Coming off a loss to SUNY Plattsburgh on Saturday April 4, the Geneseo men’s lacrosse team hoped to bounce back against SUNY Cortland in its first home game of the season. But a home atmosphere doesn’t guarantee anything—the Knights fell 11-9 to the Red Dragons on Wednesday April 8. The Knights are in the thick of their schedule with many tough games ahead. The Red Dragons are in first place in the SUNYAC, followed closely by Plattsburgh. Nevertheless, head coach Jim Lyons was optimistic before the game against Cortland.
“With the way that we played in the second half on Saturday, I think that it is well within us to pull out a victory,” he said. In the second half against Plattsburgh, the Knights kept it close with a goal differential of 4-6. “If we had had two halves of the game like our second half, then we could have won that game,” he added.
But there is some good news out there for the Knights. After being confined to a gym for most practices this season, the Knights were able to get in a home game. Playing at home allows the players to eat and sleep where they are comfortable and is extremely advantageous.
“Playing at home is something that I wish we could have been doing all season,” Lyons said. “The players are more comfortable at home, their families get a chance to see them play and they don’t have to sleep in a hotel room. Everything about home games is better.”
Having lost six straight games, Geneseo is going to have to pull out all the stops if the Knights want to go far in the postseason. As Lyons said, they will need to play an entire game instead of just playing strong individual halves. That is much easier said than done, however. The Knights are going to have to rely on their strong offensive and defensive capabilities, which have shone brightly at certain times. If they can manage to do those things, it could put them back on track heading into the tail end of their season.
The Knights will play at St. John Fisher College on Saturday April 11 and will host SUNY Oneonta—barring inclement weather—on Tuesday April 14.