This is the first installment of a six-part series on historic Wesleyan teams.

The men’s lacrosse team enters the 2008 season on the heels of back-to-back appearances in the NCAA semifinals and ranked sixth in the nation in “Inside Lacrosse’s” preseason poll. It’s just business as usual for one of the nation’s preeminent squads. But it hasn’t always been this way.

Wesleyan inaugurated its men’s lacrosse campaign in 1960 with an 11-9 home loss to the University of Massachusetts. The Cardinals went on to finish 4-3-1 in that season and hovered around the .500 mark for much of the next several decades. Following the 1996 season, legendary coach Terry Jackson announced his retirement; filling Jackson’s shoes was a 25-year-old University of New Haven graduate by the name of John Raba.

Raba’s first season, in 1997, ended with a four-game losing streak and a 5-8 record—the last season to date when the team finished with a sub-.500 record. The team improved to 9-6 the following year and finished its 2000 season 12-5, at the time the best mark in the university’s history. During the 2001 season, however, the team would achieve an unprecedented level of success and lay the groundwork for what today is regarded as our school’s most prominent program.

Beginning practice in late February 2001, the team trounced Endicott in its first game and picked up a pair of wins in Florida before falling to Eastern Connecticut St. on March 21.

It would be a long time before the team lost again.

The red-hot Cardinals proceeded to win their next 12 games, a team mark that still stands today. This win streak featured a pair of non-conference wins against Swarthmore and Roger Williams—outscoring the schools by a combined 37-12. Additionally, Wesleyan opened its NESCAC schedule with a trio of wins against Bates, Connecticut College and Bowdoin. Riding high at 8-1, the Cards traveled to Lasell and delivered a 21-5 rout, then trounced Little Three rival Amherst 9-6 over the weekend. The Amherst win brought the team to 10-1 for only the second time in program history. The following week, Wesleyan squeaked by Trinity 13-12, then earned a 20-15 home win over Williams. The victories over Amherst and Williams gave the team its first Little Three title since 1983. The Cards cruised past Tufts and Colby to finish their regular season with an unblemished 8-0 conference record.

This legendary team continued its dominance, knocking off Amherst 16-11 in the first round of the inaugural NESCAC tournament. The win brought the Cards to 15-1, the best 16-game start in Wesleyan athletics history.

A stout Bowdoin College finally held the Cards in check, and Wesleyan lost 13-8 in the NESCAC tournament semifinals. However, 2007 also marked the first year Wesleyan participated in the ECAC New England Division III Tournament. The Cards rolled to a 19-4 home win over UMass Boston and defeated Connecticut College 13-9 before again falling to Bowdoin, this time in the championship, 15-10.

Despite the lack of championship glory, the Cardinals’ season ended at 17-3, the highest win total in team history until the 18-3 2007 campaign. For his accomplishments, Raba was named NESCAC Coach of the Year.

Midfielder John Landay ’01 finished atop the NESCAC with 121 points, including 73 goals, and attackman Andrew Rotando ’02 was right behind him with 76 points. Attackmen Mark Ungar ’02 and Rob Wilcox ’01 gave Wesleyan four representatives in the conference’s top-ten scorers, more than any other team. Landay was also named NESCAC Player of the Year, and three Cardinals—midfielders Patrick Reid ’01 and Chris Mele ’04 as well as goalie Lukas Cash ’01—earned second-team all-NESCAC honors.

Nowadays, the question isn’t whether the men’s lacrosse team will be nationally ranked, but how high it will be ranked. It isn’t about whether anyone will garner all-NESCAC honors, but how many players will. This certainly reflects the team’s ascension from also-ran to national power, but transitions such as that don’t occur in a vacuum. Given the team’s rapid meteoric rise, it is difficult to pinpoint the turning point in program history. But a record-setting, 17-3 season isn’t a bad place to start.