Brown

The top team the last couple of years, Brown opens up this weekend with a non-conference warmup against Army. Despite graduating some top-notch players they return several and have added some more, including USA U18 captain Marco Lapierre from Monarch in Colorado. Players to watch this year? Asa Rosenmeier up front, Raphael Lansonneur, who is outstanding kicking from the tee, and hard-charging No. 8 António Esteves.

Head Coach David LaFlamme has a strong lineup once again.

Harvard

This is the second year under full-time coach Colton Cariaga. Harvard has some big dreams and last year was a bit of a rough go of it as Cariaga looked to change the fortunes of a program that made the national D1 final in 2003. 

Backing up returning veterans Dan Erasmus, Conor Burns, and Robbie Owen is a strong sophomore group including Koan Hemana, Tinaye Ngorima, Huntley Masterson, Eamonn Lay. All four trained and played abroad this summer.

"We’ve increased the length of our pre-season with and added meaningful friendlies to better prepare," said Cariaga. "Going from seven fixtures total last year to 11 or 12 this year is a big improvement in terms of gaining experience. We are growing this group and are eager for the challenge ahead with games against many of the stronger opponents in our region."

Harvard opens up against 2023-24 Small College (now D3) champs Babson and they play Brown on September 21. 

Dartmouth

To round out the Liberty D1 Ivy League contingent, Dartmouth was the top dog among the Ivies for a while, but Brown's ability to recruit was a bit of a game-changer. Still, Dartmouth has an outstanding tradition and Head Coach Kyle Sumsion looks to be able to handle the graduation of the likes of Jack Swords, Danny Locascio, and Owen Lee. But Luke Wilson, Abe Kamara, and Uly Brenzel come back and they add in Richard Wofford from AYR War Eagle, Hudson Chow from Gonzaga, and Quinn Snyder from Georgetown. Gjergji Bacuku transfers in from Hofstra.

"We are very excited for the season ahead as we have a very challenging schedule where we will be tested week-in and week-out," said Sumsion, echoing what we said about the conference change. "We have a great group of upperclass player, that will have big shoes to fill from those that just graduated, and some young talent that are eager to make an impact. 

Dartmouth opens up this weekend against McGill out of Canada. McGill will also face Harvard later this season. Then they kind of ease into it. Not to say their conference games are easy, but they get hit pretty hard later with Fairfield, Siena, and Brown near the end. They finish up against Harvard November 2.

Fairfield

"We're looking to bounce back from a mediocre season," Head Coach Austin Ryan told GRR. "We lacked leadership and took the previous year's success for granted. We have recommitted ourselves to getting fit, strong, and skilled over the summer ... and being organized, committed, and deliberate in training. We are going to work hard, we're going to be physical, and we're going to have a lot of fun playing our game."

Veterans returning will be crucial to this: Chris Giunta, Patrick McHale, John May, Mike Fitzgerald, Eamonn O'Reilly, Thomas Morales, and Henry Novicki. Sebastian Leon from Trumbull HS in Connecticut, Luke Rinklin from St. John's Prep in Massachusetts, and Cian O'Callaghan from BC High also in Mass, highlight the recruiting class. 

Fairfield has zero warmup games on their slate and just open it all up September 7 against AIC. That's a crucial game for them, really, as they then get a bye week before hitting up against Iona. If they start flat, they're in for a tough time.

Siena

The Saints will be in NCR D1 for only the second year and while they made the playoffs last season, they know this will be a challenge. Coaches say they are "shaping up well" and they hope to leverage their recruiting to keep the Siena train going.

Syracuse

Their partnership with Leinster Rugby will be paying dividends and we might see that even if we don't see it in terms of wins and losses. Wins were hard to come by but the Orangemen should be much closer even if they don't win those games. 

Fordham

A talented team with a nifty connection to Argentina, Fordham won a bowl game last fall and showed how the Liberty Conference season can set any team up for success. 

Iona

The Gaels played a few 15-a-side games in the spring to keep their hand in and not just play 7s. That certainly will be a factor in what is expected for Iona to improve. They were a bit middle-of-the-road last year but have added some snappy freshmen from the New York area, including Ronan Cahill from Fordham Prep, Michael Fiocco of Chaminade HS, and a pair from St. Anthony's in Josh Orellana and Nathan Saintvil.

Kyle Granby, longtime standout in the New York senior cub scene, is the new Head Coach, and he has an impressive staff to assist him.

AIC

The Yellowjackets are another team not to have any warmup games and they have a bit of a buzzsaw to open up the season, playing Fairfield, Siena, and Dartmouth in the space of 15 days. They bring back NCR All-American Filimone Manu, but are a little overlooked. Head Coach Fletcher is fine with that.

"We are happy to take the underdog role again," she said. 

Last year AIC went 4-4 in the conference and three of those losses were close. A small percentage of improvement throughout the team might be enough to overcome those three losses.