The 2017 season in underway and when we lace them up for practice tomorrow we will have two full weeks under our belt!  With the exception of the first couple of days we have had unseasonably warm weather and have been able to get out in the stadium for the past week and a half. 

On Saturday we were treated to the best weather for a scrimmage I have ever experienced, highs were in the mid 60’s.  It was a great day of lacrosse against two quality opponents.

We faced off against Union at 10am after a quick 15 minute warm up and ended up doing some good things at both ends of the field. Senior Will Ernst (University, CA) was outstanding in goal and our close defense did a good job of getting the ball off the ground.  On offense, junior Henry Riehl (St. Pauls, MD) played very well just as he has been all preseason.  Some other names to know in the midfield this year will be senior John Simms (Gilman, MD), junior Parker Lawlor (Pacific Ridge, CA), and sophomore Jack Gould (Governor’s Academy, MA).  John Simms has been playing the best lacrosse of his career so far this spring and was a presence in both scrimmages.  Parker Lawlor started at attack for us in the early part of last year before we moved him into the midfield. I think Parker will be a tough match up for any short stick defensive midfielder as he has great feet and can fly.   

It was a very productive day for our program as we were able to get everyone on the field for both scrimmages and once we began to substitute, both Union and Cortland’s starters/backups kept the heat on our guys.  The most encouraging thing I took away from the day was how our team responded after coming out on our heels against Cortland and digging a 2-0 hole.  After evening up the score at 2, Cortland again pumped in a few more quick ones to go back up 4-2.  After that, we went on a 7-0 run to go up 9-4 before pulling our starters in the 2^nd half.  During that run we were able to start clicking in transition and made some plays that I haven’t seen out of guys in a Middlebury uniform in a long time… Hopefully I will have more on that in the weeks to come. 

We open up on Saturday down in New London against the Camels at 1pm. We expect the typical game plan from Conn again this year, take the air out of the ball, pack it in with a tight zone defense, and shorten the game. They have a 1^st team All American face off specialist returning who helps them limit the amount of possessions their opponents get over the course of a game.  Hopefully we will be able to force them to play at our speed this year, I look forward to seeing some of you down there!