2013 Colgate Lacrosse Player Blog: Army Week

May 20, 2012; Chester, PA USA; Colgate Raiders goalie Conor Murphy (38) makes a save against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half of the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Quarterfinals at PPL Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 season is here and we wanted to work closely with college programs to bring a part of the excitement to you. Throughout the 2013 season we will highlight lacrosse programs on our space for all of our readers to follow. Player blogs serve as a unique outlet for programs to showcase their season as it develops, plus highlight everything they have to offer a student-athlete. In contrast, families and fans get a glimpse into the program’s athletic and academic regimen.

Benjamin Shapiro
Senior – #19 – Midfield
Colgate Lacrosse

Army Week

With the Navy game behind us we turned our focus on to another Patriot League matchup against the Army Black Knights. The game was a big one as it could secure our spot into The Patriot League tournament, and more importantly it was a good barometer test to see how our team has improved. We have bounced back nicely after two straight losses rattling off four wins in a row, but Army is our biggest test since the defeats. We know our opponent is similar to us in structure, headlined by two prolific scorers, but it will be the effort and passion brought by each team that will determine the outcome of the game. We know Army will want some revenge as they have lost three straight games to us, but we want to keep that winning streak going just as badly, and not to mention we want to get one for our coach who will be playing against his former team.

With the upcoming game on Sunday coach gave us Monday off. March madness got us all itching to play basketball, and so on the day off a lot of us headed up to Huntington Gym to play some half court games. Watching 6 hours of basketball on the way home from Baltimore proved to be beneficial as everyone was playing with a high basketball I.Q. Tuesday kicked off our practice week beginning with putting Navy to bed during a mid day meeting. Freshman Eric Foote received practice player of the week honors, as his strong play in practice carried over to a nice performance in his first career game action against Navy, while not surprisingly Ryan Walsh was named player of the game as he tallied 7 points. Tuesday would be our first practice a full five days before our next game in a long time, and it proved to be very exhausting. Coach Murphy ran us for our mental mistakes during the game against Navy, and for errors made in practice as we were frequently put on the sideline for not properly executing our clear during practice. Our hard work was rewarded with a scrimmage at the end of practice, with the white team (with flipped defenses) winning the scrum. Wednesday we began our on the field preparation for Army along with work on our clearing and riding game. We continued our preparation throughout the week as the weather slowly heated up just in time for the weekend. By Saturday the sun was out and we shed our sweatshirts for the pregame practice. It was Dennis Brown’s opportunity to break the team down before the game, and Dennis gave his famous “wolf speech” followed by choice Game of Thrones quotes to get the boys going. The speech was followed by a raucous “County” chant as the team huddled up to end the day. We looked forward to another great day on Sunday to take on The Black Knights on Andy Kerr.

I would be doing a disservice to my readers to note mention the charity auction that a few of our seniors were lucky enough to participate in on Friday night. Seniors Jimmy Queeney, Bill Manning, and Connor Brown took part in The Brothers Society charity auction, where lovely Colgate females had the opportunity to bid for a date with three of our finest seniors. They ended up going in as a unit, which was a good idea since each guy gives something you are looking for in a man. Jimmy the brains, Bill the outgoing attitude, and Connor the “legendary” status. The three came out to “Pony” by Genuine, and really stirred the crowd with their on the stage antics. After the bidding stalled at $80, one eager student put up her hand and won a date with the three senior lacrosse players for $85, quite the bargain.

Back to lacrosse, the noon game time had us up early on Sunday morning eating breakfast as a team in Frank Dining hall. As we normally do we took over the TV room in Frank and enjoyed our meals watching some Sportscenter. Everyone was in the facility by 10 in preparation for the game, as we got ready to take on Army. At 12 sharp the opening whistle blew and the game was underway. Army came out firing going out to an early lead, only 20 seconds into the contest. Army maintained their high energy level during the game and held a strong lead throughout. By the time we matched their intensity it was too late, and ultimately we fell 10-4. To put it simply, we were not ready to play at a high level of energy and execution, and Army was. They wanted it more than us and came away with the win. It will be definitely be a tough game to swallow for our team considering it was our effort level and toughness that cost us. Thankfully we have time to regroup and get ready for our next game next week against Lehigh. I know their will be no shortage of hard work and enthusiasm next week in Bethlehem, as we have been waiting for pay back on the team in Brown for a long time.

-#19

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