In only their second season as a varsity sport at DePauw, the men’s lacrosse team started their season with two losses over the weekend to Indiana University’s club team and Indiana Tech.
Both games were scrimmages without official scores, but the Tigers certainly came out on the losing end of both preseason matchups. The Tigers seemed to lose steam heading into the Indiana Tech game directly after the Indiana University game. The Tigers played the Hoosiers tight, however, despite only fielding two lines of midfielders.
“I think from the losses our team learned that we have to keep pushing ourselves hard on a daily basis if we want to continue to improve,” said first-year attack man Sam Caravana.
This year’s Tigers are looking to improve on last year’s 0-14 showing with an incoming first-year class of 23 players, filling most roster spots. The Tigers only boast four upperclassmen: two seniors and two sophomores.
“It’s going to be exciting,” said first-year defenseman Charlie Yorke. “This isn’t a zero and something team. This is something different this year”
Despite both scrimmages not counting toward their overall record, the Tigers have a lot to take away from the two matchups. The team played tight with a strong division one club opponent and only lost by a few goals against Indiana Tech. The first-years have had a lot to adjust to coming into the already young team.
“Entering the season with almost all freshman was exciting,” Caravana said. “It meant that as freshman, you have a chance to immediately have an impact. The competition has been pretty strong. We had a huge freshman class, so we’re all fighting for those starting spots.”
Naturally, with the huge number of incoming first-year players, a transition period had to take place. Coach Carl Haas has depended on the upperclassmen to implement his philosophy on the young players.
“Most of us have bought into the program and are really committed,” Yorke said, “Obviously having twenty-something freshman come together and become a team is very difficult.”
With a new young promising team, a lot of competition and a search for which players belong where arises. There has been fierce competition for a spot on the defensive lines, whereas the team was only able to field two lines in the middle of the field for the scrimmages.
“Practice is practice,” Yorke said. “People want to get playing time and I think it’s only right there’s a competitive spirit in practice. It’s only natural that people will compete as hard as they can in practice.”
As the team continues to improve and games progress with the season, the Tigers look to gel and come together despite most of the team being first-year students. With a team consisting of new talent, the only direction the Tigers can go is up.
The regular season kicks off with a home game on Feb. 20 against Rhodes College.