win in that game. I think Transylvania joining the Heartland Athletic conference was a good pick up for the conference and I believe this team should be able to push Colorado college in the Heartland Athletic Tournament. In 2024 Casey Fagen 37 points, Tai Stormont 29 points, Ryan Eisler 21 points, Luke Setter 18 points, and Alex Madson will look to make some noise in the conference and push Transylvania to compete with Colorado college and seek a Heartland Athletic Conference Crown. On the other end of the field Ben Marcum 53 GBs 37 CTs, Malachi Spohn 20 GBs 12 CTs, Tucker Strode 41 GBs 1 CT, and Parker Rowland 53 GBs 5 CTs will look to slow down teams in the Heartland Athletic Conference. Transylvania did not shy away from challenging out of conference games in 2024. This season Transylvania will see Sewanee 2/10, Kenyon 2/17, Ohio Wesleyan 3/2, Alboin 3/13, Centre 3/27, and Denison 4/3. These out of conference games are going to get Transylvania ready to roll into Heartland Athletic conference play hot in 2024. More importantly they are going to be battle tested and ready to face a good Colorado team. I am excited to see Colorado and Transylvania square up when the time comes as I am fully expected the heartland Athletic Title game is Colorado College Vs. Transylvania. Ill make sure to post some updates throughout the season to make sure we are still on track for this game!
Hanover – Hanover college coming into 2024 after posting a 7-8 overall record and 4-0 conference record in 2023. It was announced back in October that Hanover had hired Alum Michelangelo Butturi as the new head coach. Butturi graduated from Hanover in 2016 and most recently had spent the last 5 years as the assistant coach at Augustana College. Butteri enters his first season at the helm looking to improve on the 7-8 season and a semi final appearance in the Heartland Tournament. Some key playmakers for Butturi to have a successful first season include Colin O’Brien 42 points, Alex Kleinhelter 41 points, Owen Parker 37 points, Zach Stone 27 points, Nick Adams 19 points, Owen Cuniffe 18 points, and Cole Finley 16 points. Between the pipes Jackson McKeigue returns after posting 54% save percentage in 2023. Playing in front of McKeigue will be Will Slover 48 GBs 31 CTs, Justin Cutherell 31 GBs 24 CTs, Lance Guttormson 24 GBs 1 CT, Andre Bolt 19 GBs 6 CTs, and Aidan Gonzalez. Some early season action for this Hanover team that should set them up going into conference play start with Muskingum 2/10, Wilmington 2/17, and Concordia 2/24. Hanover is looking to find themselves playing in the Heartland Tournament again, and in 2024 they are hoping to make it out of the semi finals and play for the championship. With Butturi at the helm we will see if he has what it takes in his first year to get them over the hump. Stay tuned for more Heartland Athletic Conference updates throughout the season.
Anderson - Anderson made it to the Heartland Athletic Conference Tournament Semi Finals in 2023. Anderson finished their 2023 campaign with a 7-5 overall record and went 3-1 within conference play. Anderson looking to continue the streak of winning seasons as they have put together back to back winning seasons which is impressive for a program that has only been in existence for 5 seasons. One of those season was the Covid years so technically they are 4 seasons in and have had 2 winning seasons already. As they look to continue that streak and move up the ranks in the Heartland Athletic Conference keep an eye on Clayton Emery 44 points, Robert Okougbo 15 Points, and Kenny Bently 9 points. The biggest challenge that I am seeing looking at this roster is that they lost 4 of their top 7 points leaders from a season ago. They will need some players to step up and fill the gaps. On the other end of the field Anderson appears to be in better shape as they return Mason Bratcher 44 GBs 36 CTs, Bryan Johnson 39 GBs 27 CTs Justin Bemis 47 GBs 25 CTs, and Rick Kaufman 39 GBs 13 CTs. Early season games to watch for this Anderson team are 2/14 Wilmington, 2/21 Wabash, 2/24 Concordia, 3/2 Heidelberg, 3/6 DePauw, and 3/10 Cornell College. These games are a nice mix for Anderson and some games should be easy wins while others should really test this team and see if they can go the distance and pull out some close wins to really get them ready for Heartland Conference play and hopefully a return to the Heartland Tournament.
