Catharine Hernson
With nicer weather on the horizon, everyone is looking for a good excuse to be outside instead of cooped up in front of a computer. What better excuse than to go watch the performance of the men’s lacrosse team? With a 6-2 record as of Tuesday, the Cavaliers have had their work cut out for them, but they have proven themselves as a strong team who can get the job done.
“We’re a young team this year. We have a lot of freshmen starters who have brought a lot to the table,” Brandon Lawler, one of the captains of the team, said. Last year the team graduated seven senior starters, but now the team is looking stronger than ever.
After a shutout win of 23-0 over Misericordia March 23, and a victory over Shenandoah on Friday, where the final score was 22-7, the guys are aspiring to go to the NCAA tournament. “Our ultimate goal is to win the PAC and go to the NCAA tournament. This is the first year that we are allowed to go and we get an automatic bid if we win the PAC,” Lawler said. “We play Wesley on Saturday and we have a pretty good shot at winning. We beat them in the PAC last year to win the conference so we are going in to the game as the defending champ.”
Head Coach Steve Colfer said, “I think we have a well-balanced team. Both offense and defense are equally pretty good. We have a good group of guys even though we are a young team.” Becoming champions, like most other things, comes with a price, however. “Even though our season officially started on Jan. 28, it all starts back last summer with lifting and running in the off-season,” Colfer said.
The team has a grueling practice schedule with practices from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and again from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. everyday. They have kept up this rigorous training and have been weightlifting and running since Sept. Each practice consists of a cardiovascular workout, which includes a 2.2 mile run on campus in which each member of the team has to run and touch each of the three exits on campus, stretching, fundamentals and basic lacrosse drills. “The team scrimmages against each other and the whole practice has a kind of flow everyday,” Colfer said.
With the majority of students complaining about how early their 8:15 classes come around in the morning, the coaches probably hear a lot of whining and complaining about 6 a.m. practices right? According to Lawler, that is entirely not the case. “We actually look forward to practices and enjoy them. It gets to be a bit tedious sometimes, but we have a good time.”
With all this practicing and classes to attend, when does anyone have time to study? “There is a mandatory study hall from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on every Tuesday and Thursday night for all players whether they have a 2.0 or 4.0,” Colfer said.
Dedication is one word that describes the team perfectly. Every year as friends and fellow classmates head to exotic locations for spring break, the men are stuck at Cabrini for practices, which they don’t seem to mind so much. “This is the first year that we didn’t have rookie initiation over spring break,” Lawler said. This doesn’t mean that the freshman are getting off easy this year, Lawler stresses that they just haven’t had it yet.
With the PAC championship from last year waiting to be retained, the men’s lacrosse team definitely shows that they are not slackers. With more wins than losses under their belts and one being a shutout, the possibilities of this team, although young, making it to the conference championship for a repeat, are pretty high.
