Columbia, MD - For the first time in the history of the storied men's lacrosse program at Howard Community College, the Dragons are the #1 seed in the NJCAA National Championship tournament. The Howard Dragons (10-2) earn a first round bye and will take on the winner of the #4 seed CCBC Essex Knights and #5 seed Harford Fighting Owls in the semifinals on Saturday, May 9 at 1 PM.

"It's exciting to be the number one seed, however we're not really focused on that," said head coach Erik Foust. "We're focused on getting better each day, spending as much time together and looking forward to our next contest."

It has been a roller coaster ride for Howard in the 2026 season, which saw them ranked #5 in the preseason poll. The Dragons shot up to #2 in the polls on March 16 after a decisive 18-13 win over then #2 ranked Onondaga in Syracuse, NY. Howard then moved up to #1 after big wins against #4 ranked Nassau and a 2OT win over DuPage along with a Harford loss to Onondaga.

The Dragons only two losses this season have come at the hands of Harford, but Howard enacted revenge in the Region 20 championship games where the Dragons were able to defeat the Fighting Owls 14-9 and claim their first regional championship since 2018.

Despite never having the #1 seed attached to their name, the Dragons have gone to the national championship game twice, in 2022 and 2017 with both resulting in close losses to Nassau and Onondaga respectively. Now coach Foust and the Dragons have arguably their best chance to claim the big trophy with a team that is balanced and loaded with talent.

Lukas Rozon leads the way offensively for the Dragons as he is second in the nation with 79 points and third with 46 goals and was named the regional tournament offensive MVP after scoring nine goals combined over the two games. Sophomore attacker Logan Foust is close behind with 69 points and 35 goals while William Pesce rounds out the starting attackers with 45 points and 28 goals.  

Where the Dragons have really shined late in the season is defensively as the trio of Kobe Brown, Shane Dubois, and JT Ferguson have been dominant with the long poles. The defensive midfielders have been equally important with Evan Tubb and Dominic Damico both in the top 10 in the NJCAA for caused turnovers. Lewis Collora is playing the best lacrosse of his career late in the season, with a brilliant 16 save performance in the regional championship game earning him the tournament defensive MVP award. 

The national tournament bracket release brought about some controversy as the Harford Fighting Owls were inexplicably given the #5 seed despite being ranked #1 for most of the season. The bizarre rankings forced a bracket that has all three Maryland teams on one half of the bracket and all three New York teams on the opposite side. This will force a semifinal game where Howard will face CCBC Essex for a third time this season or Harford for a fourth time.

The semifinals and finals will be played at Harford Community College in Bel Air, MD with the Dragons playing in the 1 PM game, the first semifinal of the day, on Saturday May 9. The championship game is set to take place on Sunday, May 10 at 1 PM as well.