2025 NCAA DIV III MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP

May 25, 2025

Casey D'Annolfo

Cam Delcristo

Conner Garzone

Brooks Hauser

Gillette Stadium

Tufts Jumbos

Finals Media Conference

Tufts 25, Dickinson 8.

CASEY D'ANNOLFO: First of all, thank you guys for being here. Thank you for supporting Division III lacrosse. We think it's pretty special, and we appreciate that you guys think it's pretty special, too. So humbled to be around this senior class and this team. They are graduating with an 82 and 7 record as a class, three straight National Championship game appearances, two straight National Championships.

But it's really the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, the toughness, the grit, the work ethic, holding each other accountable that really sets this group apart and makes them special. Just so much appreciation for them and everything that they have done for the program. They make my job and my assistant coaches' jobs a lot easier.

Huge thank you to our alumni base. We drove in past a mob, an absolute mob of people cheering for us. The support they give us, everything they have done to build this program and allow us to have the opportunities that we have cannot be overstated. So I'm just grateful to be here, be a part of these guys and just really thankful to be here and get as much time as possible with these guys.

Q. I won't start with something too complicated. Just undefeated National Championships, how do you guys feel?

CAM DELCRISTO: It hasn't really hit me yet, that that's a great accomplishment that we had, and we worked really hard in the off-season. And I'm not going to say I'm surprised, but it's definitely a good feeling to have.

CONNER GARZONE: It feels surreal. You're taking it one day at a time, building up day-by-day. You're not really looking at the big picture all the time, but it's pretty special.

BROOKS HAUSER: I don't really have too much to say. It's a surreal moment, great group of seniors. Really loved the team this year. I'm just so happy, satisfied, that they are ending out on top.

Q. Everybody comes into a program looking to make their mark on the school and the team. How do you feel like you've done that over these five years?

CONNER GARZONE: Yeah, I think just try to be the best -- not just the best player I can be every day, but the best person, the best leader when I can be. You know, the guys around me, the defense, the coaches, the people that trust in me, they make it a lot easier. I've had up and down games throughout my career here and they have stuck with me for four straight years, which I'm pretty lucky to have people around me that believe in me to that extent.

You know, I hope I left it cleaner than I found it, and I hope the alumni and people on this team are proud of me and this team's accomplishments.

Q. You guys brought a new staff member to the coaching staff in Mike Morgan. You already had one of the most intense coaches ever in Toomy. How has that affected you guys, and how much has he contributed to this undefeated run?

CAM DELCRISTO: Coach Morgan has been great. He came in and fit in right away. He thinks the same way we think. It's easy to bounce ideas off him, and he's another guy that we can approach to to watch film. He is super intelligent about the sport. So he's bringing in a whole new aspect to our game -- indiscernible -- he brought all his ideas with that.

And I couldn't be happier to have him as a coach this year, and I think it was a great addition.

CONNER GARZONE: I would say it's pretty rare to bring someone new in, and they fit in perfectly right away. I think that was exactly what happened with Coach Morgan. You know, having Coach Morgan and Coach Toomy, as you said, adds a lot of juice to our team, and I think the results speak for themselves.

BROOKS HAUSER: From the start, he added another level of depth to this team, a fresh mind. He has very similar culture, coming from Merrimack, but it was really nice to have him. He came in every day with a ton of energy, really pushed the boys. He was great to have on.

Q. It was clear that Dickinson early on was trying to maybe play a slower game. You guys wanted to play a faster, full-field game. How would you say that you were able to take control of the tempo and pace of play?

CAM DELCRISTO: We focused on winning the first play. Just going out there, winning that first faceoff, and then ball on the ground, winning that first GB. We just try not to think about the whole game, just that next play mentality, and I think it worked out for us.

