Villanova, Pa. -

The Villanova men's lacrosse team is set to open the season this Saturday, Feb. 11th at home against the Monmouth Hawks. Head Coach, Michael Corrado, breaks down the 2017 team position-by-position as the Wildcats take their final practices before their season opener. This contest will be the first in program history between the Wildcats and Hawks.

The Wildcats are returning 31 letterwinners and eight starts from last season. Villanova finished 9-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play in 2016. Jack Curran, Joey Froccaro, and Jake Froccaro were named to the All-Preseason BIG EAST Team and the Wildcats selected to finish second by the fellow head coaches.

Villanova will host four of their first five games at home and face six preseason ranked teams. The Wildcats find themselves receiving votes in the USILA and #16 in the Maverick Media Poll.

Faceoff: Luke Palmadesso will continue to take a majority of our face-offs, he is returning after having a very good sophomore season. Joey Froccaro will also see time at the X this season and adding more depth will be Jake Froccaro and Connor Kirst.

2016 Leaders:

Luke Palmadesso: 163-274 (.595)

Joey Froccaro 31-62 (.500)

Attack: Redshirt junior Devin McNamara (2nd team All BIG EAST) is one of the top scorers from last season. Christian Cuccinello and Danny Seibel both saw action in every game last season and are both back as juniors. The starters will most likely be McNamara, Cuccinello, and Seibel. Also Jake Froccaro will be used as both a midfield and attack, causing this attack line to have a lot of depth and experience.

Kieran Byrnes, Andrew Gallahue, and Timmy Hardy are all returning and provide the team with more skilled scores. Freshmen Luke Prybylski and Jack Kinnear are two to look out for they have looked good throughout the preseason.

2016 Leaders:

Devin McNamara: 30 goals, 19 assists

Christian Cuccinello: 22 goals, 13 assists

Danny Seibel: 13 goals, 2 assists

Midfield: Jake Froccaro (1st team All-BIG EAST, USILA Honorable Mention All American) was the team leading scorer last season and we played him mainly at attack, this season we might use him more as a midfielder. Graduate students John Kluh and Jack Curran(1st Team All Big East, Big East Co-Midfielder of the Year and USILA Honorable Mention All American) are both impact players for us and are returning for their fifth year. Joey Froccaro (2nd team All-BIG EAST) had a strong freshman season and is playing well right now.

These four will see a majority of action. Senior Danny O'Connell will bring experience to both attack and midfield this season. Freshmen Connor Kirst and Jared Nugent have been playing well and we plan to add them into the rotation as well. From a D-middie standpoint, Nick Tortoriello, TJ Comizio, Michael Waterfield and JP Campbell have all done a nice job so far and give us extra depth. Junior Nick Ellis and Freshmen Brendan Quigley add quality depth to the defensive midfield group

Junior Max Derham, sophomore Brendan Black, and freshman Owen Black have all been playing well. We have the depth at midfield on both the offensive and defensive end to give us the ability to create different rotations and give different guys chances.

2016 Leaders:

Jake Froccaro: 40 goals, 16 assists

Jack Curran: 21 goals, 23 assists

Joey Froccaro: 19 goals, 11 assists

John Kluh: 6 goals, 3 assists

Defense: Jordan Cunningham is back after missing last season due to an injury and has played well. Seniors Nate Gorman, Kurtis Naslonski, Danny Sweeney, and Owen Hewes will be contributors in the rotation this season. Matt Wysota, Roberto LoCascio, Fernando Delgado, and Kevin Kelly bring more experience to the back line.

Freshmen Matthew Webster, Zachary Kryza, and Patrick Kennedy have been playing really well this preseason.

2016 Leaders:

Danny Sweeney: 21 groundballs, 8 caused turnovers

Kurtis Naslonski: 16 groundballs, 2 caused turnovers

Owen Hewes: 7 groundballs, 8 caused turnovers

Goalkeeper: Last year Dan Willis and Nick Testa spilt time in goal and both have continued to work hard this preseason. Our freshman goalie, Michael Toomey, has improved over the preseason.

2016 Leaders:

Dan Willis: .493 save percentage, 99 saves

Nick Testa: .429 save percentage, 33 saves