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Opening day of the 2026 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season is Jan. 31.
Throughout the month of January, we'll pose three burning questions for each team ranked in the USA Lacrosse Division I Men's Preseason Top 20, presented by CWENCH Hydration, starting with No. 20 Michigan and finishing with No. 1 Maryland.
Join the conversation on social media @USALMag (IG/X/FB). Wrong answers only.
Even before Colgate transfers Liam and Rory Connor completed their first practice at Georgetown, they had already endeared themselves to their new coach simply because they root for the same NFL team as long-suffering New York Jets fan Kevin Warne does.
“That helps tremendously,” Warne said. “We’ve been sharing some sorrow on Mondays, so that’s always a bonus.”
The Hoyas themselves have not endured much Monday morning misery over the last eight seasons, a stretch that includes a Division I-record seven consecutive conference tournament titles. And while Georgetown would have again been the favorite to win the Big East without the Connors, their addition raises the Hoyas’ ceiling.
Liam Connor, a junior midfielder, had 39 goals and 51 assists while helping Colgate win the Patriot League tournament for the first time since 2015 last season. And Rory, an attackman using his grad year on the Hilltop, had 49 goals and 33 assists for the Raiders.
They’re the latest transfers Georgetown has added to its mix this decade, leaning on larger influxes of veterans during the COVID era but continuing to make judicious pickups (like Fulton Bayman, who had 31 goals and 32 assists as a grad transfer last season) in more recent years.
And with Bayman and Aidan Carroll (50 goals, 27 assists) both exhausting their eligibility, the Connors could be instant difference-makers for the Hoyas.
“They work really hard, they care about lacrosse and because we’ve had this before with a guy coming in for his fifth year or a new face from another program, our guys have done a good job acclimating them to what we do,” Warne said. “They’ve done a good job of being very open to learning what we do. They’re good players, they’re all-Americans. They do some things that we may not have had the past few years.”
Apparently so, and it’s not as if he’s been a disappointment in the first half of his career. The Birmingham, Ala., product was the Big East’s rookie of the year in 2024 and a first team all-league goalie last season.
The Hoyas were still further encouraged by what they saw — and heard — in the fall. Warne described the questions he heard from Moore as more scenario-based than the ones from that time two years ago, which is to be expected after amassing 34 games of starting experience and playing for the United States in the World Lacrosse U20 Men’s Championship this summer in South Korea.
“I really believe the U20 experience helped him a lot, being around high-level, high-intensity lacrosse,” Warne said. “It always starts and ends with the goaltender. If you’re good in the back end there, you’re going to give yourself a chance, and he has the ability to take goals off the scoreboard.”
He has the ability to take goals off the scoreboard.
Kevin Warne on goalie Anderson Moore
How about Lucas Dudemaine, who had one goal in his first two seasons and was hurt for more than half of last season?
The Canadian had four goals in a Big East semifinal against Marquette and was in the middle of most of Georgetown’s scoring in an NCAA quarterfinal loss to Maryland with a two-goal, two-assist effort. Those outings placed him firmly in the midfield mix entering his final year.
“Having Dudzy full time is good to see,” Warne said. “Another senior who just gained a ton of confidence toward the end of the year. Him being on the field and bringing a different skillset to our team and having him out there for five months straight has helped us a ton.”
As much as Georgetown is (rightfully) credited for its ability to meld transfers into the program, the Hoyas have a superb track record of developing their own four-year guys.
Evan MacFarland started on close defense alongside incumbents Ty Banks and Robert Plath in a fall scrimmage, so he’s an obvious instant-impact candidate. Midfielder Jake Bickel is an athletic option with a chance to be a regular. And Johnny Price slides right into the Hoyas’ short stick rotation in the fall.
“I think throughout the year, you’re going to see more and more guys, too,” Warne said.
Georgetown’s sustained success under Warne hasn’t netted a trip to Memorial Day weekend, at least not yet. But 2025 was arguably the Hoyas’ most impressive season in that run outside of their breakthrough in 2018.
The Hoyas were 7-4 in mid-April, not a huge surprise for a team that graduated plenty from a quarterfinal team the year before. But they were also processing a 7-3 loss to Denver, an outcome that at the time didn’t seem to augur well for another league title run.
Instead, the Hoyas ripped off five victories in a row, demolishing Marquette and Villanova in the Big East tournament and then upending Duke for the program’s first road victory in the NCAA tournament since 2003. Instead of being the team that saw its title streak ended, they added another link in the chain — and gave this year’s group some success to build off.
“That Denver game was the turning point for us to get going and grow into the team we thought we could be, and that allowed us to get to the quarterfinals,” Warne said. “Just to show ourselves, which is probably the most important. A lot of people like to say, ‘Prove me wrong.’ For us, it was just, ‘Prove us right,’ and we were able to do that.
“Every year is a springboard into the next year, and hopefully we learn from those lessons. We don’t start in the quarterfinals, and we have to start over with a new group. Everybody gets a promotion, everybody gets a year older, some new faces come in, some faces leave, but hopefully the structure and the meat-and-potatoes of the program sticks with you.”
Patrick Stevens has covered college sports for 25 years. His work also appears in The Washington Post, Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and other outlets. He's provided coverage of Division I men's lacrosse to USA Lacrosse Magazine since 2010.