CONNER GARZONE: I'd add on to that by saying when you try to slow down the space, it can be tough when the offense scores eight goals in the first quarter. You know, I think the offense did a great job at valuing every possession that we had. And once you gain that lead, it's tough for another team to slow down the ball. It kind of just takes the juice out of the game.

Huge credit to our offense and our faceoff guys for giving us possessions time and time again. Made it really easy on us as a defense.

BROOKS HAUSER: Going off that point, this group, we are so lucky and grateful to have had just a ton of experience on this stage. We lost this game two years ago and won it the last year. We took those experiences, and we didn't look too much in the past, but we learned from those moments. It was clear to us how we prepared from this week we need to learn to come out from the start, from the jump, whoever throws the first punch. Dickinson is very good, and they are going to punch back. But we were able to capitalize early and take it from there.

Q. Getting off to that great start, can you tell us about what was working for you today?

BROOKS HAUSER: I mean, it wasn't so much me as it was my team. You know, it didn't really start today either. Throughout the whole season, and especially this week, we have a full 60 guys just working their butts off every single day, giving us great looks in practice, just getting us really ready for this moment. I'm very thankful for these teammates that helped us there. And when those moments just presented themselves, I think we were ready, and we took advantage of that.

Q. Winning the National Championship, was it extra special to win it at Gillette Stadium tonight?

CASEY D'ANNOLFO: Yes. I'll be brief. It's incredible. Just knowing this is a place that we haven't had a chance to win a National Championship in the history of the program, and then you add to that this senior group, and you add to that Joey Kraft, being a senior on the team and being able to cap off his college career in Gillette Stadium is pretty cool. Overall, I give it a thumbs up for sure.

Q. Undefeated season, fifth National Championship for the season -- which one of those do you like the best?

CASEY D'ANNOLFO: Definitely National Championship. I said to these guys this week, I just am so lucky to spend as much time with them as I do. Just getting to the National Championship, which gave me as much time as I could with these guys that, was worth it. Obviously, wanted to win and wanted to take care of business, but just getting as far as we possibly could and getting the late slot game to really maximize the time, that was pretty special.

Q. What is it like having Conner there, almost 90 straight games and what he brings to the program with stability and winning?

CASEY D'ANNOLFO: You know, when you go into the game and you're playing a lot of good teams, we play in a league that's very good and very deep, and we try and challenge ourselves as much as we can with our out-of-conference schedule. You're always thinking about the unknowns and okay, where, if things go sideways, you know, what are we going to do or what's the contingency plan. Very rarely to we ever have to worry about Conner.

So when you have to do that for four years, you can just think, okay, we've got Garzone back there, that's going to be a really strong positive for us. I think he's, I don't know, something crazy, like 69-0 when he's above percent; it's a ridiculous statistic. He's unbelievable. It gives you a sense of calm and confidence; the defense feeds off that and the team feeds off that. We're going to miss him a lot back there. Just really special to see him develop and grow the way that he did and become such an outstanding competitor in his last season.

Q. When does the work for next start next year, a three-peat?

CASEY D'ANNOLFO: Probably this weekend -- sorry, honey.

When we go through the recruiting process, we tell them when we're in season, don't expect to hear from us a whole lot. You have to focus on your year and we have to focus on our year, and I think that's a really positive thing for recruits.

You know, and they really buy into that culture, like, hey, these guys are really focused on their team. They are not going to be spending all their time recruiting kids in-season, and one of the best things we can do is have success on the field and show people who we are and what we're about.

For our guys, you know, I was fortunate enough to be a multi-sport guy and understand how important balance is in life. So you know, hopefully after tonight, these guys put their sticks down for a while. I want them to enjoy it. The seniors will go off to Europe together, and all the underclassmen will start all their summer stuff.

We want them to enjoy it. We want them to hit the reset button and not think about lacrosse, because I know that once they start thinking about lacrosse, they are laser focused on getting better, and I just want to make sure that, like, we have the last two years, we are peaking in May and we're not peaking in February or March. I think the work has already begun but we are not going to overload those guys quite yet.

