Riding into his second season as the Riverhawks Men’s Lacrosse coach, Joe Stanilaus said he is looking to improve on the team’s ranking—fifth in the country in 2017.

The Riverhawks will start their regular season on Feb. 21 against the most dominant team in the region from the past few years, Onondaga Community College.

“We want the hardest schedule in the country, so we want to start out playing the hardest teams off the bat so we can really pick up speed going into the national tournament, and this time win,” Stanilaus said.

The Riverhawks lost two All-Americans this season: attackman Dylan Mansur and midfielder Justin Messersmith.

“You don’t replace them; you find points and goals through other people,” Stanilaus said.

Second-year player Charlie Ellis also said he has high hopes for the upcoming season.

“I feel like we are going to do very well,” Ellis said. “We have a lot of new recruits coming in this season that we hadn’t seen in the fall, and a lot of kids that we don’t even know about yet.”

When Ellis spoke with Campus Current in the fall, he said team chemistry would be key to success in the upcoming season. Now, he said, he sees this becoming a reality.

“Our team chemistry has gone up a lot during our time spent together in the fall with the people that we had come out, and it’s all looking good,” Ellis said.

Team captain Dylan Morton lined up several keys for the Riverhawks’ success this season.

“Team chemistry. We have the players, we have the depth to win a championship, but we have to be able to play as a team,” Morton said.

Morton also said he hopes for an undefeated season and a national championship.

“The biggest thing as a team is being consistent and acceptable both on and off the field, and if we can do that we will be where we want to be at the end of the season,” Stanilaus said.

The Riverhawks will kick off their season with tryouts from Jan. 16 through Jan. 20.