History | Team Awards | Individual Records

In 1971, Jeffrey Neil Fox started the University of South Florida Lacrosse team with Bronson Thayer. After being kicked off of the USF fields, they decided to start a club at USF and received funding from student government. According to the university records today, this makes the Men’s Lacrosse Club, the oldest sport club at USF. They were using Thayer’s homemade street goals and they turned fans into referees before their games. Referees like Steve Mintz and Scott Hopkins kept the early games civil. Fox recruited Mike Monroe to become the team’s goalie and his old teammates say he was a brick wall! The team then hosted the Suncoast Lacrosse Tournaments in the 70’s and teams like Air Force came to play. The early teams were very unequipped, scrounging for any equipment they could get and spending every dollar on getting it. That is until, on the day it snowed in Tampa and Bronson met with George Steinbrenner, the New York Yankees owner, who then opened his checkbook for the team. Fox got a lot of publicity for the team including stints on TV, write ups, news columns, billboards, and signage at establishments down Fletcher and Fowler avenues before there were big games. USF Lacrosse had come a long way and in 1978 USF had a perfect season, winning the state championship. In 1979, they returned to the championship game again in Orlando where they met Ft. Lauderdale. The Bulls were down by seven at the half, but Andy Botner and Mark Zeigler brought the team back with one goal, where the score stood.

Coach Mike Godzik continued to lead USF into the 80’s. Godzik had earlier in his life been in an accident and coached from the sidelines in his wheelchair. Stan Schor also helped keep the team organized and in 1980, while getting a good beating from the University of Maryland, Godzik told players to tie him up in the goal and he would do a better job than the USF goalie, which refused to play earlier after being shell shocked. The Bulls made it to the state tournament in 1984, and near the end of the championship game, a fight broke out between USF and Ft. Lauderdale. The 1984 championship game was played at the same time as USF’s graduation ceremony and players like Bob Creighton and Mark Zeigler decided the game was much more important to attend. That night Creighton received an MVP and said it was, ”Much better than being handed a diploma.” In 1989, the Bulls would win another state championship.

In the 1990’s, the players from the past teams had reunions, as there is no great evidence of a team in those years. In 2000, Tim McGoff and Robert Dooley revived the team, receiving $1000 from Student Government. Twenty-five years later USF Lacrosse still had players on the field without full equipment and the players were exchanging helmets on the sideline. They would play again in the Florida Lacrosse League and in 2001, USF would move to play in the USLIA’s Atlantic Lacrosse Conference. In 2002 the ALC then dissolved and the teams entered the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference’s Division B. In 2003, the Bulls started the season led by Mike Rosweski, who had a talented team, but unfortunately the team quickly realized that Rosweski was stealing the money that players had raised through fundraisers and had to fire him. After firing Roseweski, the Bulls won all of their remaining games and made it the SELC Division B championship game to playe the University of Georgia. It was a close game at the half, but USF struggled in the second half, after star player Rob Cronin took a shot to the chest and was coughing up blood. After that 2003 season, the Bulls spent one more year in Division B before moving up to the SELC’s Division A. The team saw four head coaches in the next three seasons before John Matzke took over in the fall of 2006. Matzke would coach for the next few seasons until the fall of 2010, when he departed, and Jeff Shimmel took over the reins. USF was at that time apart of the SELC Division I, formerly known as SELC Division A.

Through the next half a decade, big rivalries had been established with other teams in the state including FSU, UF, UCF and UM. During Shimmel’s time, the Bulls Beat UM for the first time in 2012 and UF in 2013. Shimmel’s Bulls would also come close against FSU in 2012 and UCF in 2013, but couldn’t quite get the job done. Shimmel also led USF to their first ever winning season as a Division I member in 2013 with a record of 7-4. Shimmel’s last season with the Bulls would be in 2015.

The Bulls had a tough few seasons after Shimmel departed the program. The Bulls would see history repeat itself as they had four different coaches in four seasons including, Christopher Marasco, Brian Carrier, Thomas FitzSimons, and John Gangloff. In the fall of 2019 however, the Bulls would find themselves their next head coach who is not only an alum, but a previous player himself, Joey Galuppi. Later joining Galuppi on the coaching staff would be William Pesci and Christopher Armstrong, who are also both alum and previous players themselves. Not only was their a reliable coaching staff in place now, but more importantly, strong student leadership on and off the field lead by Brendan Fritz starting in 2019. Fritz was able to not only help to keep the program going when it was starting to see the light early on in his time, but improved the reputation of it with the university and the MCLA.

Excited for a fresh start and a new season in 2020, the Bulls would unfortunately see their season come to an end before it could even get started by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic would cancel not only the 2019-20 season, but also the 2020-21 season. In the Bulls’ first season back on the field with the university’s approval in 2021-22, with twenty-two new additions to the herd, they would start off with a program record four straight wins. However, injuries would plague their season early on and force them to play with a limited roster. During the 2022-23, the Bulls would reload their roster and added Michael Sweeney to their coaching staff, another alum and previous player. The season would prove to be a special one with multiple records being shattered, and the torch of the program being carried by Ryan Kerr while the Bulls won another four games.

