Men's lacrosse growing fast

 Norwich University men's lacrosse has been rising in respect and talent year after year. Ending up third overall in its conference last season has the team filled with high hopes.                                                                  

Austin Greene, a sophomore communications major from Hanover, Mass., said, "We want to win the GNAC, try and get an ECAC bid or a NCAA bid would be sick." The feelings amongst the other team members remain the same as the team is moving from "fall ball" into the actual season.               

 The reputation of hard hitting, low skill brutes is quickly vanishing with talented young men from all over the country replacing that brute strength with finesse and skill.                                                                               

Alex Fortune a sophomore Business major from Andover, Mass. Explains how he get ready for lacrosse season, "I like to run, workout and play ‘wall ball' along with actually playing lacrosse".                                        

The team is already in line for a successful cohesive season with everyone having the same mindset in reference to the team's main goals. Steven Perry a Junior Business major from Islic, New York said, "Our main goal is to get to the NCAA, have a strong devoted team that is willing to come to every practice and work hard at every practice."

Lacrosse is a contact sport and some of the players play other sports like football.  Zach Maysonet a sophomore Civil Engineering Management major from Clark, NJ said "I stay in shape for lacrosse season by playing football at Norwich."                                                                                                                                           

Right now the team is in what the players call ‘fall ball'; "Fall ball consists of practices and scrimmages in order to get our skills honed for the season" said Seamus Ward a sophomore Criminal Justice major from Birmingham, California.                                                                                                                                        

Fall ball consists of 3 practices a week for 5 weeks with 2 scrimmages against other programs at the end. Although there are about ten to fifteen cuts after fall ball on average fall ball is still a time for development. "Fall ball is a great time for everyone to have fun and allow everyone to participate in the sport. It gives everyone involved and gives them full knowledge of the game and how our team plays it" said Steven Perry.

Hurricane Irene affected Northfield and Norwich in a big way, the lacrosse team was there to help. Austin Green said "We went into town and helped clean out a basement". "We had people 2 weekends where we had team members go to houses and help tear down walls" said Brett Sewing                

The hurricane also effected the lacrosse team directly. The lower practice fields at Norwich University were damaged by the flooding that ensued due to hurricane Irene. This has cause the team to practice mainly in Shapiro field house and once a week on the practice football field on Fridays for an inter-squad scrimmage.

"Shapiro is good for cold conditions, but we can't do full contact and the ball reacts differently on the ground than the grass and turf," said Zach Maysonet.  This is a common complaint amongst the athletes at Norwich University.

 The players will have to endure; the fields aren't scheduled to be repaired until next season. Hopefully this won't affect the team's hopes for a championship.                                               

The team's success in the player's eyes lies in large part to the teams coach, Neil Anderson. "Coach Anderson's coaching style is good, he is upbeat, a young guy who relates to us. He played professionally in the NLL (national lacrosse league) and he is always positive," said Austin Greene.                     

Coach Anderson has steadily brought this program up year by year and this may be the year all the hard work has paid off. "I like how coach takes a step back and allows us to figure out what we did wrong. He lets us learn and guides us as opposed to just telling us and yelling," said Zach Maysonet.                         

The team is facing some tough competition this year on the way to the NCAA bid.

"I think Lassell will be our hardest game because of their squad but things change every year with people graduating and new players are coming in" said Zach Maysonet.                                                                    

Even with these teams standing in the way the players feel the NCAA's are "defiantly a pretty good possibility, we have a good team a lot of young guys" said Seamus Ward. "I'd have to say, looking at our skill this year our chances are very good" said Steven Perry                                                                                  

 The lacrosse team kicks off the season March 3^rd against Mass-Dartmouth. The schedule shows the first home game April 4^th against Emerson. Norwich University lacrosse plans to dominate the competition and go to the NCAA's.                                                                                                                                                   

"Win everything, go big or go home" said Zach Maysonet.