Eight of nine losses to end the season. A controversial decision. A coaching change.
Peter Caty/The Mirror
All of that comes to an end this Saturday afternoon when new head coach Andy Copelan and the men’s lacrosse team put the offseason storylines aside and finally get back to what they do best: play lacrosse.
At 27 years old, Copelan, a former Maryland assistant and recruiting coordinator, is the third head coach in program history, and represents the first coaching change in the program since 1996.
The Stags finished 2008 with a 4-9 overall record, the team’s lowest win total since 1995.
Moreover, Fairfield dropped seven consecutive games and eight of nine contests to end the season, a surprise given the team’s impressive start to the season, which included a win over No. 19 Rutgers.
Despite the loss of senior long-stick midfielder Matt Scanlon, the team’s strength will likely again from its defense.
Senior defensemen Matt Petre and Billy Honovich form a veteran defensive core and lead an experience group into the coming season. Given the team’s youth on offense, consistent defense is as important as ever.
‘The group is led by two senior captains who will be four year starters,’ said Copelan in a press release. ‘[They] will be the backbone of this team.’
Offensively, senior midfielder Chris Ajemian is virtually the only veteran with league-wide recognition. Several players, though, broke in during the latter half of last season and made an immediate impact, including sophomore attackman Doug Kuring and sophomore midfielder Ryan Mulford.
‘I think in order for us to have success, we will need to win the battle in the middle third of the field,’ Copelan said. ‘We have a few guys in the midfield that have the potential to be special players.’
Another area of note is goalkeeper, which appears, at the moment, to be an open competition. Sophomore incumbent Joe Marra, who started a team-high nine games a season ago after transferring from Loyola (Md.). Marra, will be pushed, though, by sophomore Tommy Kralovenec, a’ Fairfield Prep graduate, and freshman Charlie Cipriano.
‘The guy who evolves into the most complete goalie will emerge as the starter,’ Copelan said.
At the moment, it appears as if Marra is favored to start the season-opener on Saturday against Delaware, a member of the Colonial Collegiate’ Association (CAA).
Last season, Delaware’ finished 9-7 overall and dropped the CAA Championship game to Hofstra. A season earlier, however, the Blue Hens won the CAA conference title, and then’ reached the’ semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
The Stags have not played Delaware since the 1998 season. That year, the Fightin’ Blue Hens defeated the Stags, 16-7, in the season-opener. Fairfield is 0-3 in program history against Delaware.
Under previous head coach Ted Spencer, the Stags won their season-opening game for seven consecutive seasons, including wins over Providence in each of the previous two seasons.
Following Saturday’s game, the Stags travel to Colombus for a matchup against Ohio State, one of five teams that will be added to the ECAC ifor the 2010 season.
In addition, Air Force, Denver, Bellarmine and Quinnipiac have been added to the conference to compensate for the losses of Georgetown, Rutgers, and St. John’s – all of whom left the ECAC for the fledgling Big East conference.
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