The men’s lacrosse team opens up its season next Friday against Endicott on Wesleyan’s new turf field, but the Cardinals spent part of last Tuesday’s practice on the new surface without even cradling a lacrosse ball. Instead, the Cards ended their training session shoveling snow off the field. This followed an hour spent studying film, a session in the weight room and a full indoor practice. The squad arrived to look at film at 5:45 p.m. and didn’t leave the athletic complex until 10 p.m.
Ranked fourth in the nation entering the season, the Cards are putting in the hours necessary to live up to the preseason hype, well aware that they must prove themselves this spring.
“I do not put any stock into that ranking,” said head coach John Raba, the 2006 NESCAC Coach of the Year. “We are a very different team and our goal is to just get better every day at this point. I think our guys are smart enough to realize that the fourth [ranking] was based on last year’s team. It has nothing to do with this year’s team.”
If the ranking is indeed a testament to last year’s success, then the fourth spot is appropriate. Wesleyan enjoyed an historic season last year, going 16-4, earning an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament and advancing all the way to the national semifinals before being ousted in overtime by Cortland State, 7-6.
The Cardinals went 7-2 in conference play last spring, including a 10-7 win at Middlebury, Wesleyan’s first over their rival since the 1970s. The Cards put together win streaks of four and six games last year.
The NESCAC is shaping up to be a strong league yet again, with two other teams–Middlebury and Tufts–ranked in the national top 20.
“The NESCAC is very deep,” Raba said. “Every game could be a one-goal game for us.”
An important asset in close conference games will be All-American goalie Charlie Congleton ’07. A year ago, he led the NESCAC goalies in every statistical category with a 5.67 goals-against average, .728 save percentage and an average of 14.56 saves per game. Those numbers earned the Groton, MA native First-Team ALL-NESCAC honors and preseason Second-Team All-American status on InsideLacrosse.com.
“C-Tone [Congleton] saved us a bunch last year,” said Tom Bendon ’07.
The offense should provide more than enough firepower to support Congleton. The Cards return their leading scorer from a year ago, Grayson Connors ’09 (42 goals), but he has been hampered by a leg injury throughout the preseason. Russell Follansbee ’09, who was third on last year’s team in points (37) despite being a rookie, will likely step into a starting role this season along with Jason Ben-Eliyahu ’09 (21 goals, eight assists in 2006).
These attackmen will be the principle offensive replacements for Glenn Adams ’06 and Mike Vitulano ’06. Adams, who led the Cards in points last year with 69 and saved his best lacrosse for the postseason run, was drafted by the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse. Vitulano contributed 29 goals and six assists in 2006. Even without that production, the Cardinals look to have the depth and character to fill the void left by last year’s seniors.
“The young guys are doing well and coming along,” Raba said. “I think we have very good leadership and our guys know they have to work every day for us to have any kind of success.”
In the midfield, the Cards return tri-captain Mike Hines ’07 to lead an offense that was second in the conference in goals per game last year with 10.6. Alex Kaufman ’08 and Chris Jasinski ’08 are projected to start alongside Hines at attacking midfield, bringing a combined 18 goals and 11 assists from last year.
If the Cardinals are to repeat as the top defensive team in the NESCAC, in terms of goals allowed per game, they’ll have to do it without All-American tri-captain Peter Harris ’07 at long-stick midfield for at least the first part of the season. Again, the Cards’ depth should ease the loss, as Bendon looks more than capable of handling the position. Bendon’s teammates have already been impressed by the speed and aggressiveness he has brought to the midfield.
Raba also said his players are ready and able to replace injured teammates without losing a step.
“Peter is a tremendous player and is a big loss for us,” he said. “He has a lot of big-time game experience and is a great leader so it hurts not to have him out there. At this point, our team is still in very good hands because we have a lot returning on defense. I can tell you that in the past when a player goes down we don’t feel sorry for ourselves, we step it up.”
The Cardinals will again rely on their zone defense to keep opposing offenses at bay. Tri-captain Jeff McLaren ’06 and Spike Malagnone ’09 bring experience and athleticism to zone scheme while Matt Burke ’07 and Zach Librizzi ’08 will step in for the departed Matt Smith ’06 and Bob Diehl ’06.
This year’s rookie class is prepared to help right away.
“We have many freshmen looking to contribute to a national championship,” said John Harding ’09. “A key part of our game plan is to send the diminutive freshmen Nicholas ”the Jiggler“ Ajello [’10], Dan ”Baby Gap“ O’Brien [’09], and Jon ”Textbook“ Kileen [’10] out first to lull our opponents into a false sense of superiority so they will be unprepared for the actual ferocity and largeness of our entire squad.”
Wesleyan has already scrimmaged New York Tech and Springfield but the season begins for real on Friday against Endicott. The Cards then travel to Babson on March 11 before heading down to Florida over spring break for two contests, one with Hamilton and the other with Roger Williams.
The Cardinals are not looking ahead though, preferring to just concentrate on their next game.
“My only concern is to try to beat Endicott at this point,” Raba said. “Endicott just beat fifteenth-ranked Springfield College on Tuesday night and they made the NCAAs for the past four years. We are going to have our hands full with them.”
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