Siena head men’s lacrosse coach Liam Gleason talks to his team during a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game against Quinnipiac at Hickey Field on the Siena campus in Loudonville, NY, on Saturday, April 30, 2022. (Jim Franco/Special to the Times Union)
James Franco
With a newly planted pear tree on an overlooking hill, the Siena and University at Albany men’s lacrosse teams will renew their rivalry at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Casey Stadium.
The tree and the game are meant to honor Liam Gleason, the Saints’ head coach and former Great Dane player and assistant coach, who died in December at 41 years old from a head injury suffered in a fall at his home.
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“It’s definitely going to be an emotional day and it’s going to be a day to honor Coach Gleason and all that he’s done for our program and the Albany program as a whole,” Siena graduate attack Conor Hufnagel said.
Hufnagel, a Siena captain, will be on hand for a 1 p.m. pregame ceremony to plant the tree as a tribute to Gleason, given the nickname “The Tree” when he was a UAlbany player for his 6-foot-5 stature. Coaches, team captains, and athletic department officials from both schools will attend, along with Gleason’s former teammates.
“It’ll bloom with white flowers in the spring,” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr, who coached Gleason and became his close friend. “Liam was my gear guy, so he loved our all-white uniforms. He’d say, ‘They look so clean.’”
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UAlbany used a tree as a team symbol to rise collectively even before the Gleason tragedy. The Great Danes give out a “Tree of Life Award” to a player each week.
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UAlbany (7-4 overall, 5-0 America East) will wear its purple jerseys for the nonleague home game against the Saints (10-2 overall, 6-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference).
It’s a rematch of their NCAA Tournament opening-round game last year. The Great Danes beat the Saints 11-9 in front of 3,527 fans at Casey Stadium in a landmark game for Capital Region college lacrosse. It was also Gleason’s final game as Siena coach.
That game was only the second time UAlbany and Siena had met since 2016. After Gleason’s death, they agreed to restart the regular-season rivalry on an annual basis. It’s called the “LarGer Than Life” game, emphasizing Gleason’s initials. He was also an organ donor.
The Great Danes and Saints were originally scheduled to play on March 17, but the match was postponed because of freezing temperatures. Tuesday’s forecast calls for a gametime temperature of 72 degrees with a chance of light rain.
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Both teams enter Tuesday’s match on hot streaks. The Great Danes clinched the America East regular-season title and homefield advantage in the league tournament with Saturday’s victory over Vermont. The Saints are on a seven-game winning streak and are on the verge of the No. 1 seed, which would mean hosting the MAAC championships.
“It’s all respect between the two teams and we really want to support them in this season, the things they’ve been going through,” UAlbany senior attack Silas Richmond said. “But when we hit that field on Tuesday, we’re going to compete and it’s going to be a battle all game.”
Marr said he believes Siena coach Tim Cox, a former UAlbany player, should win national coach of the year honors in Division I for the job he’s done succeeding Gleason under tragic circumstances.
Cox wants to treat Tuesday’s match as a celebration of Gleason.
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“The game means to go and have fun,” Cox said. “Just play the way Liam loved to play, which was fast, fun, and energetic. Play with a smile on your face. Enjoy the crowd. When you come to college, you want to play in front of big crowds. Well, Casey Stadium’s going to be rocking on Tuesday.”
Though he did not play for Gleason, UAlbany senior defenseman Max Neeson said they had a chance to meet briefly last fall. UAlbany players also attended the funeral service for Gleason at Siena’s UHY Center in December.
“He truly is larger than life, so we are playing for something bigger than ourselves,” Neeson said. “We’re close to the Siena team. We’ve been hanging out a bit and so it’s just going to be a great competition.”
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When Siena opened the season at Boston University, Saints players were shaken by a pregame tribute to Gleason and started slowly in a 23-7 loss on Feb. 6. Two months later, senior attack Caden Olmstead said Siena should be better prepared to handle the emotion.
“I like to say all the tears are out,” Olmstead said. “He’s looking down on us now with a smile on his face. I’m trying to keep a positive attitude about it and just keep rolling.”