Army Men’s Lacrosse comes into the 2026 season with some unfinished business, a strong preseason ranking, and two players listed in the nation’s Top 50 by Inside Lacrosse magazine. That’s incredible, especially since this team lost *22* graduating seniors at the end of the 2025 season, including *4* 2025 All-Americans and one 2024 All-American.
Can Army Lacrosse finally get over the hump, win the Patriot League, and get back to the NCAA Tournament? Can NCAA Lacrosse itself stop making its strongest blueblood brands and their conferences more important than their actual wins and losses on the field?
Let’s get into it, friends. We’re back for another season of AFF’s #AsForLax.
Big Shoes to Fill
Army fans might have been surprised to see USA Lacrosse rank the Black Knights #14 in the nation this year considering the playmakers the team lost off its 2025 squad. Army Head Lacrosse Coach Joe Alberici called last year’s team “the best I’ve been a part of at Army.” Yes friends, this team lost no less than FIVE former All-Americans:
— Tewaaraton Award finalist Attacker Jackson Eicher
— Four-year starting Defenseman AJ Pilate
— SSDM Christian Mazur
— LSM Christian Fournier
— FOGO Will Coletti, who’d been an All-American in 2024.
Oh by the way, the Black Knights also lost their former Offensive Coordinator, Joe Ward, who departed for his alma mater Loyola.
Season loading ⏳#GoArmy | #FamilyToughnessTradition pic.twitter.com/HJ8EKbq3hj
— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) January 12, 2026
It’s fair to wonder, then, how in Hell this Army Team can possibly replace all that lost production. But then we start getting into who’s returning, and amazingly, this team has quite a few standout players who looked more than ready to take on larger roles last season. That includes quite a few members of this team’s outstanding yearling class, maybe the best overall recruiting class of Coach Alberici’s entire tenure.
First, and perhaps most importantly, the Black Knights return Patriot League Goalie of the Year Sean Byrne. Inside Lacrosse currently has Byrne ranked as its 28th best player in college lacrosse. Byrne quarterbacked Army’s incredible defense last season, which in turn allowed him to lead the nation in save percentage throughout much of 2025. He went on to finish with a net save percentage just under 61% of total shots-on-goal. If Army’s going to have a chance at the Patriot League title in 2026, they’ll need Byrne to again serve as the lynchpin for another outstanding Army defense.
The Black Knights also return two-time All-American Midfielder Evan Plunkett for his firstie season. Inside Lacrosse currently has Plunkett (44G, 64A) ranked as its 16th best player. Expect him to facilitate the offense this season, setting up more goals than he actually scores. Plunkett split time with his younger brother Hill at Midfield in 2025, but Hill Plunkett, now a yearling, has since moved to Attack to help replace the production that left when Eicher graduated. So the Black Knights will look for more from both Plunkett brothers in 2026, and indeed, we should see them on the field at the same time quite a bit this season. That may add a new dynamic to Army’s offense.
Two in the Top 50 ‼️
— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) January 16, 2026
Firsties Evan Plunkett and Sean Byrne placed 15th and 28th on @Inside_Lacrosse's Top 50 NCAA Players of 2026 list!#GoArmy | #FamilyToughnessTradition pic.twitter.com/DaTtepehnQ
Army’s first line Attack should therefore consist of hard-shooting firstie Gunnar Fellows (45 goals, 29 assists), Hill Plunkett (12 goals, 16 assists), and former plebe sensation Brayden Fountain (35 goals, 16 assists). None of those guys have Eicher’s sheer size, but all three played excellent lacrosse in 2025, and Fountain looked like the best player on the team at times last year, even with Eicher on the field. Add in Evan Plunkett and Aidan Weisenborn (10 goals) at Midfield, and that’s a good-looking attack. It’s never easy to replace a Tewaaraton finalist, but this group’s overall production could easily equal or even surpass last year’s total team production.
Army always seems to field an excellent defense, and they’ll need to get that done again this season, especially given Coletti’s loss at FOGO. The team expects cow Robert Simone (17 G, 49.7% FO%) to start at the faceoff dot in 2026, and he’s coming off a solid season. However, the Black Knights will still most likely find themselves in their defensive end off a lot more restarts in 2026. Fourth-year starting Defenseman John Sullivan should anchor this defense alongside SSD Keegan Tracy. However, the team will still need to find some legit standouts, especially in the defensive midfield, if they hope to equal last year’s overall defensive production. SSDM Christian Mazur didn’t get the stats or the national-level press of guys like Eicher or AJ Pilate in 2025, but he played truly outstanding lacrosse last year. He might actually be the hardest graduated lieutenant to replace for this 2026 team.
