Northeastern’s men’s club lacrosse team won’t waste any time reclaiming a consecutive championship this season.
Coming off a Continental Lacrosse Conference championship in 2024, Northeastern men’s club lacrosse has stayed focused in their off-season and are ready for another competitive season. They’ll start off the season in Atlanta, Georgia against No. 13 Georgia Tech Feb. 15.
The team is in transition this year after six players graduated and others went on co-op, but 20 rookies have joined in their place.
“We’re having some growing pains,” said fourth-year nursing major and co-captain Brad Peterson. “But each day we’re getting better, and that’s all we can really ask for at this point.”
Peterson is a key attackman for the Huskies. Last season, his third year on the team, he hit the milestone of 100 career goals.
The team has had a matter of weeks to onboard newcomers after tryouts concluded in January.
“We hold fall and spring tryouts. There are definitely a lot of [players on] the defensive side. We actually added a lot more than we did offensively,” said head coach Thomas Duca.
Come Feb. 15, fourth-year goalie and co-captain Sam Bellomy thinks the newly formed team can hold their own against the tough competition.
“Georgia Tech has a great program. Their coach is great, but I think I’m confident with [the] team that we have this year, so I’m excited,” Bellomy said.
Bellomy was recognized as a 1st team All-American Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association, or MCLA, goalie last season. In the 16 games played, he made 264 saves, earning a .655 save percentage.
The Huskies are focused on clearing this season, a skill in lacrosse that transitions the team from defense to offense, giving them opportunities to score.
“I felt like [clearing] was an issue at times,” Duca said of their last season. “We had trouble consistently doing it that led to extra opportunities for teams we were playing and less time for us to put the ball in the net, so that’s been a point of emphasis this year.”
With the new players, the Huskies have adapted their strategies and taken feedback from the previous season to make changes to the overall function of the team.
“Made some adjustments, implementing new systems, offensively and defensively, I think, and we’re hoping that that turns out well for us,” Peterson said of how the preseason is going. “It’s looking good so far.”
Although there are new players, many players have returned for this season. Many of them are hoping to continue the playoff run they had last year, which brought them to Nationals in Round Rock, Texas.
The team lost in the first round of the MCLA Division I playoffs against Liberty University, who the Huskies had beaten earlier during their first game of the season 8-7. The Huskies finished last season ranked No. 14 in the country with a 10-5 record.
“We graduated a few kids, but a lot of returners this year, so [we] picked up with a lot of momentum from the end of last season,” Bellomy said.
Many of the graduating players have played lacrosse for the majority of their lives, and they want to make the most of their final season.
“This is kind of like the last opportunity to do something really competitively,” Peterson said. “So having that behind me really motivates me to just give it everything I’ve got, and I could say it’s the same for a bunch more people.”
The competition will be tough, but the Huskies are ready.
“Definitely very confident going into this. Given the amount of returns we have and how the team’s looking so far, so I’m really excited,” Peterson said.
