SEASON PREVIEW: Men's Lacrosse
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's lacrosse team is set to begin the 2017 campaign this week. The season opener is currently scheduled for tomorrow down the road at Dallas Baptist University. Rainy weather conditions are forecasted however and could move the game to a later date. Later this week, the Crusaders continue a four-game road trip over at Millsaps College. On February 18, Dallas plays Fontbonne University on the neutral field, and then the host school on the 19th.
First-year head coach Sam Ashton inherits a squad coming off a 3-14 year and dropped the final seven contests of the season. Dallas men's lacrosse is in its 6th season since the program's inaugural season in 2011 ('14 was cancelled). Ashton became the 4th coach to be selected at the helm of the program in September.
"We want to be competitive in every game from the first whistle of the first quarter to the last whistle of the fourth," Ashton stated in regards to season goals.
"Time of possession/ball control," Ashton emphasized will be key for UD to be successful. "We can do that by clearing the ball at a higher percentage to give ourselves more possession and opportunities to cash in and score goals."
He replaces Keith Lindgren, who accepted a position last summer at NCAA DII Adams State University. Lindgren coached two seasons, including the first year after the season that was cancelled due to not enough players. A year later, Lindgren fielded a team of 19 players, including 11 newcomers at the time.
Dallas enters this spring with 17 players on the squad. 10 of those are returners from last year and will be leaned on for leadership this season. A trio of seniors: Nicholas Baeza (San Antonio, Texas), Jacob Tom (Waukesha, Wis.), and Toby Zanini (Boston, Ma.) each are back for their third season. Tom anchors the defense after he captured school records for caused turnovers in a single game (6 vs. Benedictine College), single season (28 in '16), and career (38). Baeza started in all 17 games last season and collected 19 groundballs and caused 13 turnovers. Zanini has played all 24 regular season games in his career.
Offensively, the Crusaders are led by Peter Early (San Antonio, Texas) who boasted team-bests in goals (18), assists (11), and points (29) rookie season. Early placed a team-high 69-of-105 shots on cage and added 34 groundballs.
Other players back for UD that contributed a good amount of goals in their first seasons were: Ben Blessard (Falls Church, Va.) and Ryan Thie (Saint Paul, Minn.) with nine and eight, respectively. Joshua McClendon (Redondo Beach, Calif.) scored three goals and passed two assists for five points. McClendon played midfield that season and is projected to be on attack this year.
Jonah Torres-Swanson (Austin, Texas), Charles Buxton (Stonington, Conn.), and Tyler Smith (Snoqualmie, Wash.) complete the group of returners from last season. Torres-Swanson tied Tom for third on the team in groundballs (53), Buxton appeared in 13 games, and Smith looks forward to playing after taking a medical hardship.
Seven newcomers also are inked along on the roster, and will be expected to make an immediate impact this spring. The group includes: Jake Frederick (Coppell, Texas), David Picha (Fairfax, Va.) Christian Lopez (Las Vegas, Nev.), Seamus McGuire (Colorado Springs, Colorado), Andrew Jones (Austin, Texas), Bogar Trout III (Tecumseh, Mich.), and Pat Smith (Cumming, Ga.).
"Newcomers are fitting in fine, a lot of weight on their shoulders as they have to learn our schemes, sets, and how to adjust to the speed of college lacrosse," Ashton explained. "Christian Lopez is our freshman goaltender who has been making great saves since the first day that he walked onto campus."
Four seniors graduated last year and three of them made their mark within the fresh program. Ryan Murphy set several school records at the goalie position for saves. He notched 308 (counts fall ball) and averaged 17.75. His career total amount for saves was 746. Alex Ziolkowski earned season records for faceoff wins (139) and groundballs (139) to help entrench his name on the career marks for faceoff wins (244) and groundballs (199). Matthew Cyr set the single season record for points in 2015 (49) and now is the career holder (68).
Dallas is scheduled to open for the 2nd year in a row against Dallas Baptist University. The Crusaders have won their past two season openers, including last year at DBU 11-6. The Crusaders are 3-0 all-time versus the club program that is affiliated with Lone Star Alliance DII in the Mens Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA). The Patriots are 1-2 this season with all games played at home thus far. They prevailed in their most recent outing, blowing out Stephen F. Austin 22-5 on Saturday. Corbin Wynn and Noah Policke are the two leading scorers over double figures already with 12 and 10 goals. Mauricio Ayala is right behind in points (13) with eight goals and five assists (tied with Corbin for team-best).
Last season at Patriot Soccer Field, the Crusaders rallied behind a six-goal third quarter and ultimately an 8-3 second half to break a 3-3 tie and win the opener. Thie scored a hat trick on four shots on goal. Blessard added a pair of scores, while Early and McClendon also tallied a netter apiece.
It is one of a handful of matches that stand out on the schedule. Ashton remarked, "DBU is the crosstown rival, Piedmont (March 26) is senior day, and the road trip at Carroll University and University of Dubuque requires travel to Wisconsin and Iowa for back-to-back games so we will see how we handle a big road trip."
A native of New Market, Maryland, and previous stop coaching as a graduate assistant at Lake Erie College; Ashton named weather as one of his two favorite parts of coaching at Dallas. "Can't beat 75 in early Feb. while other teams are struggling to get outside or buried in snow."
His other remark, "Tapping into the talent of Texas. It's great to see the game grow and grow throughout the country and Texas has done a great job of expanding in all major areas of Texas like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin."