By Jamone Davis
It’s easy to say that every year; the lacrosse team has taken recruiting very serious by recruiting prospects from as far as Hawaii. Each year, the team has hopes of being better than it was the previous year and display how they have improved in certain areas.
It’s obvious that when the seniors graduate, the team will have to find new players to fill their positions and provide depth as well. This year the men’s lacrosse team has a roster of 30 players, 11 of those players are freshman.
With a record of 4-9, one can only imagine how the freshman feel about how this season is going as it comes to an end. Zach Kauffman, freshman Midfield and Face-off, feels like this season is all about building.
“Coach Barber is new and we are building a new system,” Kauffman said. “My expectation was that the transition from high school to college was going to be hard. I just wanted to find a way to impact the team.”
He felt that the team was powered by underclassmen of course with the leadership of Randolph Clark, but the defense was run by the veterans. Sean Murphy, freshman Attack, felt very passionate about this season. He felt a little disappointed about how this season has gone. Things did not go the way he hoped for it to go.
“I just wanted to contribute to the team anyway I could. Try my hardest at everything and give 100% of my effort,” Murphy said. “As a team I expected… wanted us to go .500 and become more of a team family. The expectations of a team family were fulfilled.”
With three games left in the regular season and as the seven seniors prepare to depart, what is the game plan for this offseason? Both Murphy and Kaufmann both had working out and becoming better players in mind.
Kauffman stated, “I simply want to put myself in position to become a better athlete whether it’s practicing stick skills or working out. I will do whatever I can do to become a better player because I know roles needs to be filled.”
Both players admitted they loved the team and that the team was young. Looking at the roster, there is time to rebuild and they can only get better from here. The younger players definitely have the drive to push themselves to become better players and teammates.
So this offseason, “train hard, train often.”
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