Syracuse, N.Y. – Following 38 seasons at the Division II level, the Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team will make its debut at the Division I level on Saturday at Wagner College at 12:00 p.m.

The Dolphins registered a 430-143 mark (.750 winning percentage) in their Division II era, including a 354-42 record (.894) since the turn of the century. The Dolphins went 239-13 (.948) in their 27 seasons in the Northeast-10 Conference, including 223-9 (.961) over the last 24 years. The Dolphins won 19 Northeast-10 Conference regular season titles (including 18 in undefeated fashion), 16 Northeast-10 Conference tournament championships, earned 20 NCAA Championships berths, advanced to the NCAA Semifinals 17 times, the NCAA Championship game 10 times and won the National Championship a modern era-record six times. The Dolphins have had 129 USILA All-Americans since 2000, including 59 first team selections.

The Dolphins will play an 11-game schedule in 2024. The Dolphins will host St. John's University in late March and the College of the Holy Cross in late April. The team will visit Wagner College, Sacred Heart University and Siena College in February. In March, the Dolphins will head to the University of Denver, Mercer University, Hobart College and Yale University. The 'Phins will visit Bucknell University and Lafayette College in April.

Le Moyne returns 34 student-athletes from the 2023 squad, which went 17-1, including 10-0 in NE10 action, won the NE10 regular season and tournament championships and appeared in the NCAA Division II semifinals for the 17th time in the last 21 full seasons.

The Dolphins return seven players who started at least 11 games, including four who started all 18 games. The four are senior attackman Joey Pezzimenti (Victor, N.Y./Victor/UAlbany), senior midfielder Kyle Caves (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool), redshirt junior Ethan Loun (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) and senior defenseman Jagger Kerr (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva). Pezzimenti was named to the USILA All-America Second Team, USILA North Region First Team, NE10 All-Conference First Team and was honored as the NE10 Player of the Year in his first year with the program, which he led with 71 points on 45 goals and 26 assists. Caves was named to the USILA All-America honorable mention, USILA North Region Second Team and NE10 All-Conference First Team after registering 38 points on 29 goals and nine assists. Kerr was named to the USILA All-America honorable mention, USILA North Region Third Team and NE10 All-Conference First Team after picking up 21 ground balls and causing nine turnovers. Loun finished third on the team with 42 points, which came on 23 goals and 19 assists. Graduate student long-stick midfielder Nick Noel (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley) is the team's fourth returning USILA All-America honoree after being tabbed honorable mention in addition to being named to the USILA North Region Second Team and NE10 All-Conference Second Team after collecting 49 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers.
 
The Dolphins added two graduate transfers, a redshirt freshman and two freshmen through the transfer portal and 15 freshmen for 2024.
Graduate transfers Jack Grooms (Westhill) and Nathan Allan (Peterbrough, Ontario/Saint Peters Secondary School) come from Hobart and Coker, respectively. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Carter Ruhm (Apalachin, N.Y./Vestal/Bridgton Academy) comes from Robert Morris and true freshmen Troy Gottmann (Malta, N.Y./Ballston Spa) and Zack Foro (Glenmont, N.Y./Bethlehem) from Saint Rose. The freshmen class is made of attackmen Mason Ciciarelli, Liam Burns and Aaron Clouthier, midfielders Zach Cartmill, Ethan Meyer and Joey Sacco, defensemen Kael Loun, Dominic Pezzimenti, Evan Nielsen and Jake Baker, short-stick defensive midfielders Ian Leahey, AJ DeMeo, faceoff-specialist Daniel Johnson and goalkeepers Lucas Winger and Nicholas Cary.

Saturday's matchup with Wagner is a non-conference affair, while the Seahawks and Dolphins will battle for NEC supremacy starting in 2025.

Wagner comes into the contest with an 0-1 record after suffering a 21-9 loss at Hofstra on February 3. Nick Martini led the Seahawks in the loss with three goals, while Conor Julich (2g, 1a) and CJ Sweitzer (3a) also had three points.

The Seahawks return 34 players from the 2023 roster, which finished with a 3-11 record, including a 2-7 mark in their first year in the MAAC while the NEC is on hiatus. They return four of their top-six scorers: Sweitzer (17p, 14g, 3a), Ethan Sieb (16p, 6g, 10a), Jake Mitchell (15p, 9g, 6a) and Julich (11p, 8g, 3a).