Swarthmore College Athletics

1982-85 Men’s Lacrosse Teams

The 1982, ‘83, ‘84, and ‘85 Men’s Lacrosse teams enjoyed a period of success that resulted in a 42-11 record, four conference championship appearances, three conference titles and the program’s only trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The teams were coached by Jim Noyes who arrived in 1978 and helped resuscitate a program that hadn’t had a winning season since 1970. Noyes replenished a depleted roster with a blend of talented lacrosse players and a group of exceptional athletes who had never played the sport before. Noyes would be named the Middle Atlantic Conference’s coach of the year three times.In 1982, the Garnet compiled a 10-3 record and won the program’s first MAC Championship since 1967. The Garnet avenged an early season loss to Franklin & Marshall College by beating the Diplomats 16-12 in the title game. Bob Cooney registered six goals and four assists in the win. Goalie Billy Christopher tallied 21 saves. Joe Valis and Scott Jordan earned All-MAC First-Team recognition and Cooney made the All-MAC Second Team. The Garnet finished the year ranked No. 15 in the country, but despite having won the MAC Championship did not get invited to the eight-team NCAA Tournament.

The 1983 team also went 10-3 and made it to the MAC title game again. However, after experiencing some injuries to key personnel, the Garnet were denied the chance to repeat by Gettysburg College. Valis, later inducted into Swarthmore’s Hall of Fame, earned Honorable Mention All-American status that season. Five All-MAC spots were awarded to Garnet players as well.

Swarthmore cruised through the regular season in 1984, winning the first eight games, including wins over No. 7 Denison and No. 12 F&M. The Garnet’s only blemish in the regular season came against Division I Villanova by a single goal. Swarthmore went on to win the conference championship in a nail-biter against F&M. With just 1:10 left in double overtime, Jerry Hood, who led Swarthmore with 25 goals that year, scored arguably the biggest goal of the season, netting the game-winner to secure the 7-6 win. The Garnet were awarded one of the eight spots in the NCAA Tournament, making the national tournament for the first and only time in program history. Swarthmore finished the season out-scoring its opponents 156-80. Two of Swarthmore’s All-MAC players, John Hiros and Eddie Meehan, had never played the game before coming to Swarthmore. Meehan was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player and earned Honorable Mention All-American honors and was selected to play in the North-South game alongside Cooney. Hans Hurdle placed on the All-America Third Team and would repeat that honor in 1985.

Swarthmore won 11 games again in 1985, including a 10-7 mid-season win over Villanova, and that record of 11 wins in a season held until 2016. Half of the 10-member All-MAC First Team in 1985 was made up of Garnet stickmen. Led by league MVP and All-American Hurdle, the Garnet found themselves in position to defend their league title. During this run, Pat Carney developed into the premier goalie in the MAC and would go on to earn Honorable Mention All-America status the following year. Swarthmore beat Gettysburg for the 1985 championship 14-10 with Hood leading the way with four goals and five assists.

During the four-year run, the Garnet would average 12.5 goals per game, powered by Joe Valis, Billy Gericke, Bobby Cooney and Jerry Hood. At the same time, the standard was set for an excellent defense, led by Scott Jordan, John Scott, Greg Brujnner, Pat Carney, Hans Hurdle, John Hiros, and Brian Wall that would limit opponents to an average of 6.9 goals per game during the era.

1982-83 Roster
1983-84 Roster
1984-85 Roster