Great Danes release 2024 slate
The University at Albany men’s lacrosse program has announced its full schedule for the 2024 season. The schedule features five regular-season home matches and the first game in 19 years against Virginia.
“We are certainly eager to get back on the field and compete. Our schedule has changed a bit, and we are excited for the opportunity to play Colgate, Hobart for the first time in school history, and to line up against Virginia in the regular season. Obviously, America East play is as competitive as it has ever been, so we will take each conference opportunity to gain [a] home-field advantage for the America East Tournament. We are looking forward to an exciting year of Great Danes lacrosse,” head coach Scott Marr said.
Three of the Great Danes’ 14 opponents in 2024 appeared in last season’s NCAA Tournament, including one, Virginia, appearing in the national semifinal. UAlbany will further play against one 2023 conference champion and three teams that held spots in the final national media poll of 2023.
The Great Danes open the 2024 season at home on Feb. 17 at noon against Colgate, their first season opener since 2021 against the Raiders, and their first at Casey Stadium since 2020 against No. 12 Cornell.
Following its opener, UAlbany will play each of its next three, and five of its next six, games on the road, starting with a trip down to Philadelphia on Feb. 20 for a showdown against Penn at 2 p.m. The Great Danes and Quakers played for the first time in 2022, and have played every year since.
The Great Danes’ three-game road swing closes out with backto-back games against its oldest and longest-running non-conference rivals, at Drexel on Feb. 24 at noon and at UMass on March 2 at 1 p.m. Since the 2001 season, UAlbany has played 21 games against the Dragons and 23 against the Minutemen, a total eclipsed only by America East opponents and former conference rival Stony Brook.
After 21 days away from home, UAlbany returns to Casey Stadium to host first-time opponent Hobart on March 9 at noon, before heading back on the road on March 16 to begin America East play at UMass Lowell.
The showdown at Virginia in Charlottesville comes around on March 19. UAlbany and Virginia have played once before, in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Virginia played its NCAA quarterfinal round last season in Casey Stadium, defeating Georgetown 17-14. Marr and Cavaliers’ head coach Lars Tiffany are both assistants on the Haudenosaunee Men’s Senior National Team, and earned a bronze medal together at the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship in San Diego over the summer.
The second-ever match against
Virginia leads into a gauntlet stretch of America East competition that sees UAlbany face Vermont, UMBC, and defending champion Bryan in consecutive games. The showdown against the Catamounts comes March 23 at home at 1 p.m., followed by the trip down to Baltimore on March 30 against the Retrievers at noon. The rematch of the 2023 America East title game against Bryant is April 6 at Casey Stadium at 7 p.m.
April 13 sees the Great Danes visit NJIT before traveling for their final non-conference opponent of the regular season, Yale, on April 19 at 7 p.m. UAlbany will play its regular-season road finale at associate America East member Merrimack on April 21 at 1 p.m., and then close out the regular season at home against Binghamton on April 27 at 7 p.m.
The America East Tournament is scheduled for May 2 and 4.
After a year away, UAlbany made its return trip to the America East championship game, falling to first-year conference rival Bryant in a double-overtime, 12-11 thriller in Burlington.