Q. You talked about the unknowns. How do you prepare for a team like Dickinson that you've never played, but also, you've seen them now on a run of beating the best teams in the country?

CASEY D'ANNOLFO: It's a great question. First of all, love your shoes. Always.

Coach Webster does an unbelievable job at Dickinson. We don't have a ton of common opponents, but every once in a while, you catch some flashes of games they play. They are a complete team and the run they went on speaks a lot to their culture, their program, their coaching staff, their players. I think you guys already asked about having Mike Morgan. Having Mike is incredible just in terms of our preparation. He went back-to-back when he was head coach at Merrimack. So all year we were saying, where are we falling short, what is our messaging like, and what are we missing, what are our blind spots. Mike was helpful with his knowledge to help put us in a position to make sure we weren't overlooking anything.

The way our conference tournament is where the semifinals and signals are on back-to-back days and the way the tournament is now where you're playing back-to-back days in the second and third round and the quarters and the semis, you go in on every Monday morning and you're like, okay, we have to prep for three teams. The nice thing about this week is even though there's other distractions, the travel, the hotels, the tickets, all of that other stuff. You really get to focus on one team. Coach Toomy does a phenomenal job of cutting up film. We called as many people would talk to us. We didn't find a lot of people that wanted to talk to us. I think a lot of people were rooting for Dickinson. But again, I think when the five or six of us put our heads together and look at the film and work with our guys, we felt like we were well-prepared going into this game.

Q. The greatest hype-up video I've ever seen this morning dropped on the Tufts Instagram account. Can you talk about about, and how much of that builds your team up for games like this?

CASEY D'ANNOLFO: Conner thought it stunk. Didn't like the music choice.

A couple things. Once you win one championship, you're always worried about complacency. One of the big messages for our guys in this last couple weeks has been, there's going to be plenty of time for nostalgia and rosey glasses and hugs and high fives and celebrations and looking back and all that stuff. Like, that time is not now.

Even though it was a little dark, and Luke does a phenomenal job with our stuff, it was what the guys needed to stay focused and understand that we were -- everybody was rooting for Dickinson and no one was rooting for us. We were going to embrace that. We were going to do our best to play 60 minutes today. Shout out to Luke and all the awesome stuff that he does. That definitely got our guys hyped up for sure.

Q. When you look back on the season, what was your favorite moment? And for the kids, what's your favorite part about Dad's team?

OLIVER D'ANNOLFO: I like the guys. They are great. They are really nice, and I'm glad that they had this experience of winning National Championships and for the sophomores, especially, because they had just won a National Championship.

CASEY D'ANNOLFO: Every day, it's so much fun to go to work and so much fun to hang out with these guys. They are such an incredibly focused and diligent group, and I know it's cliché, but every day is fun.

Like even after the close games, you know, after Christopher Newport and Wesleyan, the guys are not hooting and hollering. They are not, like, too excited about those games. Like we've got to get better. We've got to get better. It's almost like we are not enjoying wins and losses as much as we are the process.

You know, the practices, the competitions, the weight room, the film sessions, like those are the most fun. That's where the guys are the most themselves. And really to have this group finish it off with an undefeated season, I think is pretty appropriate given their work ethic and focus. I'm really proud of them.

I think this team, you know, people are going to talk about a perfect season and being undefeated and stuff like that. The cool for thing for us is we never talked about being perfect. We talk about it all the time. We will never ask you to be perfect. We just want you to be tough. We just want you to work hard. Again, I think it's a perfect ending because I think they really earned it. You know, really grateful for that. We are going to enjoy it. Now we've got an even bigger target on our back, so we're looking forward to that work. Like I said earlier, we just want to thank you guys so much for the light that you provide for Division III lacrosse. We think it's pretty special and really grateful to be here and excited to get back to work for this team and this program and for my alma mater. Thank you so much.