WATERBURY, Conn. -- For the first time in program history, Post University Men's Lacrosse has landed two players on the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's All-New England Preseason Team. Senior attacker Robbie McGrayne and senior long-stick midfielder James Sproul were named to the Second Team for their respective positions, as announced by the association on Thursday morning. 

This is the second consecutive season in which the Eagles have landed a player on the NEILA's All-New England Preseason Team, as Dylan Heald was also named Second Team last year. This marks the first time in program history that Post has had a player earn Preseason Team accolades since the association began the honor and the institution started its lacrosse program.

However, it is not a surprise that either player made the team as Sproul was recently named USA Lacrosse Magazine Preseason All-American Honorable Mention a little over two weeks ago, while McGrayne was a driving force on the offensive side of the field for the Eagles last season. 

For Sproul, his accolades to earn him a spot are self-explanatory, as outlined in the previous article highlighting his name in USA Lacrosse Magazine. The senior is coming off one of his best seasons with the Eagles, in which he had 112 ground balls, 39 caused turnovers, and three points to the tune of one goal and two assists. Sproul's numbers landed him Second Team All-Conference honors in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference while earning him numerous records in Post's record book. As a junior, Sproul set the program record for most caused turnovers in a game with six against the University of Bridgeport on April 28th while tying himself for third in most ground balls in a game with 10 against Chestnut Hill College on April 13th.

His marks in the ground ball and caused turnover categories were both single-season program records, which passed Jaxon Holden's 2023 mark of 80 ground balls and Matthew Palmieri's 29 caused turnovers set during the 2016 season. Now heading into the 2025 campaign, Sproul sits just 11 ground balls away from surpassing Alsharif Blackman (2015-17) for most ground balls in program history, as well as four caused turnovers from taking down Peter Naboka's (2019-23) 62 mark which stands as the current record.

The success of McGrayne was also well-documented as the senior was named to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference All-Conference Second Team after putting up 61 goals and 16 assists for a total of 77 points across 18 games and was also named to the CACC All-Academic Team. Those 61 goals were the most on the team, with Heald behind him at 48 goals, while McGrayne set the new single-game scoring record with 10 goals against Holy Family University on April 6th, 2024. 

McGrayne also holds the record for second-most goals scored in a game with seven against St. Thomas Aquinas College on March 8th, 2022, and his 10-point performance against the Tigers ties him for second-most single-game points in a game as well. Along with those game honors, in a season, McGrayne is now the program's record holder for most goals in a season with 61 last year and tied with three other players for most starts in a season with 18 while being second all-time for single-season points with 77 last year just 11 off the pace of his former teammate Tim Keefe's 88-point mark in 2024 which helped net him USILA All-American Honorable Mention.

As it stands, the senior is likely to break multiple career records as well, sitting at 123 career goals scored, which is 11 away from Heald's mark of 134 career goals and 41 points away from Heald's 202-point program record with 162 points heading into the season. McGrayne will also have a chance to take the most shots in program history, currently at 223 and needing 101 more to catch up to Heald, man-up goals which he sits at 14 goals while Heald leads with 19 goals and game-winning goals in which he sits one back at four from a three-way tie with Trevor Buchas, Keefe, and Heald for the all-time mark. 

The season gets underway for the Eagles this Sunday when they face D'Youville University at LaMoy Field for their 2025 home opener at 1:00 PM. Post is 2-0 all-time against the Saints, beating them by 10 or more goals in their two matchups, which have each come in the last two seasons. 

The entire NEILA All-New England Preseason Team for Division I through Division III can be found at the link above.