Mount St. Joseph - Mount St. Josephs better known as MSJ went 2-11 in 2023 and 2-3 in conference play. After the 2023 season it was announced that MSJ was also hiring a new head coach. The new head coach was also an Alumni, Similar to Hanover. Colin McSharar who graduated in 2011 was named the 2024 head coach for MSJ back in July. IN McSharars senior season he helped lead the program to the first 10 win season in program history and helped the team make a run to the Midwest Lacrosse Championship game. McSharar is looking to bring the MSJ team back to the type of season this team produced back in 2011 and sounds like McSharar is the right man to help do just that. On the field the guys that are going to be helping get the team back are Mason Meilinger 40 points, Jacob Murray 20 points, Jake Cotsonas 14 points, and Luke Hurley 14 points, keep an eye out for these guys who will be looking to post a big season under McSharar. In front of the cage Austin Combs 38 GBs 28 CTs, Jackson Pruitt 28 GBs 17 CTs, and Jackson Simon 16 GBs 7 CTs will be looking for cookies and pushing transition the opposite way. MSJ starts out with some early season games that should make for good contests and hopefully will put them on the positive end of a few. Keep an eye on Wilmington 2/21, Heidelberg 2/24, Trine 2/28, Hiram 3/2, Franciscan 3/9, and Centenary 3/11.
Earlham - Earlham went 4-8 overall and 1-3 in conference play in 2023. Earlham missed the Heartland Athletic Conference tournament in 2023 but that is goal for 2024. Find a way to play in May! If Earlham is going to find a way to play in May they are going to have to have some guys step up big in 2024. Keep an eye on Robert Gift 25 points, Elijah Gamber 18 points, and Ryan Polack 16 points to step up on the offensive side of the field. On Defensive keep an eye on guys like Ben Adkins and Jacob Bandfield who also dumped in 13 and 9 points from a season ago pushing transition and setting their offense up for success. Also guys like Donovan Shea 96 GBs 47 CTs, Ethan Upton 59 GBs 32 CTs, and Justin Boritzki 22 GBs 13 CTs will be back looking to shut down opposing Heartland Athletic Offenses. Commanding the D will be Emmitt Shaughnessy who returns after putting up 53% save percentage last season. There are some big bright spots for this Earlham teaming rolling into 2023 and the biggest of them all is the amount of key contributors they will be returning for 2024. Keep an eye out on this team as they will look to shake things up in the Heartland Athletic Conference this season.
Centenary – Centenary coming off a 2-10 overall record and an 0-2 conference record. Centenary looks like they took a step backwards in 2023 and they will look to right the ship in 2024 and get more wins under their belt. There will be some speed bumps along the way but looking at the 2024 schedule for Centenary they start the season with Reinhardt 2/10, Shorter University 2/12, and Beloit 3/30 that are games that they should be able to compete in and hold their own. If they can string along a few solid games here this will help them turn this ship around and get back on the path to continuous improvement. G’Colby Spivey 23 points, Liam Johns 12 points, Braxton Parchman 11 points, and Dominic Ogier will be in charge of making this year over year improvement on the offensive side of the ball. Matthew Lulich 22 GBS 21 CTs and Kaleb Coates 3 GBs 2 CTs will be leading the D with Alex Nicks- Davis in goal.
Spalding - The squad at Spalding is coming into their second year in program history. During their first ever season in 2023 Spalding went 0-14 and 0-6. As they look forward to 2024 the big focus will be on improvement, what can Spalding do this season to improve from 2023. Sometimes its about small wins and stacking those small wins throughout the season which eventually build up to big wins and this year Spalding will focus on small wins to guide their improvement. Some games throughout the season that Spalding might be able to build some small wins include LaGrange 3/13, Warren Wilson 3/30, and Earlham 4/20. Mason More 36 points, Xzayvyon Isom 22 points, Nicolas Guzman 17 points, Jiquan Sadler 13 points, Cooper Robinson 12 points, and Jordan Garcia 8 points are all back from 2023 and looking to make a larger impact on the offensive side of the ball and help push Spalding towards those small wins throughout the season. Protecting the goal will be Eli Teater 61 GBs 20 CTs, Jager Simkins 21 GBs 13 CTs, Leroy Mclver 25 GBs 8 CTs, and Brennen Egan 22 GBs 6 CTs. If Spalding can put somethings together and the team can continue to build off their small wins throughout the season they might be able to put it all together on the field and find the programs first win this season.