Last Home Game

I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who has followed me on here these past few months and to let you know that my irresistible procrastination from studying for exams has led to this post, my quickest successive post in the short history of this blog. I’d also like to start off by giving a shout out to my teammate, Matt Miller, and his awesome mother whose praise I thankfully earned when she became a reader. Matt is an excellent goalie, an unparalleled dancer and a stand-up guy who will be serving our nation in the armed forces after college.
After only a few days back from Arkansas, we hosted the 20th ranked team in the nation, Hampden-Sydney College. HSC is historically one of the best teams in Division III lacrosse, so needless to say we were prepared for a tough contest. We struck first, scoring the opening goal of the game, and battled closely with the visitors, trailing only 5-7 in the 2nd quarter. At the end of the day, we fell by the score of 16-8. Despite the final score, however, our team played surprisingly well with such an experienced and talented squad considering, conversely, our youth and inexperience. I believe that if we continue to recruit hard-working athletes and dedicate ourselves to getting better every day, we can truly challenge teams of this caliber in the next few seasons. Andy had another stellar game in the cage, posting 18 saves, while AJ Brown consistently made plays on defense and Zach Hill led our offense with two goals and two assists. I won 12 of 18 face-offs and helped our team in a nearly perfect clearing effort.
Last night we played our last home game of this 2010 season against Virginia Wesleyan. It was a senior night for us and a great night for lacrosse with good weather, a big crowd and an exciting game. Before the game started we honored our four seniors, Ray Fitzgerald, Ryan Schray, Danny Huston and Tripp Baldwin, the only players to play for all four years at CNU (the program began their freshman year, 2007). I will miss the heck out of these four guys, but it was great to be able to give them a round of applause and recognize them in front of the team and the crowd before the game. Once the game started, it was non-stop action from beginning to end. Britt scored twice and John scored once in the first quarter to give us an early 3-0 lead, and our defense played one of its best games all season. We lead 4-3 heading into the fourth quarter, but Virginia Wesleyan managed to score two and take their first lead of the game at 5-4. Shortly thereafter, Zach Hill tied the game for us on a man-up opportunity. Despite having possession and a chance for a game-winner, the Marlins managed to take the ball from our offense and finish a transition opportunity at the other end to take the lead for good. We lost another close one with a final score of 7-5. This loss, like some of our other close ones this season, was tough to swallow, but again proved that we have the ability to compete with some really strong teams. Andy played his best game of the season, saving 19 shots and becoming CNU’s all-time leader in saves. Danny played excellent at the defensive end in his first start of the season, and Ray led our team with his intense play between the lines.
Now we’re about to start exam week and our last week of practice leading up to our final game on Saturday at St. Mary’s. I’m not looking forward to ending what has been an amazing season surrounded by a great group of people, but I also can’t wait for a summer full of relaxing with family and friends, traveling Europe, coaching lacrosse and preparing for my next season as a CNU lacrosse player.




