With a large portion of last year's squad remaining intact, the Drew University men's lacrosse team will look to continue improvement under second-year Head Coach Dan Leidl.
 
Last year's team finished the season 9-7 and 3-4 in Landmark Conference play, posting its best overall record since 2012 and their best conference mark since 2017.
 
This year, the team brings back 23 players from last season's team, including their top-five scorers and a first-team all-conference defensive performer.
 
Offensively, senior attackman Craig Wilkie returns after an outstanding season in which he scored a Landmark Conference-record 87 points on 57 goals and 30 assists. His 87 points and 57 goals each ranked second in school history, and he broke the team record for goals in a game when he struck for nine tallies in a victory over Rosemont.
                              
Wilkie will be joined on the attack by sophomores Mike DeMayo, who finished as the team's second-leading scorer with 56 points on 41 goals and 15 assists last season, and Brian Windisch, who tallied 15 goals and five assists. Sophomore Homero Ortiz (6g, 1a) and junior Connor Fair (1g, 1a) also return to help lead the attack while freshmen Jake Cornelius and Colin Diodato will provide additional options.
 
The Rangers will also have plenty of returning talent in the midfield. Sophomore Charlie Collins is back after netting 20 goals and nine assists last season while junior Brett Spafford notched 21 goals and four helpers. Other returnees include junior Alex Higgins (6g, 3a), sophomore Luke Bruther (6g), senior Kyle Weeks (1g, 1a), and juniors Nico Castellano, Michael Thomas, and Alan Norcott.
 
Providing additional depth in the midfield will be junior Kellum Foster-Palmer, who returns the team after posting three goals and three assists over six games in 2021, along with junior transfers Matt Giordano and Parker Wills and freshmen Josh Burke, Bryan Cohen, Ian Curley, Theo Krueger, and Ethan Steinbiss.
 
Defensively, junior long-stick midfielder David Burke returns after capturing First-Team All-Landmark Conference honors last season, when he finished second on the team in both ground balls (53) and caused turnovers (27) while adding five goals. Junior defenseman Tyler McCarthy is also back after posting a team-leading 29 CTs to go with 31 GBs while fifth-year seniors Jack Tynan (24ct, 48gb) and Michael Campanella III (14ct, 29gb) provide additional experience.
 
Seniors Aidan Duffy and Branden Walsh and sophomore Ben Johnson also return to the back row while freshmen Salvadore Desiderio, Cole Kirker, Joey Lucarello, and Jordan Wilson will also seek playing time.
 
Between the pipes, the Rangers return senior Yoel Ovadya, who appeared in seven games off the bench last season and notched a 10.89 goals-against average and a .521 save percentage while finishing 1-0. He will be joined by freshmen Matt Duarte and Sawyer Kennedy.
 
At the X, junior GJ Nazziola is back after racking up 249 face-off victories, winning 59.6% of his attempts while scooping a team-leading 132 ground balls. He also contributed offensively with three goals and one assist.
 
The Rangers open their season on Saturday, when they take on Neumann University in their home opener. Drew's Landmark Conference opener is set for March 25 at home versus Susquehanna University.