NESCAC Preseason All Americans Deep Dive

If you believe the lists of 2025 D3 Preseason All Americans, NESCAC fans should be optimistic about another good year of success in the NCAA tournament. In 2024, four teams made the big dance while Bowdoin and Tufts both played in the Final Four. The Jumbos, of course, won the natty 18-14 over RIT. 

Coming off that success, the “Big Three” lists of Preseason All Americans just released include more CAC players than any other league. Inside Lacrosse, for example, has 41 players from the league on their list, while the Liberty League (23) and the ODAC (20) take the silver and bronze medals. There is a similar ratio on the lists from USILA and USA Lacrosse.

These lists provide good insight into the 2025 roster strength of the NESCAC. Not surprisingly, Tufts leads the way with 11 Preseason All Americans, followed by Amherst with seven and Bowdoin and Middlebury with six apiece. 

Only three players earned a spot on the first team 2024 All NESCAC and all three preseason All American lists: Jack Regnery (Tufts), Joey Waldbaum (Tufts) and Jed Hoggard (Bowdoin). Jack Raba (Wesleyan), Charlie Tagliaferri (Tufts) and Thompson Lau (Amherst) almost went four for four, but they were named “only” second team AA by either Inside Lacrosse or USA Lacrosse. Those six players are probably your frontrunners for NESCAC Player of the Year, although superstar goalie Jack Fried (Hamilton) should be in that preseason conversation as well.

Please keep in mind the confirmation bias of players on great teams sometimes getting ranked above their peers who play on squads with a losing record. Voters on a national level don’t have the time to watch NESCAC players firsthand or even on video throughout most of the season until the NCAA playoffs. They often rely on word of mouth, past reputation and stats when they vote for accolades. It’s a little like when a high school player commits to Duke or Maryland, Inside Lacrosse usually ranks them at least a 4-star recruit after the fact. 

In a sign of how stacked the NESCAC is with talent, several players who did not receive All-NESCAC honors last spring were nonetheless featured on Preseason All American lists for 2025. Those players include CK Giancola from Wesleyan and Cameron Delcristo from Tufts who were both voted first team preseason All Americans, but were not All NESCAC last year.

Based on past experience, we rank the quality of the preseason AA lists in this order: (1) USILA, (2) Inside Lacrosse & (3) USA Lacrosse. For that reason, we have listed accolades in that order for each player. The All NESCAC teams we include below are the ones released at the end of the 2024 season. 

Tufts

11 Preseason All Americans

• A - Jack Regnery - First Team All NESCAC, First Team USILA Preseason AA, First Team IL Preseason AA, First Team USAL Preseason AA

• M - Charlie Tagliaferri - First Team All NESCAC, First Team USILA Preseason AA, First Team IL Preseason AA, Second Team USAL Preseason AA

• D - Joey Waldbaum - First Team All NESCAC, First Team USILA Preseason AA, First Team IL Preseason AA, First Team USAL Preseason AA

• M - Garrett Kelly - Second Team All NESCAC, Second Team USILA Preseason AA, Second Team IL Preseason AA, HM USAL Preseason AA

• A - Max Ettinghausen - Second Team USILA Preseason AA, HM IL Preseason AA

• SSDM - Cameron Delcristo - First Team IL Preseason AA, Third Team USAL Preseason AA

• LSM - Ben Frisoli - Second Team IL Preseason AA

• D - Michael Ayers - Second Team IL Preseason AA, HM USAL Preseason AA

• A - Brooks Hauser - HM IL Preseason AA, First Team USAL Preseason AA

• FO - Parker Merrill - HM IL Preseason AA

• G - Conner Garzone - HM IL Preseason AA

Amherst

7 Preseason All Americans

• D - Lawson Laverty - First Team All NESCAC, Third Team USILA Preseason AA, Second Team IL Preseason AA, Third Team USAL Preseason AA

• LSM - Thompson Lau - First Team All NESCAC, First Team USILA Preseason AA, First Team IL Preseason AA, Second Team USAL Preseason AA

• A - Bob Gross - Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA, Third Team USAL Preseason AA

• M - Alex Giacobbe - Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA

• FO - Nicholas Kopp - Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA

• SSDM - Matthew Sheinberg - Second Team All NESCAC, Team IL Preseason AA, HM USAL Preseason AA

• A - Brendan Reilly - HM IL Preseason AA

Bowdoin

6 Preseason All Americans

• A - Jason Lach First Team All NESCAC, Second Team USILA Preseason AA, Third Team IL Preseason AA, Second Team USAL Preseason AA

• D - Jed Hoggard First Team All NESCAC, First Team USILA Preseason AA, First Team IL Preseason AA, First Team USAL Preseason AA

• G - Robert Hobbs Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA, HM USAL Preseason AA

• M - Casey Ryan - HM IL Preseason AA

• M - Patrick Fitzgerald - HM IL Preseason AA

• SSDM - Kevin Sandor - HM IL Preseason AA

Middlebury

6 Preseason All Americans

• D - Henry Tarr - Second Team All NESCAC, Second Team USILA Preseason AA, Second Team IL Preseason AA, Second Team USAL Preseason AA

• M - Patrick Jamin - Third Team USILA Preseason AA, Second Team IL Preseason AA, Third Team USAL Preseason AA

• M - Russell Thorndike - Third Team IL Preseason AA, HM USAL Preseason AA

• A - Billy Curtis - Second Team IL Preseason AA, HM USAL Preseason AA

• D - Teddy Curran - HM IL Preseason AA

• G - Hayden Kern - HM IL Preseason AA

Hamilton

5 Preseason All Americans

• G - Jack Fried First Team All NESCAC, Second Team USILA Preseason AA, Second Team IL Preseason AA, Third Team USAL Preseason AA

• A - Thomas Healy Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA

• M - Will Heher Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA

• M - Justin Pearl Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA

• LSM - Jayme Wilde - HM IL Preseason AA

Wesleyan

5 Preseason All Americans

• A - Jack Raba - First Team All NESCAC, First Team USILA Preseason AA, Second Team IL Preseason AA, First Team USAL Preseason AA

• A - Ben Burns - Second Team All NESCAC, Third Team USAL Preseason AA

• M - CK Giancola - First Team USILA Preseason AA, First Team IL Preseason AA, First Team USAL Preseason AA

• M - James Bailey - HM USAL Preseason AA

• D - Charlie Wilmot - HM USAL Preseason AA

Trinity

2 Preseason All Americans

• LSM - Johnny Cowdrick - Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA, HM USAL Preseason AA

• G - Jordan Opdahl - Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA

Bates

1 Preseason All American

• D - Benjamin Kondner Second Team All NESCAC, HM IL Preseason AA

Williams

1 Preseason All American

• M - Ryan Johnson - HM IL Preseason AA

Coach D’Annolfo knows that no one is handing the Jumbos a NESCAC or NCAA championship ring just because they are stacked on paper. So please don’t run off to DraftKings to place a bet based Inside Lacrosse’s view of a team’s roster. Every CAC squad faces 60 days of hard work ahead of them, while a few lucky squads have more like 90 days of grinding.