Deborah CampbellNew regulations for Division III require that the men’s lacrosse team be restricted to only one day of competition, and fewer practice days in its fall season.
The alumni game has been an annual tradition for the men’s lacrosse team. The current team would play a friendly, but competitive game against a combination of graduated players. The new rules have prohibited this year’s current team the chance to play against the alumni.
This fall the team practiced from early September up until its only permitted scrimmage date of Oct. 2. Traveling to nearby Haverford College where six teams met. The men’s team played host team, Haverford College in its first match. The Cavaliers were down 1-0 in the opening minute.
The team was able to regroup and go on a 9-1 scoring run to beat Haverford 10-2 in the 50-minute contest. “The young guys were lead by more experienced players. The coaches did a great job of splitting up the lineups during practice to find good combinations,” Rory Friel, senior captain said.
With only a few minutes to get a drink and stretch, the team moved to an upper field to play Swarthmore College. Again the team got off to a slow start, but this time the deficit held until the waning minutes of the game. The Cavs were losing 4-1 at halftime and then rallied scoring the next six straight goals to win the game 7-4.
The team had little time to celebrate as again they were moved to a lower field to play its third and final game of the day against Dickinson College. Weary legs and tired minds were evident as the teams moved slower up and down the field. Late game heroics would fail the Cavaliers in this match as time ran out leaving them with a loss of 7-6.
The fall season is all in preparation for the spring season. Junior Kevin Rayer said, “I think we’re well prepared for the Spring, but we still have a lot more work to do before out first game. The men will see its first real game action when the team travels to North Carolina to play Greensboro College, Feb. 27. “We have a lot of work ahead of us and hopefully everything will mesh together,” Friel said.
