College Lacrosse's Top Senior Goalies in 2020

The NCAA canceled all winter and spring sports championships on Thursday due to COVID-19 outbreak concerns.

The announcement followed the Ivy League, NBA, NHL, NLL, and other collegiate conferences in either canceling the rest of their season or suspending their season until further notice. PLL Co-Founder and CEO Mike Rabil released a statement on Thursday that the league will be initiating a “work from home” policy, effective immediately, until Friday, March 20, and that they will be following all recommended steps from the WHO and CDC. We can expect to hear more from the league as other leagues, specifically the MLB and MLS, release statements regarding their course of action as we get closer to the start of the season. The MLB has already postponed its regular season “at least two weeks.”

Despite the news, we still have a College Draft to prepare for. Over the past week, I have introduced to you the best attackmen, midfielders, and defensemen that will be available in April’s draft, and today, we will talk about the best goalies. As a result of the league’s unique playoff format, which features a competitive bracket to determine college draft seeding, the first round is set to have Chris Bates and the Archers select first overall, followed by the Atlas, Waterdogs, Chrome, Chaos, Redwoods and the defending champion Whipsnakes. The Waterdogs are projected to have the first pick in rounds two, three and four, and the rest of the pack will be in the same order as round one with exception to the handful of picks swapped in the eight trades that we’ve seen so far leading up to this draft.

It’s hard to tell right now how many teams might be in the market for a goalie. The Entry Draft on Monday night has only one in Dillon Ward, a finalist for MLL’s Goalie of the Year in 2019, and there are only two teams in the league, the Chaos and Waterdogs, that need a goalie. There have also been rumors that Chrome might be looking for a goalie despite already having three in veterans John Galloway, Brett Queener, and 2019 Denver graduate Alex Ready.

This year’s class includes six goalies that have put up impressive numbers, but with the league’s goalkeeping in 2019 as good as it was, it will be interesting to see if any of these names become starters in 2020. For whichever team they are drafted by, each of these guys will need to compete for not only a starting job but a job in the league’s second season.

Matt DeLuca is the first guy on our list. Standing at 6’6”, DeLuca is one of the best goalies in the CAA. He took over as the starting goalie as a freshman in 2017 and ranked second in the CAA in goals-against average (10.08), third in save percentage (54%), and fourth in saves per game (10.31). As a sophomore and junior, he ranked in the top four in the conference in all three categories and was a Second Team All-CAA selection.

DeLuca came into 2020 starting in 40 straight games for the Blue Hens. In six games in 2020, he has 69 saves compared to 50 goals against and a save percentage of 58%. He has allowed 8.78 goals per game this season, including just one on two separate occasions. He allowed one goal to NJIT on a save percentage of 93% and one goal to Monmouth on a 92% save percentage. For a team like the Waterdogs that could be looking for a goalkeeper to compete for the starting job, DeLuca could be a candidate.

Penn State’s Colby Kneese could also be a candidate. A Dallas native, Kneese came into 2020 as a two-time All-Big Ten Second Team selection, boasting a 52% save percentage and 575 career saves. In 2020, he was working with a 51% save percentage and 78 saves in seven games, and in mid-February, he held St. Joseph's to just two goals on 27 shots. Josh Kirson is another Big Ten goalie that could go in this draft. He did not see game action and redshirted as a freshman, but he started in 7 of Ohio State’s games as a sophomore and 11 of the Buckeyes 12 games last season, ranking third in the Big Ten in goals-against average with 10.56. In 2020, Kirson has made 95 saves and has a save percentage of 59% through seven games.

Drake Porter took over as the starting goalie for Syracuse as a junior last season and went on to earn All-ACC honors. He led the ACC in save percentage and saves per game in 2019, ranking eighth nationally in save percentage at 56%. In five games in 2020, he recorded a 58% save percentage and 64 saves while leading the number one team in the country. Brown’s Phil Goss led the nation as a freshman with 12.75 saves per game and followed that with 13.13 as a sophomore in 2018, which ranked second in the NCAA. He was a First Team All-Ivy selection in 2018 and earned Second Team All-Ivy honors last season as a junior. In 2020, he had 62 saves and a 56% save percentage.

Our last goalie is Boston University’s Joe McSorley, who started in all 34 games over his sophomore and junior season. In those two years, he totaled 404 saves and a save percentage of 53% while being named to the Academic All-Patriot League. In six games in 2020, McSorley had 74 saves and a save percentage of 54%. With 28 picks in April’s College Draft, it’s not hard to imagine that a few of these names will be called. Three teams are in the market for a goalie and others could be looking to create early season competition in training camp.

As a reminder, on Monday, March 16, Willy and I will have a bonus episode of Behind the Back as we prepare for the Entry Draft later that evening, so make sure to stay tuned for that. We will also be releasing an article for college lacrosse’s best senior faceoff specialists in 2020 on our website, so keep an eye out for that as well. We will be closely monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak and will provide updates from the league as we get them. We hope that everyone stays safe through this troubling time.