Men’s lacrosse took to upstate New York last weekend for a double-header scrimmage against a pair of former national champions: 2004 Division I national champ Syracuse and 2004 Division II. champ LeMoyne, at Syracuse’s Carrier Dome.
The Stags played both teams for three quarters each and were able to mix in their veterans as well as gain some valuable experience for their younger players.
Squeezed by the orange: The Stags first took to the field against Big East powerhouse and 2004 Division I National Champions Syracuse on Sunday. They fell 5-3, but despite the loss, the team was encouraged with the effort and overall play.
“We created great opportunities for ourselves,” said Head Coach Ted Spencer. However, penalties seem to tame the Stags as they allowed three goals in man advantage situations. Spencer acknowledged that there were too many penalties on his side and the players would either have to become better at penalty killing or stay out of the penalty box. The team played well at even strength, not allowing one transition goal against the Orange.
“In settled situations I believe they only scored once or twice,” said senior captain Trevor Kelly, “I would say we met our expectations thus far. We are far beyond where we were coming into last season at this time.”
One question coming into the weekend was the offensive lines, but Spencer felt that the Syracuse game gave them a good idea of who will be fit where.
“We missed a lot of opportunities on offense,” he said. “But that comes with inexperience.”
Fish out of water: The second game of the afternoon was against the LeMoyne Dolphins, the 2004 Division II Champions, and the Stags were able to get their first taste of success. In the 6-4 victory, the team showed a lot of depth on defense and was able to continue and build offensively.
“I was surprised with our defense clicking so well right out of the gate,” said Kelly. “We all seemed to know our job and were able to execute with little mistakes.”
The team continued to get stellar goaltending from Michael Kruger ’07. Another area they continued to dominate was with face-offs.
“We did a great job on faceoffs,” said Spencer. Charles Keinath ’07 continued to dominate off of his impressive sophomore season. The Stags went 190-172 on face-offs last season for a .525 winning percentage, one of the top in the Great Western Lacrosse League.
The best offense is a good defense: The touted “too young” defense of last year’s team has another year of experience and was the nicest surprise of the weekend. Led by Matt Bocklet ’08 , Matt Scanlon ’08, and Kelly, the Stags were able to use Spencer’s more advanced systems and incorporate some youth as well, by using freshmen Matt Petre and Billy Honovich. Kelly noted a calm and unified effort from the defense while Spencer said he was pleased with the defense and the freshmen that stepped up. “I was more pleased with the defense than anything,” Spencer said. “The Dome is a tough place to play.”
Wrapping it up: “Overall I am optimistic,” said Spencer. “But we can and will continue to improve.”
Kelly agreed, “Our first reaction [to the Syracuse game] was we should have won, penalties killed us. Our second reaction however, was great job,” he said.
Staying competitive with these elite programs is going to be key for the Stags as they enter their first season in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Center. Spencer said he and his team are up for the challenge and this weekend was a great measuring stick.
“The team walks away with being able to play with these teams,” he said.”
The Stags have another scrimmage this weekend against Manhattan, against whom they will look to continue to improve defensively and to solidify their offense. Manhattan has been consistently successful in the MAAC, reaching the semi-finals last season and the finals in 2004 after winning the conference championship in 2002.
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