The men’s lacrosse team will look to rebound from a mediocre 2002 season under the leadership of new Head Coach Tom Korrie. Korrie joined the RPI coaching staff after serving for a year as head coach of men’s lacrosse at Marymount University in Washington, D.C.

“I really enjoyed the D.C. area, but the opening here was too good to pass up. The lacrosse tradition [at RPI] has been growing,” said Korrie.

Although RPI has historically been a dominant competitor in lacrosse, it was the school’s strong academic reputation that most attracted him to the program. Not many Division III schools have the solid academic credentials of a technical school like RPI.

“Overall RPI is a great school academically. It’s rare to have that combination [of athletics and academics] at the Division III level,” said Korrie.

Korrie’s team has played well so far this season, achieving a 3-0 record in their opening non-conference games.

In their first game of the season, the Red Hawks defeated Oneonta State in a nail-biter with a score of 10-9. Freshman attack Adam LoGiudice led the RPI scoring torrent with five goals and one assist, and Ryan Frisch also had a great game, scoring two goals and assisting another. Junior Lucas Rugglis, sophomores Nick Colotti, and Jeff Hubbs each contributed one goal. Senior goaltender Matthew Moog blocked 11 shots.

For their next two games, the Red Hawks traveled down to Florida for spring training during March break. In an evening game played on March 10, RPI routed the Western New England College Golden Bears by a score of 13-2. LoGiudice again led the Red Hawks offensively with three goals. Junior Andrew Teichman, Colotti, and Ruglis each scored two goals, and sophomore Tom Haff, freshman Sean Creeley, and Hobbs added in a goal. Moog had 12 saves.

In another close game against Nazareth, the Red Hawks defeated the Golden Flyers in a 9-8 game. Ruglis and LoGiudice contributed four and two goals respectively on the offensive front. Frisch, Galluci, and Balzer added one more goal each. The victory moved the Red Hawks up to 14th place in the national polls. The Red Hawks swept the weekly men’s awards with Ruglis earning Player of the Week, Moog receiving the Goaltender of the Week award, and LoGuidice earning Rookie of the Week.

The team will be tested in the next few weeks when they begin their conference schedule.

The upcoming game against Clarkson in three weeks will be especially tough because one of Korrie’s best friends is the head men’s lacrosse coach at Clarkson. “It’s a little different competing against your friends.”

Born in Syracuse, NY., Korrie has lived most of his life in the upstate New York area. He starred as an attack for the Syracuse Orangemen from 1983 to 1986, helping his team advance to four consecutive NCAA Division I Final Four appearances and win the national lacrosse championship in 1983. At Syracuse, he set two school scoring records, was a two-time All-American, and participated in the North-South all-star game. Later as an assistant coach with Cornell, he led the Big Red to a 1988 national championship.

Korrie believes that his playing experience helps his work as a coach but there is more to being a good coach than being a former player.