Benny Krienik

• SELC Honorable Mention All-Conference Attack (2011)

Anthony Lefanto

• SELC 2nd Team All-Conference Goalie (2012)

Grant Wallenfelsz

• SELC Honorable Mention All-Conference FOS (2013)

William Pesci

• MCLA Scholar Athlete (2014)

• SELC Honorable Mention All-Conference Defense (2014)

Joey Galuppi

• SELC Honorable Mention All-Conference Attack (2013)

• SELC 3rd Team All-Conference Attack (2015)

Brendan Fritz

• MCLA Scholar Athlete (2022)

• SELC 2nd Team All-Conference Defense (2022)

Ryan Kerr

• MCLA Scholar Athlete (2022)

• MCLA Honorable Mention All-American (2022)

• SELC 1st Team All-Conference Attack (2022)

• SELC 2nd Team All-Conference Attack (2023)

• MCLA Scholar Athlete (2023)

Raymond Raefski

• MCLA Scholar Athlete (2022)

• MCLA Honorable Mention All-American (2022)

• SELC 1st Team All-Conference LSM (2022)

Anthony Broderick

• SELC 3rd Team All-Conference Goalie (2023)

Most Games Played in a Career

• 46 - Joey Galuppi (2012-2015)

• 43 - Anthony Lefanto (2011-2014)

• 43 - Patrick Lefanto (2011-2014)

• 42 - Kyle Franco (2011-2014)

• 42 - Rohan Korpal (2012-2015)

Goals in a Career

• 93 - Joey Galuppi (2012-2015)

• 72 - Ryan Kerr (2020, 2022-2023)

• 65 - Zak Heinritz (2010-2013)

• 58 - Benny Krienik (2009-2012)

• 53 - Nathan Granger (2013-2016)

Goals per Game (GPG) in a Career

• 2.67 - Ryan Kerr (2020, 2022-2023)

• 2.07 - Benny Krienik (2009-2012)

• 2.02 - Joey Galuppi (2012-2015)

• 1.91 - Zak Heinritz (2010-2013)

• 1.82 - Michael Harrington (2007-2012)

Assists in a Career

• 60 - Ryan Kerr (2020, 2022-2023)

• 52 - Patrick Lefanto (2011-2014)

• 46 - Zak Heinritz (2010-2013)

• 39 - Benny Krienik (2009-2012)

• 34 - Joey Galuppi (2012-2015)

Assists per Game (APG) in a Career

• 2.22 - Ryan Kerr (2020, 2022-2023)

• 1.39 - Benny Krienik (2009-2012)

• 1.35 - Zak Heinritz (2010-2013)

• 1.21 - Patrick Lefanto (2011-2014)

• 1.11 - Michael Harrington (2007-2012)

Points in a Career

• 132 - Ryan Kerr (2020, 2022-2023)

• 127 - Joey Galuppi (2012-2015)

• 111 - Zak Heinritz (2010-2013)

• 97 - Benny Krienik (2009-2012)

• 82 - Michael Harrington (2007-2012)

Points per Game (PPG) in a Career

• 4.89 - Ryan Kerr (2020, 2022-2023)

• 3.46 - Benny Krienik (2009-2012)

• 3.26 - Zak Heinritz (2010-2013)

• 2.93 - Michael Harrington (2007-2012)

• 2.76 - Joey Galuppi (2012-2015)

Ground Balls in a Career

• 120 - Ryan Kerr (2020, 2022-2023)

• 115 - Benny Krienik (2009-2012)

• 115 - Tucker Maute (2011-2012, 2014)

• 110 - Ryan Fennell (2012-2014)

• 103 - Michael Sweeney (2011-2014)

Ground Balls per Game (GBPG) in a Career

• 8.33 - Jacob Magad (2023-Current)

• 7.00 - Raymond Raefski (2022)

• 4.50 - Colton Coffin (2017)

• 4.44 - Ryan Kerr (2020, 2022-2023)

• 4.11 - Benny Krienik (2009-2012)

Face-Off Wins in a Career

• 199 - Jacob Magad (2023-Current)

• 177 - Ryan Fennell (2012-2014)

• 125 - Grant Wallenfelsz (2013-2015)

• 110 - Joseph Ryan (2022)

• 80 - Gus Gryzinski (2014-2017)

Face-Off Percentage in a Career

• 78% - Jacob Magad (2023-Current)

• 75% - Nathan Granger (2013-2016)

• 67% - Patrick Shiel (2013)

• 62% - Danny Boland (2019-2020)

• 58% - Grant Wallenfelsz (2013-2015)

Saves in a Career

• 677 - Anthony Lefanto (2011-2014)

• 264 - Trent Abel (2013-2016)

• 248 - Anthony Broderick - (2022-Current)

• 97 - Christopher Lopetegui - (2022)

• 80 - Eric Lund (2007-2010)

Save Percentage in a Career

• .626 - Christopher Kelly (2015)

• .622 - Zach Fodor (2009-2010)

• .604 - Joey Parker (2018-2020)

• .594 - Trent Abel (2013-2016)

• .588 - Anthony Broderick (2022-Current)