Coming off a successful week spent competing in Florida, the Geneseo men’s lacrosse team has returned to Geneseo to continue its season. While in Florida, the Knights put up a good showing in a 15-9 loss against Keene State University.
Senior attack Steve Cregan helped the Knights with three goals, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the offense of the Keene State squad which scored four goals in the first quarter to take a 4-2 lead and never looked back.
“We ended up playing a tremendous amount of defense in the game, more than we would have wanted to put on our defense,” head coach Jim Lyons said. “Keene State is one of the best offenses that we’re going to see all season.”
Despite losing the game, the experience was not an entire loss. The Knights were able to shift in many more players than they normally would in a game in Upstate New York. The weather down in Florida allowed for the coaches to substitute in many more players than normal.
“We got game confidence and game experience out of more people now,” Lyons said. “We’re a much deeper team now.”
One thing that the team will not be able to duplicate from Florida is the weather. With the unpredictable weather of Upstate New York, the team hasn’t had many outdoor practices yet. The team has already had to move a number of its home games to neutral sites with fields that are playable. While down at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, the Knights were able to practice outside for five consecutive days—something that will not likely happen for the rest of this season.
“Practicing lacrosse in a gym is like playing basketball in a garage—it’s just not the same,” Lyons said. “Being able to get outside and do real drills was great.”
Looking ahead to the rest of their season, the Knights don’t have any time to let up on the gas pedal. They need to be able to keep going at 100 percent for the rest of the year if they want to reach their ultimate goal of winning the SUNYAC Tournament and going to the NCAA Tournament.
Spring break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Knights. Getting some time to relax and unwind down in Florida while also getting some outdoor practice under their belts puts Geneseo in a great position looking forward.
Sitting with four wins and two losses and just getting into the meat of their season, the Knights should be a force to be reckoned in the coming weeks.