G'day everyone,
My blog was a little late this week as the NYIT Men's lacrosse team spent the last 6 days in Colorado. Road trips with teams are an opportunity to play against lacrosse teams that we ordinarily would not and is also a great opportunity to bond with teammates. We certainly did that despite being interstate on business.
We left the NYIT campus bright and early 5:45am Thursday morning for JFK. After getting the fifty or so people through security we were off to Colorado. After we arrived we drove straight to Colorado College for a practice and to get accustomed to the thin air. I had heard a lot about the air and how hard it is to breathe from lacrosse players who have played in Colorado but I still underestimated it. It certainly provided a challenge to all of the players but that's just something you have to take in stride. It's all part of the game.
Our first game was Saturday against Colorado College. They are division 3 so they are not a regular on our schedule. We also knew very little about them due to limited scouting but as usual the coaches had us prepared for what was to come. We scored 8 seconds into the game with Paul Gibson winning the face off and hitting Austin Carino for the goal. The game stayed close for the rest of the half with both teams feeling each other out. NYIT took a 6-3 lead into halftime. The NYIT coaches had the more effective half time speech, stressing the importance of hustle and groundballs. We came out on fire scoring 5 goals to none in the third period. Our defense held the Colorado offense scorless in the second half until the last fourty seconds in the 4th quarter. It was another dominant performance by the defense allowing only 4 goals. On his birthday, Josh Kacprzak caused 4 turnovers and picked up 4 ground balls to earn the MVP for the game. Although there was a dip in the offensive output there were still good individual performances. Austin Carino scored 4 goals, Ryan Amengual scored 1 goal and 2 assists, Matt Ryan had 1 goal 1 assist, Keith Henderson had 2 and 1 and Matt Messina had 1 goal 3 assists. Again Keith Clancy was a huge part of our win clearing the ball a number of times.
We had 2 days off between our games so our Coaches, specifically our History buff Coach Kaley, organised activities for the team and our families to enjoy. We visited the Garden of the Gods which is a collection of amazing rock formations. There was a walking track that allowed us to take in some nice views. Although it was a long walk it was worth it. Almost everywhere you go in colorado springs offers a beautiful view of the rocky mountains. One of the mountains was Pike's Peak. Standing 14,110 feet above sea level Pike's Peak is one of the highest points in the Rocky Mountains. We took a cog train all the way up to the peak, where the air was so thin a lot of us felt dizzy. It was well worth the long train ride and light headed feeling for the amazing views.
Our second game was on our last day in Colorado. We played the Air Force Academy in a scrimmage. Many of our players were tired and it reflected in our play. It was not one our cleaner games. We were outshot, out groundballed and out hustled for the most part. Depsite our messy play we only lost by one. Although we never want to play badly it was a good learning experience, and what better time to learn about ourselves than the week before conference play.
We arrived home in New York at 6:30am Wednesday morning after taking the 1:00am red-eye out of Denver. We had that day off to recover from the lack of sleep and today we were back to work preparing for Dowling who we play this Saturday. Conference play is always more intense and the whole team is looking forward to the challenge, especially considering Dowling were the only team to beat us last year.
I'll blog again next week to report on the Dowling game. Until then take care....
-Rob
My blog was a little late this week as the NYIT Men's lacrosse team spent the last 6 days in Colorado. Road trips with teams are an opportunity to play against lacrosse teams that we ordinarily would not and is also a great opportunity to bond with teammates. We certainly did that despite being interstate on business.
We left the NYIT campus bright and early 5:45am Thursday morning for JFK. After getting the fifty or so people through security we were off to Colorado. After we arrived we drove straight to Colorado College for a practice and to get accustomed to the thin air. I had heard a lot about the air and how hard it is to breathe from lacrosse players who have played in Colorado but I still underestimated it. It certainly provided a challenge to all of the players but that's just something you have to take in stride. It's all part of the game.
Our first game was Saturday against Colorado College. They are division 3 so they are not a regular on our schedule. We also knew very little about them due to limited scouting but as usual the coaches had us prepared for what was to come. We scored 8 seconds into the game with Paul Gibson winning the face off and hitting Austin Carino for the goal. The game stayed close for the rest of the half with both teams feeling each other out. NYIT took a 6-3 lead into halftime. The NYIT coaches had the more effective half time speech, stressing the importance of hustle and groundballs. We came out on fire scoring 5 goals to none in the third period. Our defense held the Colorado offense scorless in the second half until the last fourty seconds in the 4th quarter. It was another dominant performance by the defense allowing only 4 goals. On his birthday, Josh Kacprzak caused 4 turnovers and picked up 4 ground balls to earn the MVP for the game. Although there was a dip in the offensive output there were still good individual performances. Austin Carino scored 4 goals, Ryan Amengual scored 1 goal and 2 assists, Matt Ryan had 1 goal 1 assist, Keith Henderson had 2 and 1 and Matt Messina had 1 goal 3 assists. Again Keith Clancy was a huge part of our win clearing the ball a number of times.
We had 2 days off between our games so our Coaches, specifically our History buff Coach Kaley, organised activities for the team and our families to enjoy. We visited the Garden of the Gods which is a collection of amazing rock formations. There was a walking track that allowed us to take in some nice views. Although it was a long walk it was worth it. Almost everywhere you go in colorado springs offers a beautiful view of the rocky mountains. One of the mountains was Pike's Peak. Standing 14,110 feet above sea level Pike's Peak is one of the highest points in the Rocky Mountains. We took a cog train all the way up to the peak, where the air was so thin a lot of us felt dizzy. It was well worth the long train ride and light headed feeling for the amazing views.
Our second game was on our last day in Colorado. We played the Air Force Academy in a scrimmage. Many of our players were tired and it reflected in our play. It was not one our cleaner games. We were outshot, out groundballed and out hustled for the most part. Depsite our messy play we only lost by one. Although we never want to play badly it was a good learning experience, and what better time to learn about ourselves than the week before conference play.
We arrived home in New York at 6:30am Wednesday morning after taking the 1:00am red-eye out of Denver. We had that day off to recover from the lack of sleep and today we were back to work preparing for Dowling who we play this Saturday. Conference play is always more intense and the whole team is looking forward to the challenge, especially considering Dowling were the only team to beat us last year.
I'll blog again next week to report on the Dowling game. Until then take care....
-Rob
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