The Army Black Knights men's lacrosse team represents the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

(USMA, commonly known as "West Point") in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) Division I men's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

competition. During the team's 92-year history, it has won eight national championships and made fifteen postseason NCAA tournament appearances. The team currently holds the fifth-most wins of any team, with an all-time record of 705–332–7.''2009 Army Lacrosse Media Guide''
Army Athletic Communications, United States Military Academy, p. 78, 2009.

History

The first Army lacrosse game was played in 1907 against Stevens Tech. The Cadets won that season's only contest, 3–1. In 1909 and 1910, Army again fielded a lacrosse team, which mostly played local high school and club teams, but also a game each against Stevens Tech and Columbia. In those first three seasons, Army won all ten games it played. In 1921, lacrosse returned to West Point for good. After a 2–3 mark that season, the Cadets improved to 6–1 the following year, which was the start to a 33-year streak of winning seasons. In 1923, Army finished with an 8–1–1 record and was named the national championship team by the

United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the varsi ...

(USILA). In 1929, F. Morris Touchstone became the head coach. He remained in that post for 29 years and became Army's all-time winningest head coach in terms of wins with a record of 214–73–4 and

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

of 0.743. During this period, the lacrosse and football teams were closely connected and shared many personnel, as football players found the sport an excellent way to remain physically fit during the off-season. In both 1944 and 1945, Army won national championships in lacrosse and football.

Bill Carpenter William Stanley Carpenter Jr. (born September 30, 1937) is a retired American military officer and former college football player. While playing college football at the United States Military Academy, he gained national prominence as the "Lonesom ...

, the "Lonesome End" and a future

Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a military decoration awarded to ...

recipient, continued the tradition as both a football and lacrosse star. After Touchstone's death, James F. Adams took over as head coach in 1958, and in that first season, led the Cadets to their first perfect record since 1910 and the national championship. He stayed on for 12 years and compiled three more shared titles and a winning percentage of 0.777. In 1961, Adams was named the national Coach of the Year. Army-Rutgers lacrosse 2010 1

Adams was replaced by Al Pisano. In 1971, the NCAA became the awarding authority for the lacrosse national championship and instituted the NCAA tournament. Army participated in each of the first three events. In the inaugural tournament, the Cadets routed

Hofstra Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...

in order to advance to the final four, where

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...

edged them by one goal.

Dick Edell Richard Irving Edell (1944 – May 2, 2018) was an American lacrosse coach. He served as the head coach for the University of Maryland, United States Military Academy, and University of Baltimore's men's lacrosse teams. Edell was inducted into the ...

replaced Pisano, and served for seven years before leaving to become

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

's long-time coach. During the 1980s, Army appeared in six NCAA tournaments, including five consecutive ones starting in 1981. In 1984,

Jack Emmer John S. Emmer is a former American lacrosse coach. He retired in 2005 with 326 wins, making him the lacrosse coach with the most wins in NCAA history. This mark was surpassed in 2008 by Jim Berkman of Division III Salisbury University. Emmer is on ...

became head coach, and Army advanced to the final four, before being eliminated by Syracuse. The 1993 team finished with a 12–4 record, which included a defeat of Maryland in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In 1991, Army joined the Patriot League, and won its first 25 consecutive conference games, a league record. In 1999, the athletic teams, formerly known as the "Cadets", officially changed their name to the "Black Knights". ArmyNavyLax2009

Army made three straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2003 to 2005. The following season, former assistant coach Joe Alberici returned to West Point to assume the head job. That year, the Black Knights finished as runners-up in the Patriot League and narrowly missed a tournament berth. In 2008, Army earned the conference regular season championship and Alberici was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year.Media guide, p. 79.

Home stadium

Army currently plays its home games at

Michie Stadium Michie Stadium is an outdoor football stadium on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. The home field for the Army Black Knights, it opened in 1924 and has a current seating capacity of 38,000. The stadium sits at t ...

, which is also the homefield of the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

and has an official capacity of 40,000. Prior to that, Army lacrosse used "

The Plain The Plain (french: La Plaine), better known as The Marsh (french: Le Marais), was the majority of independent deputies in the French National Convention during the French Revolution. They sat between the Girondists on their right and Montagnards ...

" (the main parade ground), Clinton Field, Daly Field, an
Shea Stadium

Championships

From 1934 through 1970, the

(USILA) awarded the

Wingate Memorial Trophy The Wingate Memorial Trophy was the award given to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national champion in men's college lacrosse from 1936 to 1970, and the NCAA Men's Champion in 1971-1972. The first intercollegiate ...

to the NCAA Division I annual champion, based on regular-season records. Since

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, the annual NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament has determined the top team in NCAA Division I lacrosse. Army has been awarded eight national championships, but none since the implementation of the NCAA tournament.

Season results

The following is a list of Army's results by season as an NCAA Division I program: {, class="wikitable" , - align="center" †NCAA canceled 2020 collegiate activities due to the COVID-19 virus.

References

External links