Men’s Lacrosse Hosts Holy Cross In Season Opener
PROVIDENCE OPENS THE 2023 SEASON AT HOME… The Providence College men’s lacrosse team welcomes Holy Cross to a nonconference match on Sunday, February 5 at 1:00 p.m. at Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium to open the 2023 season.
LIVE STATISTICS AND STREAMING… The game will be streamed live on FloSports. Links to broadcast and live stats can be found on Friars.com by navigating to the men’s lacrosse schedule.
SERIES DIVISION… Since 1980, the brothers and crusaders have met 33 times. Holy Cross leads all-time series, 17-16. Providence have had wins in each of their last seven games.
LAST MEETING… The teams last met during the 2022 campaign. Providence defeated Holy Cross, 16-9, in Worcester, Mass. Evan McGreen led the brothers with seven goals while Matt Grillo scored the 12th hat trick of his career. Providence allowed six players to score at least one goal in the game, including four players with multiple goals.
MATT GRILLO WRITES PROGRAM HISTORY… Matt Grillo enters the 2023 season with 109 career goals. Grillo ranks third all-time for Providence in career goals, behind Ed Loiselle ’92 (136) and Ken Leahy ’00 (112). Grillo also ranks 14th in program history in career standings with 135 points. Leahy is the Friars’ all-time leading scorer with 188 points
112 goals and 76 assists.
PROGRAM BEGINS BOBBY BENSON ERA… The brothers welcome a new coaching staff for the 2023 season, led by the head coach Bobby Benson. Benson spent the last two seasons in Maryland as an offensive coordinator during the Terps’ run to the NCAA title in 2022. During Benson’s two seasons at College Park, Maryland compiled a 33-1 record, won two Big Ten championships and made back- to- back NCAA championship game appearances. Before joining the Terps, Benson spent 14 seasons as an offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Johns Hopkins. He helped Hopkins to 11 NCAA appearances, eight quarterfinal bids, three Final Fours, and two National Championship games.
MEET THE STAFF… Casey Brodersenwho has spent the last 12 seasons as an associate head coach at Bryant University was hired by Bobby Benson to serve as Associate Head Coach at Providence. He helped the Bulldogs to six Northeast Conference titles and five NCAA tournament appearances. Caroll Kennedy joined the brothers as an assistant coach. Kennedy worked alongside Benson in Maryland during the 2022 season and was previously named USILA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2015 while at Limestone University. Colin Munro joined the staff as a volunteer assistant after completing his college career with another member of the BIG EAST Conference, Georgetown, in 2022.
KEY DELIVERY… Providence will be leaning on key returnees as the 2023 season begins. graduate student Matt Grillo returns to his final season after leading the team in goals (36), shots (114) and points (45) in the 2022 season. Grillo was recognized as an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection. Michael Chabra returns for his junior season after finishing second on the team in goals (25). RyanBell will look to build on his success as a rookie in 2022 after finishing the season in 13th placeth in the nation in assists per game (2.43). He finished second on the team with 43 points from nine goals and the team’s best 34 assists.
Senior Grant Latimer will anchor the defense of providence. Latimer started all 14 games for the Friars last season, conceding 10 turnovers and 21 groundballs.
WELCOME TO FRIARTOWN… The brothers welcomed 14 freshmen to the men’s lacrosse program in the fall of 2022. Newcomers also include Tyler Flynn (Setauket, NY) Dean Butcher (Garden City South, NY) Harrison Sweeney (West Hartford, Conn.), Richie Joseph (Longmeadow, Mass.), Jackson Coutu (Upton, MA) Eddie Perry (Bridgewater, MA) Owen Finetto (Haworth, NJ) Luke Schmitt (Garden City, New York) Eric Webb (Westfield, NJ) Jan Olenik (Windham, New Hampshire) Frankie Caroll (East Setauket, NY), Chris Harland (Milton, Ontario) Tom Sarni (Lynnfield, Mass.) and Cullen Mulhern (Lawrenceville, NJ).
In addition, four transfers were added to the roster of brothers Bobby Benson‘s arrival as head coach. James Corasaniti (New York, NY), a graduate of Fairfield University, and Patrick Yowan (Manchester, Vt.) A sophomore transfer from Loyola Maryland highlights goaltending unity. second grader Pierce Gregory (Sherborn, Mass.) and Vincent Horton (Scituate, Mass.) come to Providence after playing as rookies at Bryant University in 2022.
MÖNDER SELECTED TO FINISH FIFTH IN GREAT EAST POLL… Providence was ranked fifth in the 2023 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ Poll (9 points). Georgetown was selected to win the league after accumulating five first-place votes and 25 points overall. Denver (20 points) was second and Villanova, who received a first place vote and 18 points, was third. Rounding out the conference standings were Marquette (13 points) in fourth place and St. John’s (five points) in sixth place.
RECOGNIZING THE HOLY CROSS… The Crusaders finished the 2022 season with a 1-13 overall record and a 0-8 in the Patriot League. Holy Cross averaged 8.57 goals and 35 shots per game.
PLAYERS TO SEE… Senior offense Dean Dinanno returns for the Crusaders after leading Holy Cross’ offense with 36 points, 19 goals and 17 assists. Dinanno picked up 21 ground balls and registered a .553 shots on target percentage.
Junior midfielder TJ Lynch also returns to the program after finishing third on the team for assists (seven) and fourth for goals (15).
WHAT’S NEXT… The brothers will travel to Smithfield, RI on Saturday, February 11 at 1:00 p.m. to take on Ocean State foe Bryant University
