On Saturday, the Bearcats Sports Complex will once again come to life, but not with soccer balls and cleats. Instead the field will be littered with stick-carrying, ball-chasing Bearcats in shoulder pads and helmets.
It’s lacrosse season, baby.
Under the guidance of Towson University’s former All-American defender, head coach Ed Stephenson, the Bearcats have one clear idea in mind this season: to clinch the America East title.
Predicted to finish No. 4 in the America East Conference in the preseason poll, the players say that they are confident they can go further than that. Stephenson is ecstatic about how the year is looking.
“If you love lacrosse, our conference is certainly now one of the best conferences in the country,” said Stephenson.
The Bearcats return with 28 players and eight starters from last season: nine seniors, eight juniors and nine sophomores.
At midfield dwells three-year veterans Duncan Streeten and co-captain Kevin Joy. Also in the unit is junior Steve Carlson, who was named America East’s Rookie of the Year in 2007 and reached a total of 27 career goals. Other midfielders include juniors Chris Welch and Drew Wichmann who was named to the AE All-Rookie team in 2007.
The Bearcats plan to continue to improve on what has been their weakness in the last few years: attack.
They are top in the conference for having won games with the least scored points. The Bearcats lie on the bottom of the AE stats when it comes to goals/game, assists/game, points and shooting percentage.
“We’re definitely stronger at the offensive end than we’ve ever been,” said Stephenson. “That’s going to be a huge key to our success this year.”
The offensive line-up returns with five top attackmen, including seniors Jake Boyce and Chris Mulheron, junior Andy Cook, and sophomores Frank Donlon and Brian Donahue. Cook, one of the three captains this year, led the team in scoring with 14 points last season, including a pair of hat tricks. Cook’s best game was against Colgate, where he scored a career high of four points. Boyce, who was tops on the team in 2007, tallied 26 points. The attacker had 12 points last season. Mulheron finished second on the team with 13 points while dealing with a plethora of injuries. Also coming back on the front line is junior Jeff Rurey, who scored five goals last season.
The Bearcats, however, make up for their lacking offensive unit with their uncanny defensive squad.
“We’ve targeted the defensive area to work on, which traditionally has been one of our strong points,” said Stephenson.
The team ranked No. 1 among NCAA Division I schools for man-down defense. Furthermore the Bearcat defensive unit tied ninth in the nation with a 7.47 goals against average.
Last season the Bearcats held off 29 of 35 man-down situations.
The top defender on the squad is sophomore Derrick Danieu who was responsible for covering the opposing team’s top attacker in most games. Danieu was named to the America East All-Rookie team last season. Other returning defensemen include junior Aaron Kennedy and seniors Chris Winter and John Dreska.
Perhaps the most impressive force on defense, however, is goalkeeper Larry Kline. The senior had an impressive 2008 season, finishing with a 7.41 goals against average and .564 save percentage. Kline is ranked No. 11 among Division I players with a 7.41 GAA and No. 22 with a .564 save percentage.
“It’s hard to improve on the success he had last year,” said Stephenson. “He was just dynamite last season.”
Last season, the Bearcats finished with a 4-8 record overall and were 2-3 in the conference. The team reached the conference championship as the No. 4 seed, where they almost overtook UMBC in the semifinals before falling 6-5 in overtime.
The team still looks back on that game as “the one that got away.”
“I think a lot of us felt that we should have put that game away in regulation,” said Kline.
The Bearcats open up the season on Saturday at home against NCAA participant Cornell.
“We’ll get a gauge on where we’re at as a team,” said Stephenson. “And we’re thrilled about hosting the No. 4-ranked Cornell.”
The game is set to begin at noon.