Alberici promoted former assistant Rick Lewis to become the team’s new Offensive Coordinator. Lewis previously served as OC at Ohio State and has been at West Point since 2023. An internal promotion like that generally means that the Head Coach has been happy with the team’s scheme, so we shouldn’t expect a change to Army’s overall offensive approach. We might see them become a little more selective with their shots, though, if they aren’t getting good production at the faceoff dot.
Coming in at No. 14 in the @USALMag Preseason Top 20 👀#GoArmy | #FamilyToughnessTradition pic.twitter.com/MwEzZO5SO4
— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) January 6, 2026
2026 Schedule
The Black Knights will face a legitimately fascinating schedule in 2026. They open the season at home on January 31 against UMass, the team’s season-opening opponent for the past several years. They’ll then face #15 Rutgers, Yale, and #20 Michigan in non-conference play. The Bulldogs come to Michie Stadium on February 24. The game against Big Blue is scheduled at a neutral site field in new-school recruiting hotbed Atlanta, Georgia, on February 21. Holy Cross then comes to Michie Stadium on February 28 to start Patriot League play.
🚨 Our 2026 schedule is here! 🚨
— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) December 1, 2025
Purchase or renew your tickets now ➡️ https://t.co/FBftnV2hJ1#GoArmy | #FamilyToughnessTradition pic.twitter.com/Q0C8oSfbVC
Perhaps the most critical month of the season will start on March 14 with a game at Patriot League nemesis Boston University. The Black Knights will then play at North Carolina on March 21 before hosting Patriot League defensive powerhouse Lehigh on March 28. They’ll then host Army-Navy on April 11. As of this writing, that’s their only regular season game scheduled on CBS Sports. The rest of their games usually air on ESPN+. Army will then travel to Loyola before closing out the regular season at home against Colgate.
Army’s Women’s Lacrosse
This will be a critical year for a high-performing Women’s Lax firstie class that includes All-American M Brigid Duffy, A Allison Reilly, and G Lindsey Serafine. Duffy was just named to the U.S. National Field Team and has been this team’s on-the-field leader since the day she set foot on post. Though the team itself is as-yet unranked, Duffy and Reilly give this team a shot to hang with anyone on the scoreboard.
They face a tough schedule. The Women open against Rutgers on February 6. They’ll then face Northwestern on February 14, followed by Florida State, Colorado, and Fairfield. They’ll begin Patriot League play on March 7 at Boston University. Perhaps the hardest games on their schedule will come out of the Patriot League, against #18 Loyola on March 14 and #14 Navy on April 11. Army’s Women have done pretty well against Navy the past few years, but they have yet to beat Loyola. They’ll have to get that done before the program itself can take that next step into the nation’s truly elite ranks.
2026 Season Incoming 🔜
— Army Women's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_WLax) December 1, 2025
🎟️ https://t.co/zsmcdptJWQ
🔗https://t.co/mdQM5aVM4w#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/TMh8EBF97M
Final Thoughts
As For Football will always going to focus more on college football than we do on college lacrosse. However, we enjoy lacrosse a lot as a staff, and it helps that both Army’s Men’s and Women’s teams have done pretty well over the past few years.
What more must @ArmyWP_MLax do?
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALMag) January 13, 2026
Consecutive NCAA tournament snubs have the Black Knights eager to reclaim their destiny even after graduating arguably their best class ever.https://t.co/ZwlvWndo32
At least on the Men’s side, this year’s team won’t come into the season burdened by the same kinds of lofty expectations that Army Teams have faced the past two seasons. Fans should probably expect at least a little regression this year given all the talent that this team just lost.
But that might be for the best, honestly. This particular team tends to overperform when it’s overlooked and underperform when it’s a frontrunner. This year, we’ll see Sean Byrne, Evan Plunkett, and Gunnar Fellows lead a bunch of yearlings against the world.
Maybe that’ll end in glory, and maybe it won’t. Either way, it ought to be entertaining as all Hell.
If you’re new to college lacrosse, join us for the ride. We promise that you won’t regret it.
Go Army! Beat UMass!!!
