2013 Lehigh Lacrosse Player Blog: We Like Our Rings in Two’s

2013 Lehigh Lacrosse Player Blog: We like our Rings in Two’s

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.

Brian Hess
Midfielder – #2

We like our Rings in Two’s

Well, it’s been quite a while since I blogged last, and a lot has happened. Last Friday night, we had Colgate in the Patriot League Semis, on Banko, our home turf. It was win or go home for both teams, which could be seen early on as both teams played a bit tense. We started off slowly, but took a 6-1 lead going into the half. Although we were definitely happy about the score, it was probably the worst we had played on offense all season, and Coach let us know. However, his challenge to us provided us with the spark we needed, as we came out of the 3rd quarter firing on all cylinders, and absolutely blew the game open. This gave us the ability to take out a lot of key guys and rest up for Sunday…the Patriot League Championship Game. Since Bucknell and Army played before us, we knew we would have Bucknell in the final. The first time we played them, it was an absolute battle, and we knew it would be the same this time around. We met as a team Saturday night and sat in a circle, just as we did last year, and talked about why this game was so important to us. Last year, it felt like everything came so easy for our squad. We were unknown, got extremely hot, and rattled off win after win en route to the first PL Championship in school history.

2013 Lehigh Lacrosse Player Blog: We like our Rings in Two’s

However, this year was a bit different, as we had a bunch of preseason notoriety and had the target on our backs. This was tough to deal with at first, and it showed as we were 3-3 after 6 games. Team morale was at an all time low, and a lot of people on our team were pointing fingers. Getting another PL Ship would be a lot more rewarding due to all of the adversity we had faced this year. We had a great start to the game, and got up to a 5-0 lead, which Bucknell would never overcome. As the clock ticked down and Chris Rinaldi dumped the Gatorade on Coach Cassese, we repeated as Patriot League Champs. The feeling is really indescribable, and it was unreal as all of our hard work was rewarded with another trophy. Doing it on our home field, and the fact that it was the last time we would ever play there, made it that much more special. David “QB1” DiMaria absolutely dominated all weekend fueled by the fact that he was named 2nd Team All Patriot League earlier in the week (don’t even get me started… he leads the conference in scoring). He went 3 and 3 vs Colgate and 2 and 3 vs. Bucknell, and deservingly captured MVP honors.

Matt “The Truth” Poillion and Dante “Big Game” Fantoni earned All-Tournament Team Honors as well as Ryan “1B” Buttenbaum, who came off the bench and absolutely crushed it at the X. It was awesome to see a kid like Buttenbaum get honored, as he always works extremely hard at practice and was ready when his number got called. Another standout performance was from Noah “The Ox” Molnar, who put on a clinic on how to play short stick D middie. He is definitely one of the best in the country and he showed why. Additionally, Tripp “The Prodigy” Telesco crushed it, holding Peter Baum to 0 and 1, and then moving up top to hold David Dickson to 0 and 2. Tripp, who is just a freshman, really stepped up and dominated all weekend. Overall, our entire squad, and especially the seniors, came to play. It was an unbelievable weekend and one that I will never forget.

That night, we had our annual Spring Formal, which is always a blast. It was great for all of the boys to be celebrating our hard work together. We met for film on Tuesday and watched both games, and the mood was great. It really is amazing how winning cures everything. Our week was a bit different than normal because we had a bye week until we found out who we played on Sunday night, as well as the fact that we were having Exams. We lifted and had speed a bunch with our trainer Eric, as with some practices mixed in.

2013 Lehigh Lacrosse Player Blog: We like our Rings in Two’s

On Sunday, all of the boys gathered at the Goosey Gander for the Selection Show. Due to the fact that we had the AQ, we were all anxious to find out who we were going to play. I had many versions of my “Schmackatology” trying to find out who we played, but with every upset it changed. As we sat there and awaited our fate, we finally found out that we would be heading down to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Everyone celebrated, and our focus immediately shifted to the Tar Heels, the current #1 team in the country. We got back to work Monday with a classic Lehigh Workday, and are really preparing diligently for the Tar Heels. Also, we are the only game on Saturday on ESPN2, which is sick. ESPN2 is big time, and I know all of us are excited to show what Lehigh is all about on a national stage. Carolina is an extremely good team, and we know that we will have our work cut out for us. That’s it for this week, and I can’t wait to blog next week for you guys.

One Love, Schmacka out.

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