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Alphabetical 2013 NCAA D1 Preview: Holy Cross

We’re breaking down all the NCAA D1 teams one by one. Welcome to the Alphabetical 2013 NCAA D1 Previews! We move another spot down the list and the Holy Cross Crusaders, located in Worcester, MA, are up for Preview!

In 2012, Holy Cross went 5-10, with solid wins over Hartford, Jacksonville, Mercer, Vermont, and Providence. They also played Bucknell and Colgate pretty tightly in losses. However, the Crusaders also struggled mightily at times, and big losses to Lehigh, Army, Bryant, St. John’s, and Dartmouth exemplified this lack of consistency.

In 2013 Holy Cross again faces a tough Patriot League schedule, and they add on Harvard, Hartford, St. John’s, Sacred Heart, Rutgers, Vermont, Bryant, Providence, and Dartmouth, making their schedule quite similar to 2012. Can Holy Cross compete in more games, and win more games? A lot of that comes down to depth.

James Kennedy returns for his senior season after scoring 42 points in 2012. He’ll be joined by John Hannan who put up 27 points, good for second on the team. Clay Haarman, Terry McKenna, and John Daugherty also return to bolster the offense. Getting all these scorers back is big for Holy Cross, and if a couple more guys can step up, they could finally have some real depth on offense.

The Crusaders also have a returning goalkeeper in Kenny O’Connor, who started every game last year but two, and a couple of poles with talent. Ryan Troy returns at LSM and Daniel Shmader brings back some experience down low. John Pillon and Bobby McLaughlin bring back a little time played, but not much and that’s about it. Of the ten poles on Holy Cross’ roster, SIX are freshman. Whether those can step in right away is yet to be seen, but they will need to if HC wants to see success.

Holy Cross has done a nice job of bringing in some depth on offense, and their current class of freshman does the same for their defense. This leads me to believe that Holy Cross is still at least a year away from being a consistent team, and one that goes over .500 when it comes to wins and losses.

Click HERE to see Alphabetical 2013 NCAA D1 Preview posts for Air Force, Albany, Army, Bellarmine, Binghamton, Brown, Bryant, Bucknell, Canisius, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Denver, Detroit, Drexel, Duke, Fairfield, Hartford, Harvard, High Point, Hobart, and Hofstra!