By John McCarty, Staff Writer -- mccarty12@up.edu
Last fall, the men's Club Lacrosse team played its first ever home game on Prusinski pitch. Now, spring season is in full swing and the Pilots are off to a 3-1 start with their sights set on making the playoffs.
Last Saturday, the Club went downtown and faced off against Portland State University, losing 2-5. Because PSU is a member of Division 1 of the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League and UP is in Division 2, the Pilots' divisional standings were unaffected by the loss. The Pilots began their season with three straight wins over Western Washington University, Central Washington University and Pacific Lutheran University in non-divisional contests.
"Against PSU, we were pretty much in it for the whole game," sophomore defenseman and team captain Moussa Gloyd said. "Staying with a D1 team is a really good step forward."
According to Head Coach Mike Wilkerson, a strong defensive performance has allowed the Pilots to play with experienced opponents like PSU. Wilkerson says his coaching strategy emphasizes controlling the ball.
"I try to get away from one- on-one lacrosse," Wilkerson said. "We set goals for every game and try to focus on things we can excel at from an effort standpoint, like riding and clearing."
Wilkerson, who began coaching the Club team last fall, has previous coaching experience at Claremont University and UC Irvine.
Senior, attackman and team captain Rob Church has been a member of the Club Lacrosse program since his freshman year.
"Mike's presence has helped exponentially. He's totally transformed the team," Church said. "We feel like we can win and we deserve to win. We're not satisfied losing to a D1 team."
According Wilkerson, playing schools with established teams like PSU is beneficial for a team like UP with so many young players. With two seniors, eight sophomores and eight freshmen, Wilkerson says the team needs more experience playing together at the collegiate level.
UP has been a member of Division 2 of the PNCLL for three years now. The past two seasons combined, the team garnered a total of three wins within its division. Winning the first three games of the spring season is a new high for the Club team, although it's the games at the end of the season that matter.
"The first five or six games are really just stepping stones to the last five games," Church said. "It's (the loss) not a big deal for our conference records and we're still undefeated in our division."
Church, Gloyd and sophomore midfielder Matt Timm are the team captains of the Club. The next game is at home March 14 against Colorado School of Mines.
"Our team goal for the season is to make the playoffs," Church said. "We have the talent and the power to make it."
