The list of Top 20 teams was taken from Inside Lacrosse ranking as of April 28th, 2023. By the time you read this post the current men’s top 20 might look very different as it continues to shape and morph all season long.
But as of right now, here are the top 20 teams, their goalies, and those goalies lacrosse gear setups. For this post I dropped in a few links to the save edits in case you want to check out these goalies in action.
To answer a couple common questions –
Yes, the female goalie post is coming soon.
Yes, I would also like to know company mesh they’re using but its near impossible to determine in photos.
Chest pad is also tough to determine in photos. I included a few where I know the goalie well or its peaking out of the jersey in a photo.
Yes, I would love to cover D2, D3, and MCLA but I can barely keep up with D1.
Let’s get into it! If you see any errors in this post, leave me a comment down below.
Liam Entenmann is a member of Team Unfair Advantage! Strung up by the Sidewall Jedi himself.
The Notre Dame goalie Liam Entenmann was the pre-season 1st All American and has been playing lights out this season.
He got overtaken by Cuse goalie Will Mark in the mid-season All-American ranking but I imagine we see him back on top by the season’s end. Especially if the Irish go on a strong playoff run.
Only a sophomore, Matt Nunes continues to anchor the Hoos defense game after game.
Even though Virginia is a Warrior school, Nunes continues to use the Command (with the logo wiped off).
Matt Nunes is a Lax Goalie Rat sponsored athlete meaning you can get some insanely cool lacrosse goalie coaching and mentoring for your youth goalie. Check out the College Goalie Training Packs.
After Logan McNaney went down game #1 the Terps found their answer at goalie with Brian Ruppel.
This tripe save in OT rocked the lacrosse goalie world. Ruppel was IL mid-season All-American honorable mention and while it might be a bit early for that, the dude is a stud in between the pipes.
They call him Fort Knox around Westpoint. He made one of the more impressive saves this season I’ve ever seen.
After chasing out a GB vs. Loyola, he twisted his knee and collapsed in pain. Instead of laying on the ground, he got back up and dove in front of the open net to make a save while losing his lid. What heart!
They show the save at the beginning of this save edit with Knox Dent vs. Cornell:
Jack is a 2x Lax Goalie Rat sponsored athlete which means we partnered together to create some insanely cool lacrosse goalie training videos for young goalies. If you want coaching and mentoring from the best college athletes, check it out here.
Will Vitton has been locking down the pipes for the Villanova Cats ever since his freshman season.
He recently became the most winning goalie in the program’s history.
He has one of the more unique stances you’ll see in the college game and I recently invited him onto the podcast to talk all about it (episode coming soon!).
Here is a Will Vitton save edit from the previous season:
Emmett Carroll has broken onto the scene as one of the Ivy League’s elite goalkeepers, making a name for himself on the national level this season.
He currently ranks third among Ivy goaltenders in save percentage (.541) and saves per game (13.2) and is fourth for GAA (11.2) while also making some pretty stellar saves in the process.
After leading the Blue Hens to 1st round of upset of Georgetown in last years NCAA finals tournament, goalie Matt Kilkeary is having another fine season.
Through 13 games the senior has posted a .541 save percentage for enough for 11th best in the league.
Kilkeary has the pretty standard goalie stick setup these days: Eclipse 2, 12 diamond, on an attack shaft.
Will Mark is hands down my favorite goalie to watch play on this list. Not just because I’ve sponsored him for the last 2 years. Dude is a baller.
He was the Inside Lacrosse mid-season goalie of the year and I think final award will come down to him and Notre Dame Liam Entenmann.
Will makes some insane saves and uses his tall height to cover the goal in ways I haven’t seen other goalies do. Also in working with him he’s an awesome dude and a great goalie coach.
We’re dealing with back to back black hole devices on this list, another beauty strung up by Lars the Sidewall Jedi.
Syracuse is a Gait school and Gait recently purchased the Under Armour Command mold to make their own branded goalie heads.
Shane Carr is another Lax Goalie Rat sponsored athlete and I couldn’t be happier to sponsor such a great young man.
Michigan is fighting for an NCAA tournament playoff birth and may need to win the Big10 championship to make it happen. They’ll need strong goalie play from their netminder.
Checkout the Maverik Max goalie gloves review we did with Shane Carr. These might be the coolest pair of Maverik Max’s out there:
If you want to get training and mentoring directly from Shane, checkout his College Goalie Training Pack with insanely cool video based coaching for your youth goalie.
Whenever a goalie starts as a freshman it’s easy to lose track of their age. Krieg is only a junior which means we’ll see him again guarding the nets for Carolina next season.
After training with Goaliesmith all summer, Princeton goalie Michael Gianforcaro is having an awesome season.
The junior is #2 amongst all goalies with a .591 save percentage and will Princeton will need to lean on him if they want to take down an Ivy league title or another national championship.
Conclusion
There we go. The goalie gear setups for the top 20 ranked teams in 2023 men’s college lacrosse.
Let’s recap the results. We actually had 21 goalies since I listed 2 for Denver.
Head –
STX Eclipse 2: 14
ECD Impact: 2
Warrior Nemi 3: 2
Nike Prime: 1
Gait Command: 2
Once again we see the Eclipse 2 market dominance. With the STX Eclipse 3 aka the STX Shadow coming soon, how many of these Eclipse 2 users will make the switch?
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2 thoughts on “2023 NCAA D1 Men’s Goalie Gear Setup”
Hey Coach Damon, I’ve had so much time on my hands since I couldn’t play this season so I’ve had a chance to watch a lot of lacrosse. Krieg, Marcille, Lenskold, and Gianforcolo use the STX Sci-Ti X shaft (which most goalies at STX sponsored schools use). Mullin, and Kilkeary use the Maverick Hyperlite. Ruppel and Carr are using the Maverick A1 shaft ( Logan McNaney uses it as well). Paquette uses a Gait Ice and Mark uses a Gait GCX 5.2 carbon shaft. Nunes actually uses Warrior Burn field glove with a tapped up thumb and he also used a backwards Warrior Burn XP carbon shaft ( I assume to counter the flex) before it broke and is now using the Warrior EVO QX shaft (which I think he’s played better with).
Lacrosse is my passion! The game has given me so much and this blog is my way of giving back to the lax community. Specifically the most bad a$$ part of that community - the goalies! After learning to play goalie from scratch, I wanted to create a site where I could share what I learned with others so they too can become champions in the crease and in life. Learn more about Coach Damon.
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Hey Coach Damon,
I’ve had so much time on my hands since I couldn’t play this season so I’ve had a chance to watch a lot of lacrosse. Krieg, Marcille, Lenskold, and Gianforcolo use the STX Sci-Ti X shaft (which most goalies at STX sponsored schools use). Mullin, and Kilkeary use the Maverick Hyperlite. Ruppel and Carr are using the Maverick A1 shaft ( Logan McNaney uses it as well). Paquette uses a Gait Ice and Mark uses a Gait GCX 5.2 carbon shaft. Nunes actually uses Warrior Burn field glove with a tapped up thumb and he also used a backwards Warrior Burn XP carbon shaft ( I assume to counter the flex) before it broke and is now using the Warrior EVO QX shaft (which I think he’s played better with).
Chase Irelan also is still using a Nike Vapor shaft, it’s just black and taped up.