Spring 2025 marked the best season in program history for VMI lacrosse, which has steadily improved each season over the past 5 years for a 10-4 overall record.—Photos courtesy VMI Athletics.
Mark it down as arguably the best season in VMI lacrosse program history, dating back 43 seasons to 1983.
Over the past 5 years under James Purpura, head coach, the Keydets have shown continued improvement in an upward trajectory to success. Following one victory in 2021, VMI improved to four wins in 2022, six wins in 2023, seven in 2024, and most recently, 10 wins in 2025—its most victories since the 1988 campaign 37 years ago.
The team finished its 2025 season receiving Top 20 votes by the United State Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association, which—based on USILA and VMI Archives—marks the first time VMI has received USILA Top 20 votes in 33 years since the 1992 season. In March, VMI received Top 20 votes by media entity Inside Lacrosse for the first time ever.
VMI finished the season with a 10-4 overall record, its most wins since earning 11 victories during the 1988 season. VMI has a 4-3 record in Northeast Conference play, marking the first time the Keydets have ever earned a winning record playing in a conference.
Finishing the regular season as the No. 2-ranked scoring offense in the NCAA, the Keydets registered 205 goals on the season to set a new program benchmark for goals in a single season, besting the previous mark of 198 goals.
The graduating 1st Class cadets hit 27 wins for their VMI career over the past four seasons—all Division I wins. The closest to the mark was the Class of 1995, which totaled 19 Division I wins. The Class of 1995 finished with 27 wins over four seasons, which the Class of 2025 just matched.
The Class of 2025 produced some of the best players in program history—most notably Luke Rusterucci ’25, who culminated his VMI career being named a USA Lacrosse Honorable Mention All-American for his accomplishments. As only the third All-American in program history, the Peachtree City, Georgia, native scored a career-high 42 goals on the season, which marks the fifth-highest single-season total in VMI program history. He tallied 32 assists on the year—the second highest in program history for a single season—to combine for 74 points, which breaks the single-season points record of 72 held by David Hope ’88 from the 1988 season.
Rusterucci is the only Keydet in program history to reach the century mark in both career goals (125) and assists (109). He finished third in the NCAA this season in points per game at 5.29 and led VMI to the No. 2-ranked scoring offense in the nation at 14.64 goals per game, a new school single-season record.
He finished his VMI tenure with 125 career goals—the second highest in program history—to pair with 109 career assists, which is the highest career assists total by a large margin, with the second-highest total now being 85 by Rob Worrell ’97 from 1994–97. Rusterucci’s 234 combined career points rank second all-time in VMI history, only five points behind Hope’s mark of 239 career points from 1986–89.
Damian Levin ’25, goalie, earned the starting role in his final year at VMI and made the most of it by achieving a .599 save percentage—third best in the NCAA—and 14.07 saves per game, which is the fifth-best mark in the country.
Dayton Bagwell ’27 finished the season ranked No. 16 in the NCAA in goals per game by logging 2.93 on average to become one of the most dangerous scoring threats not only on the team but also throughout the country.
The Keydets return a solid number of key players from the 2025 season to continue the upward trajectory of the program.
