Colgate Lacrosse 2013 Player Blog: Final Tune Up – Albany Scrimmage

Colgate Lacrosse 2013 Player Blog: Final Tune Up - Albany Scrimmage

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

After a good effort against Delaware the Raiders were back on the practice grind starting Monday gearing up for a scrimmage against Albany. We opened up the week with our usual pre Monday practice meeting in the lockeroom to watch film and hand out weekly awards. Sophomore Ryan “Big Baby” Walsh earned player of the game honors with 3 goals against the Blue Hens, while housemate Matt Clarkson earned his number 10 on the “lunch pale” as he was given the practice player of the week award. Matt’s great week of practice payed dividends as he had a strong game against Delaware, which included a goal. Towards the end of the meeting Coach Murphy emphasized the importance of our team’s energy level in practice and on game day. Last year we were grateful to have a great senior class that kept our energy level high at all times, spearheaded by “DJ” Jason Coppersmith. Our game day energy level was phenomenal a year ago, but as the old sports adage goes, “you practice how you play” and in order to keep up that energy level this season it needs to start in practice.

Coach’s challenge to the team was met, as we had our highest energy practice to date on Monday indoors in Sanford Field House. At the end of practice we had a live 6 on 6 session where the offense got the better of the defense. After a long stretch of in door practice the dogs were finally unleashed as we got to practice on Andy Kerr. Full field transition drills were on the menu, which included our full field scramble and Omaha drill. Our transition game was such a key part of our attack last season, and being outside allows us to improve and work on those skills. Mumbo play was on tap Wednesday, as we worked on our offensive Mumbo schemes and our defensive approach to Mumbo plays. We ended practice Wednesday with a scrum (scrimmage), where the Maroon team came out victorious. Heavy snow forced us to be back in Sanford on Thursday and Friday. Thursday practice ended with the “darkside” getting the best up the Man up unit. Lastly on Friday we had a pre game type practice in preparation for the scrimmage on Saturday.

With the team making a day trip Saturday to Albany, a lot of the boys headed to the women’s hockey game Friday night to support Autsim Awareness night at Starr Rink. Most of the raiders came to support the women’s team and a great cause, while Junior Kevin Boyle was forced to stay for the full three periods due to girlfriend obligations. We left for Albany at 9 AM with breakfast sandwiches for the team on the way there. After a pretty silent bus ride we arrived at Albany ready for the scrimmage. The high energy level throughout the practice week carried over to game day, as we were ready to go during warm-ups. We were calling out each other’s numbers and hooting and hollering to get everyone pumped up for the scrimmage. The high-energy warm up proved to be advantageous as we stormed out to a quick 4-0 lead over the Great Danes. The tough start did not faze Albany, as the Great Danes came back with 5 unanswered goals. The rest of the scrimmage proved to play pretty even with Albany ending with a 13-12 lead after the first 4 quarters. Being our last scrimmage before real competition we played 5 quarters in order to allow all of our players to get playing time. This 5th quarter proved to be exciting, with All County Brownie (Dennis Brown) Junior Trevor Atkins and Freshman Kevin Adams netting goals.

Overall the scrimmage was not our best effort. While the score was indicative of our play, our inability to maintain consistent play throughout the game was disappointing. Rather than continuing to blank the Great Danes after a hot start, we let them right back into the game with sloppy defensive and offensive play. On a brighter note faceoff man Robbie Grabher had an impressive day at the X winning approximately 70% of his draws. He was helped out by solid wing play from Kevin Boyle, Derek Katchis, Matt Clarkson, and Junior Captain Jimmy Ryan.

After an indoor tailgate with the parents where Bill Manning was distributing new Maroon Colgate Lacrosse Sweatshirts, we headed back to Hamilton. This time the coaches chose a better received movie as the team thoroughly enjoyed “Project X” starring former Colgate Lacrosse Player Jeff Ledwick. The Saturday scrimmage marked the end of our preseason, and turns our attention to game number one against the Bryant Bulldogs. A hard week of practice (hopefully outside) will be needed to correct our mistakes as we prepare for a tough opponent in Bryant.

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