# 2021 Army Black Knights men's lacrosse team

The 2021 Army Black Knights men's lacrosse team represented the United States Military Academy in the 2021 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season. The Black Knights were led by sixteenth-year head coach Joe Alberici and played their home games at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York. Army competed as a member of the Patriot League.

## Previous season

In a season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Knights compiled a 6–2 (2–0 Patriot League) regular season record before the rest of the season was cancelled.

## Preseason
### Preseason poll

The Patriot League released their preseason poll on February 5, 2021 (voting was by conference head coaches and sports information directors). The Black Knights were picked to finish in second place and garnered four first-place votes.
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Loyola Maryland | 125 (13) |
| 2 | Army | 111 (4) |
| 3 | Lehigh | 104 (1) |
| 4 | Navy | 77 |
| 5 | Boston University | 67 |
| 6 | Bucknell | 66 |
| 7 | Holy Cross | 40 |
| 8 | Colgate | 39 |
| 9 | Lafayette | 19 |

### Preseason All-Patriot League team

The Black Knights had four players picked to the preseason All-Patriot League team, tied for second-most in the conference. Additionally, junior attack Brendan Nichtern was selected as the 2021 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
* Bobby Abshire, Junior, Midfielder
* Marcus Hudgins, Junior, Defense
* Brendan Nichtern, Junior, Attack
* Wyatt Schupler, Junior, Goalie

## Roster

The Army men's lacrosse roster as of February 5, 2021:

## Standings

Patriot League men's lacrosse was split into two divisions for the 2021 season; a four-team North division and a five-team South division. The top-three teams in both divisions will qualify for the Patriot League Championship tournament held in May. The divisional winner with the best overall winning percentage will earn the right to host the semifinals and finals. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds from each division will play each other in the quarterfinals, with the winner playing the opposite division's No. 1 seed in the semifinals. Only the first game played against divisional opponents counts towards the division standings.
2021 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Standings :
| | Division record | Division record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | W | L | W | L | W | L |
| North |||||||||
| No. 13 Army | 3 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| Boston University | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 |
| Colgate | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Holy Cross | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| South |||||||||
| No. 8 Lehigh * | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| No. 12 Loyola | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 5 |
| No. 17 Navy | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Bucknell | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 6 |
| Lafayette | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 11 |
| Championship: May 9, 2021 † conference regular season champion not awarded in 2021; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: Inside Lacrosse Top 20 Poll; Source:; Updated May 9, 2021 |||||||||

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| Regular Season ||||||||
| February 13 | Noon | at No. 14 UMass | No. 15 | Garber Field · Amherst, MA | LSN | Cancelled | |
| February 14 | Noon | at No. 6 Virginia | No. 15 | Klöckner Stadium · Charlottesville, VA | ACCNX | L 9–14 | 0 |
| February 21 | Noon | at No. 4 Syracuse | No. 13 | Carrier Dome · Syracuse, NY | ACCN | W 18–11 | 0 |
| February 27 | Noon | Saint Joseph's | No. 7 | Michie Stadium · West Point, NY | ESPN+ | W 13–5 | 0 |
| March 6 | Noon | at Boston University | No. 7 | Nickerson Field · Boston, MA | ESPN+ | W 12–10 | 0 |
| March 27 | 3:00 p.m. | Bucknell | No. 8 | Michie Stadium · West Point, NY | ESPN+ | Cancelled | |
| March 27 | 3:00 p.m. | Holy Cross | No. 8 | Michie Stadium · West Point, NY | ESPN+ | W 13–3 | 200 |
| April 3 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 10 Lehigh | No. 7 | Frank Banko Field · Bethlehem, PA | ESPN+ | L 12–13 | 196 |
| April 10 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 13 Loyola | No. 10 | Ridley Athletic Complex · Baltimore, MD | CBSSN | W 12–7 | 0 |
| April 17 | 2:00 p.m. | Boston University | No. 10 | Michie Stadium · West Point, NY | ESPN+ | W 14–8 | 100 |
| April 24 | Noon | at No. 19 Navy | No. 10 | Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium · Annapolis, MD (rivalry) | CBSSN | L 4–9 | 5,285 |
| April 30 | 2:00 p.m. | Colgate | No. 11 | Michie Stadium · West Point, NY | ESPN+ | W 13–11 | 100 |
| Patriot League Tournament ||||||||
| May 7 | 7:00 p.m. | vs. No. 16 Loyola | No. 11 | Frank Banko Field · Bethlehem, PA (Semifinals) | CBSSN | L 10–11 | 261 |
| Rankings from Inside Lacrosse Media Poll released prior to game · All times are in Eastern time ||||||||
    The game between Holy Cross and Army was originally scheduled for March 20 but was postponed due to a positive Covid-19 test within the Black Knights' Tier 1.
    The game between Colgate and Army was originally scheduled for March 13 but was postponed due to a positive Covid-19 test within the Black Knights' Tier 1.
    Schedule Source:

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 (Final) |
| Inside Lacrosse | 15 | – | 13 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 |
| USILA Coaches | NR | 12 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 |
| Nike/US Lacrosse | 15 | 14 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 12 |