Moon Township, Pa. – According to a poll of ASUN Conference head coaches, the RMU men's lacrosse team has been picked to finish third in the league in its debut season in 2022.
The Colonials, who received one first-place vote, finished with 22 points in the poll. Air Force and Utah were picked to tie for first in the inaugural ASUN Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, as each compiled 31 points. Air Force earned three first-place votes, while Utah recorded two. Trailing RMU and rounding out the poll is Bellarmine (17), Detroit Mercy (13) and Cleveland State (11).
In addition to being picked third, a pair of graduate students for RMU earned preseason hardware.
Corson Kealey was named the
2022 ASUN Preseason Player of the Year, while
Jake Boudreau was selected as the
2022 ASUN Preseason Midfielder of the Year. Both earned a spot on the
2022 ASUN Preseason All-Conference Team, along with senior
Owen Down on defense.
RELATED: 2022 ASUN Preseason Honors
Kealey, a native of Ottawa, Ontario, has appeared in 47 career games for the Colonials, including 31 starts, and has compiled 117 career points thanks to 90 goals and 27 assists. In 2021 he played in nine games and finished third for RMU in goals (21) and fourth in points (26). Kealey sits just outside the top 10 in program history for career points while ranking ninth in both goals and points per game (2.49). In August, Kealey was selected in the second round as the 19th overall selection in the 2021 National Lacrosse League (NLL) Entry Draft by the Rochester Knighthawks.
Boudreau owns 42 starting assignments among his 54 games in an RMU uniform and owns career totals of 86 points, 97 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers. He has found the back of the net 46 times in his career while adding 40 helpers and during the 2021 season paced the Colonials in ground balls with 58. Boudreau, a native of Brampton, Ontario, finished third for RMU in scoring last year with 28 points thanks to 14 goals and 14 assists. In August, Boudreau became RMU's sixth selection in the first round in five years in the NLL Entry Draft, going seventh overall to the Saskatchewan Rush.
Down earned a spot on the 2022 ASUN Preseason All-Conference Team after a 2021 campaign in which he tied for team-high honors in caused turnovers (14) while compiling 22 ground balls. One of just three Colonials to start all 13 games in 2021, Down, a native of Scarborough, Ontario, enters the 2022 campaign having started 20 consecutive games on defense for RMU. Overall he has appeared in 33 contests, including 30 starts, and has compiled 40 ground balls and 25 caused turnovers.
RMU is led by head coach
Craig McDonald, who was named the third head coach in program history Sept. 20, 2021. McDonald, a native of Geneva, N.Y., spent the last seven seasons at UMass, helping the Minutemen appear in three Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship games, including a 2018 CAA Tournament title and subsequent bid to the NCAA Tournament.
In February of 2021, the
Colonials joined the ASUN Conference as an affiliate member in men's lacrosse, and the 2022 season marks the inaugural campaign as an ASUN sponsored sport. The 2022 season marks the 18th for the Colonials in the NCAA Division I ranks.
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