Rosemary Chesney, asst. sports editor
After two years of incomplete seasons due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the men’s lacrosse team approaches their first game with high expectations. This year’s lacrosse team contains 13 freshmen, significantly growing the team size from last year.
The team was set to play a total of 14 games last year. However, they ended up only playing eight games because multiple teams canceled during spring break. The team was also unable to fly to Colorado and play lacrosse as planned, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Head Coach Curtis Gilbert, the team still made and accomplished its goal of beating all the in-state teams in 2021.
“I’m mostly looking forward to passionately competing again this season,” Gilbert said. “It’s been a while since things were normal, before Covid. I think we’re all excited to play and compete against really tough teams again.”
This season, the team has two major goals, according to Gilbert. They aimed to win the fall alumni game, which they won by two goals in October, and want to win the conference championship. Because the team extended their fall season to four instead of five weeks, they only have two weeks to prepare before the first game of the spring, according to junior defenseman Jacob Blair.
“This season it’s an open book,” Blair said. “We have a lot of the right pieces. I think if the guys keep putting in the work, preparing physically and mentally, then we have a very high chance of doing great things this season.”
With 13 incoming freshmen, Blair said that forming choesive team chemistry is important. According to defenseman sophomore Connor Ryan, the team eats together after captains’ practices, scrimmages against each other and hangs out at an off-campus house in order to form a bond between the players.
“The culture of the lacrosse team is known to be one of the closest-knit teams on campus,” Ryan said. “We’re always seen together, and brotherhood is one of our core values.”
One of the team’s biggest advantages this year is their depth with the addition of so many players, according to Gilbert. The team’s offense is also expected to be a major strength this year.
“The team chemistry is a little different than last year because the team was so small last year,” Blair said. “We’re accepting everyone who comes in, letting them into our brotherhood a lot faster than [years past].”
In addition to the large incoming freshmen class, there are three fifth-year seniors playing this year, which is the first time that the team has had any fifth-year seniors. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, seniors from the 2021 spring season have an additional year of playing eligibility. A major disadvantage for the team is the loss of two starting defensive players, Mitchell Estes and Gridley Wright, according to Gilbert.
“One of my biggest concerns is that we lost two of our biggest defensemen last year and have two question marks for who will step in,” Gilbert said. “Berry has always had a good defense [in lacrosse], and I have no doubt that we will figure it out and have that again.”
The team plays their first game of the season away against LaGrange College on Feb. 8. The first home game is set to be played on Feb. 11 against Southwestern University. The team is holding off on plans to travel to Colorado for a tournament but will be traveling to central Virginia to play against Hampton University for a tournament during spring break.
“We really want to go for the conference [tournament] win this year,” Blair said. “But we take it day by day and focus on just winning every practice. Over time, that will build up and we’ll hit our goals.”