Eagles Stay Strong; Beat CNU
By Ashley Scharf
The University of Mary Washington Eagles men's lacrosse team was able to put together a strong showing in their defeat of the Christopher Newport Capitals. Though the Eagles were down early, they came storming back to win the game, 6-4.
Senior midfielder Scott Fletcher put the Eagles on the board with their first two goals of game and later assisted sophomore Ryan Baldwin for another goal.
The Eagles went into the half with the momentum as sophomore attack Brian Meaney extended the lead and junior midfielder Dan Bamford put one in the back of the net just before the half.
"We try not to expect to win because expecting to win can cause our team to come out and not play as hard as we could," Meaney said. "But we definitely felt that this was a game we could win if we went out and played to the best of our abilities."
"Our ultimate goal is to win every game we play, but coming off a loss to St. Mary's we wanted to bounce back and play well," Meaney said. "Our season has had highs and lows, we lost a few games earlier in the season that we felt we could win such as Hampden-Sydney and McDaniel but I feel like we have improved from last year."
In the second half the Eagle defense steadily picked up holding the Captains to just one goal. No performance was as important in the second half as freshman goalie Ryan Kleman's. His numerous saves gave the men's Eagles a chance.
UMW scored its sixth and final goal of the game with just 3:53 left in the game on a goal by sophomore Dan Coats.
"I would say Dan Bamford's goal at the end of the first half was the highlight of the game," Meaney said. "It gave us a two goal cushion going into halftime and it was the eventual game winner."
"[Bamford] Was the hero of the game. He does not get much playing time but when he does he comes in and gets his chance," Glaeser said. "He does what we tell him to do; [he] picks a spot and shoots. It's about location in shooting, where you shoot not how hard you shoot."
The Eagles didn't let past losses in the season effect their play on the field, always confident in their abilities as athletes. Coach Kurt Glaeser knows the team is getting better, however is aware that the team has not yet reached its full potential.
UMW is currently 5-4 in the season but Glaeser looks ahead with confidence. The Salisbury game looks to be a challenge but not one that the Eagles will shy away from.
"If we show up we could make it interesting, they are No. one in the country and undefeated in the conference," Glaeser said. "But if we play like we have in the past we will get slaughtered."
"Based on the trend I am a little disappointed, I thought in some games we could have done better," Glaeser said. "We need to play to our potential every game"
As far as the team's goal for the rest of the spring 2008 season, there is hope.
"Two wins out of the next three games, and get home field spot in playoffs which is not easy after Salisbury and the next games, but we will be in if we play well," Glaseser said. "We do have a good shot of achieving that."
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