Men’s Lax Looks To Soar In Spring

After winning the Freedom Conference last season, the Eastern University Men’s Lacrosse team is setting out to accomplish the same goal and more this coming season. The team will be led by seniors who have had great success over their year’s at Eastern. These seniors include last year’s Freedom Conference Offensive Player of the Year Grant Ferguson and Freedom Conference Defensive Player of the Year Mark Cyron, as well as nine others. If the Eagles complete their goal of winning the Freedom Conference it will mark their fourth in the same number of years. In the preseason poll the Eagles have been picked to score the number one spot unanimously. Adding to the honors, Inside Lacrosse magazine has projected Eastern as a Top-20 team nationally.

Although the goal is to get to the NCAA tournament the Eagles will not have an easy time getting there. The NCAA USILA poll has given Eastern enough votes to get them into the top 20 rankings but that does not guarantee them a spot quite yet. While trying to get enough votes to make it the men will face a rather challenging schedule. The Eagles will face York College away on March 21. The Spartans are entering the season ranked eleventh in the nation. Meanwhile, the Gettysburg Bullets and the Ursinus Bears have also received votes in the USILA poll. Aurora University is another tough opponent the Eagles are looking to beat. Despite not getting votes, the AU Spartans made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, farther than the Eagles (losing 13-6 to Washington, Maryland in the first round).

Nevertheless, the Eagles have the man power to be able to achieve and succeed. Coach Kevin Wallace, and the rest of the staff picked up fourteen freshmen to help the other men on the roster including the eleven seniors and eighteen other players on the roster, bringing the total number of teammates to forty-three. These players are from all over the country ranging from the tri-state area to California and Washington.

Check out the Eagles this season for the following games here in Saint David’s:

• Sat., Feb. 21 vs. Swarthmore College 1:30p.m.
• Wed., March 4 vs. Aurora College 3:00p.m.
• Sat., March 14 vs. Gettysburg College 1:00p.m.
• Wed., March 18 vs. CNU 3:30p.m.
• Wed., March 25 vs. Stockton College 3:30p.m.
• Wed., April 1 vs. King’s College 3:30p.m.
• Sat., April 11 vs. Manhattanville College 1:00p.m.
• Wed., April 15 vs. Delaware Valley College 4:00p.m.