FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – The Trine University men's lacrosse team has been selected to finish third in the upcoming conference season according to the seven Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) coaches in their annual preseason poll.
The Thunder finished with 27 points in the poll and nabbed one first-place vote. Totals are determined by votes cast by the association's coaches, who cannot vote for their own team. The team with the most points receives the top spot in the poll.
Hope College and Albion College shared the top spot with 32 points each. The Flying Dutch were last season's regular season champions and received four first place votes. The Britons finished third last season but won the MIAA Tournament. They received the final two first place votes.
Last season the Thunder went 12-5 during the regular season with a 2-4 record during the MIAA slate entering the MIAA Tournament as a fifth seed. From there the team got hot at exactly the right time, winning a pair of tournament contests to reach the championship bout against Albion. They were the first postseason wins in program history and the first trip to the conference championship. Their final 14-6 record shattered the previous record for wins in a season, which was set in 2018 and 2011 at ten.
Trine's success in 2025 came down to defense. They boasted the top scoring defense in the country allowing just 6.25 goals per game. Luke Arnold led the country in goals-against average to spearhead that effort.
Mason Levin the lone returning All-MIAA member from last season, was another defensive leader.  Levin was tasked throughout the year with defending the opposing team's best player and was almost always up to the task despite not always showing up in the stat sheet. Even so he averaged a caused turnover per game during conference play, good enough to tie for 17th best. Overall, he was second on the team with 51 groundballs and third with 23 caused turnovers.
The Thunder loses their top scorer from last season, All-MIAA selection Collin Custer, but return every other multi-point scorer from 2025. Leading the way for that group is JJ Boos and Rocco Curatola who finished tied for second with 37 points each. Boos was second in goals last season, while Curatola was second in assists. Leading assister from 2025 also returns in the form of sophomore Vin Pantano who finished last season with 25. Pantano was also fourth on the team with 34 points. Will Gonia, who was third on the team with 29 goals, also returns to the roster.
Trine will open their season on Saturday, February 14 when they travel to face Wittenberg University. That game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
