Our season came to an end
on Wednesday after we came out on the losing end of a hard fought game down at
Tufts. Yesterday the guys spent the day
packing up their dorm rooms and then we met as a team in the afternoon to vote
on our end of the year awards and captains for next year.
As for the game, I think
both teams played their game and executed what they do well. We had good possessions on offense for the
most part and were able to generate some good looks against a quick sliding
Tufts defense. Defensively we were able
to play solid 6v6 defense and limited their looks in settled situations. However, it was the transition offense of
Tufts that ended up being the difference in the game, they've thrived on making
plays off of face offs and in unsettled situations all year and the other day
was no different.
Another factor in the game
was their face off specialist who is a big, physical player who dominated that
part of the game going 18-24 on the day.
He led the game in gb's
with 8 and answered after our first goal with one of his own.
We had some great
performances throughout the game starting with Ryan Deane in the goal who was
outstanding. Matt Rayner
was arguably the best player on the field with the way he was able to put the
ball on the ground and put pressure on the ball. Offensively, David Hild,
Andrew Conner, and Erich Pfeffer all played with a
tremendous amount of confidence and finished with 2 goals a
piece. The good news is that all
of these guys will be back next year.
As I've stated before,
credit our seniors for carrying us this far into the season. I believe every one of them played the best
lacrosse of their career starting with the 2nd half of the Amherst NESCAC game
a few weeks back. The passion and
confidence that they played with down the stretch allowed the rest of the team
to elevate their game and to play harder than they had all season long.
We'll miss this senior
class next year as all nine of them had a playing role for us this season which
you don't find very often. And while
there weren't any superstars in this group, these guys were the epitome of selfless,
team first guys all the way down the line.