Captains stampede over Herd

Last Saturday, the Christopher Newport University Men’s Lacrosse team scrimmaged the Charlottesville Herd in a tune-up game before the start of the regular season.

The Captains jumped to an early lead in the third minute of action when junior midfielder Rob Koster drove to the right and stuffed it in past the Herd goalie. Junior attack John Glaser added two goals in the first half and Koster got an assist when he and freshman attack Aaron Chrzaszcz hooked up for a breakaway goal. When the pass hit Chrzaszcz’s stick on the breakaway he knew exactly what to do with it, “It’s just something we practice everyday,” said Chrzaszcz, and it certainly looked that way as he faked high and threw it under the goalie to give CNU a big cushion in the game.

Chrzaszcz added one more in the half besides his breakaway goal when he took the ball from behind the net, spun and got his defender to fall down, and then banged the ball past the keeper. Koster added three more in the first half, including one with time winding down when he managed to score with two penalties on the play for slashing and tripping.

At halftime, the Captains held an 8-2 lead, and the game looked out of reach for the Herd, but they weren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. From the start of the 3rd quarter, the atmosphere had changed as the Herd played with more intensity, and started to win more ground balls and pressure the Captains into making costly turnovers. Chrzaszcz scored once more in the fourth quarter on a pass from Koster to give the Captains their ninth goal, and that’s where they would stay. Despite a late surge from the Herd, the Captains finished them off 9-7.

For the most part, the Captains’ defense held strong and cleared the ball effectively down the field. The clearing efforts by senior defenseman Andrew Mullinax and junior defenseman Alex Elliott often resulted in fast break chances for the Captains, and was a major reason why CNU had the ball the majority of the game on offense.

The win for the Captains helped to boost the confidence of a team that finished 7-9 last season.

“We scrimmaged them in a previous season and got crushed so it’s real satisfying knowing we’re going into the season on a good note,” Koster said. One of the biggest changes this year has been the teams’ increase in size. “We have 40 players instead of 25 players like in years’ past, so it’s a completely different team,” explains Koster.

This is Head Coach Todd Boward’s first official year at the helm of the Captains, as last year he served as the interim acting coach. “We worked hard today, and the kids were motivated. They want to play hard and win, they practice every day, do weight lifting on their own time,” Boward explained of the team’s philosophy.

While this was only a scrimmage, and the meaningful games are yet to come, this game helped to shed some light on the strengths and weaknesses of a team looking to rebound after an off year. The climb back to the top of the rankings starts on Feb. 20 against Randolph College. “Our team wants to get to the tournament, that’s what it’s all about,” Boward simply put it. ν

Posted by Darryl Fetz on Feb 16 2011. Filed under Lacrosse, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.