Christian Elliot
The Paw Print
The Adams State men’s Lacrosse program started off the 2012-2013 with some very positive results.
The team of over fifty players was separated into a white and green team for the tournament on Saturday.
Including both Grizzly lacrosse units, there were six teams competing in the Southern Colorado Jamboree this weekend.
The teams that participated in the event were Fort Lewis, Western State, New Mexico, Colorado State-Pueblo, Adams State Green and Adams State White.
Starting from 10 a.m., both the white and green team played three games each; therefore each team played one hundred and fifty minutes compared to the normal fifty. Each went undefeated throughout the tournament.
Both teams were integrated from the entirety of the squad, but the white team had more freshmen. The white posted victories against Western State, Fort Lewis and CSU-Pueblo and the green had victories over Fort Lewis, New Mexico and CSU-Pueblo.
“We practice throughout the fall, and it is good to play against somebody else. We worked on substitutions and really got some kinks out. It was just overall good to play somebody else instead of just your team mates like we have been use to lately,” said ASU men’s lacrosse coach, Coach John McCeery.
“There was a lot of positive out of it, the guys played great. We have a lot of stuff to work on. The big thing is getting out and playing teams besides our selves even though the teams that participated were club teams,” Coach McCeery commented.
This is McCeery’s second year at Adams State; he joined the Grizzlies in 2010 as a graduate assistant. He graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2009, where he played three years of lacrosse.
Unlike most Adams State teams who are in the RMAC, the lacrosse program is in the Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association, otherwise known as the WILA. There are five teams in the men’s division of the WILA; Colorado Mesa, Domincan, Lindenwood, Adams State and Notre Dame de Namur.
The Grizzlies are coming off of a fourth place finish in the WILA with a 3-5 record within conference and a 6-9 record overall.
“ Our goal this year is to win the WILA. We only loss to Mesa by two last year, so we are definitely going to be competing for the championship,” said Coach McCeery. “Our offense is our strong point right now, we have a lot of talent returning and our defense is pretty banged up with injuries.”
Sophomore Anthony Damico is one of the key-returning contributors to the squad who finished sixth in the conference with thirty points. Also, goalie Ronnie Fernando is a key returnee who finished 7th in the conference with the lowest goals allowed percentage.
On Oct. 27, the Grizzlies will be playing in the Pumpkin Shootout in Golden, Colorado. The first two games, they will play Division I club teams Colorado State and Colorado. In the final game they will play the previous year’s conference champions Colorado Mesa.
The actual season does not begin for several months, starting in February. The Grizzlies will be hoping to perform just as well if not better from their early season start.
A full Adams State University men’s lacrosse schedule can be found online on the Grizzlies’ athletic department website at asugrizzlies.com.
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