The Last Blog

In the midst of finals, our coach has given us off from our morning workouts. Although we do not have mandatory workouts, many of the players are still hitting the gym and playing lacrosse.

Finals are key for the lacrosse team. To play in the spring, a player must have a 2.0 GPA. However, this will not be hard for most of the players on our team because we having the highest GPA on campus for an athletic team at 3.2. This is something our coach makes us strive for and if we ever have a C in one of our classes we must attend a study hall three times a week for a hour.

Now, for all of my lacrosse fans out there who not only follow Eastern's team but other college and pro teams check out this awesome lacrosse blog by clicking here. As my blog ends, this will keep you up to date on all of the latest news in lacrosse. I hope all of you enjoyed my blog and learned how a Eastern University Men's Lacrosse player lives his live.

Early Bird Gets The Worm

As finals are approaching, the coaches have given us time off to work on our studies. Since there is nothing really happening now with lacrosse, I will talk about what is to come in the future.

Sometime next week we will be given our winter work out schedule. The schedule will all be on our own and to not follow it would cause someone to lose all the hard work previously done.

The week we get back to school, we will have conditioning six days a week early in the morning. Since the NCCA does not allow our head coach to participate, it will be ran by an assistant. We will not be using our sticks either, simply conditioning.

As the season gets closer and closer, the excitement builds. Our team is pumped to compete this year, and we want to go farther then ever before. Are you going to be there to watch?

Hard Work Pays Off

As I've said previously, winning the MAC Championship is no longer the goal. The goal is to beat Cabrini and advance in the NCAA Tournament to compete for a National Title.

Many times during our workouts, we all just go through the motions and not have our full heart in it. This past week, the captains told us all to meet in the gym at 545 am. We stretched and then conditioned outside in the freezing weather.

It was one of the hardest workouts I have ever had to partake in. We were split up in teams and the winners got the right to compete and do more. Exhausted, light headed, and feeling like we were all going to puke, everyone on our team went 100%. When one man fell, we helped him back up.

The team grew today and we saw what we needed to do to become a National Champion.

Photo from last year's National Championship. Salisbury vs. Cortland

Halloween Scrimmage and Updated Schedule

The first Halloween scrimmage was a huge success. Almost everyone dressed up in hilarious costumes and everyone who came had a blast. Team Scooby won the game with a score of 8-6. Check out some highlights from the game here...

Other then the Halloween scrimmage, we are now having captains practices a couple times a week and lifting three times a week. The team is working very hard for the season and everyone is anxious for the start. If we continue our hard work and dedication this team can go very far.

Halloween Practice

On Friday, November 8th, the lacrosse team will be doing an inter squad Halloween scrimmage. All of the players will be dressing up as something and we will have some fun on the field. It has been a little while since any of us have played but I'm sure that if you go you'll have a good time with some good laughs.

The Halloween practice is something that many teams partake in and is a way to bring back the fun in the game that some people seem to lose due to their will to just win. Here is a video of a college doing their Halloween practice.

The Fall Tournament

This past weekend as I said in my last blog post the team played in the Edward Coomb's Foundation Tournament. Our first game was against division 2 Mercy College.

Our team was real pumped up for the game and we came out strong getting a 5-1 lead at the end of the first. In the second quarter, the game got real chippy with some solid hits and tough defense. We were able to score two more goals in the 2nd quarter and Mercy also got one making it 7-2.

At the start of the second half, our coach pulled all of the starters and put in the backups for the rest of the game. Mercy decided to play their starters for the remainder of the game. Mercy was able to come back and win but our backups played well against a group of D2 starters. Mercy won the game 13-11.

Our second game was against D3 Montclair State. In this game, our coach played mainly the starters for the entire game. The game was close all the way through but for most of the game Montclair kept the lead by two goals. In the 4th quarter down by three, our team made a run and was able to get a lead by 1. In the final few seconds of the game Montclair had almost a breakaway but we held them off and they didn't score.

The team showed some very good potential this weekend and when we play like we've been coached we can do great things. If you're interested in reading more about the tournament, check out the article on Philly Lacrosse

Fall Ball Tournament

This Sunday the lacrosse team will be playing the Edward Coomb's foundation lacrosse tournament. Edward Coomb was a lacrosse player at Hatboro Horsham High School and Marist College. He was an outstanding athlete who sadly passed away in a car accident. All of the proceeds will benefit the Edward Coomb's foundation.

The tournament will be at Hatboro Horsham High School and we will play Mercy College at 10 and then Montclair State at 2, both very good teams.

Our team has been working very hard in the fall for these two games. We hope to win both games by more then enough to send a message out to all of the other teams at the tournament.

At the tournament, the lacrosse team will have a tent where we can all hang out in between games. There will be a tailgate and plenty of food. The team would love the EU's community support!

http://etcfoundation34.org/

History

Over the years, Eastern's lacrosse team has improved greatly. In 2009, the team had a record of 7-8. The three seasons after that the team has a combined record of  34-16.

Last year was the most successful year in program history. The team won their first MAC Championship and had a record of 13-5.

The MAC Championship was played here against Widener University. Widener had won the MAC many times and everyone thought they would do it again. After being down by four in the third quarter, Eastern was finally able to tie it up with less then a minute left in the game. The game was sent to overtime where Eastern was able to score on their first possession and win the game.

With winning the MAC, Eastern got their first bid in the NCAA tournament. Their first opponent was Cabrini who were ranked 6th in the nation. Sadly, Eastern's season ended at Cabrini in a 17-3 heartbreaking loss.

This video will show you the amazing run Eastern had this season and their amazing comeback victory over Widener. See ya next week.

The Schedule

Ever since I stepped foot on campus, lacrosse has been a part of my daily routine. Whether it was in the weight lifting, conditioning, captains' practices, or fall ball practices. Did I mention lacrosse is a spring sport?

In September, we had conditioning on Mondays and Fridays from 10-11am and on Tuesdays and Thursdays weight lifting from 730-830am. 2-3 times a week, we would be on the field doing an inter squad scrimmage and they would usually last from 6-8pm.

 In the Fall, the NCAA allows every team to 16 practices and 2 scrimmages with coaches involved. September 24th was our first practice from 6-8am. From then until October 21st we have 16 practices, mainly on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays (They vary each week). With that comes weight lifting twice a week and wall ball on our own.

Wall ball is simply throwing the ball against a wall and catching it with yourself. The drill is simply to improve your skills with a stick.

Most of our practices during the week are from 6-8am and they involve conditioning, drills and then a scrimmage for about 20 minutes at the end of practice. On Saturdays, we usually start at 10am and we have official, high intensity scrimmages. We are split into equal teams and play with official rules, loser has to run sprints. Our coaches tape all of these practices and add notes to critique us and help us get better.

October 21st is when we will play our scrimmages. We will play against Division 2 Mercy College and Division 3 Montclair State. As I continue to update this blog, you will get to know the Eastern University Men's Lacrosse Team. The work ethic of this team, our goals, and our personality as a team. See ya next week.