Men’s Lacrosse competes against Shenandoah University on March 28 and Hampden-Sydney on April 16. The team fell short in both games.
Eli Casey & Emilie Dajc. Edited by Sydnee Washington|Marlin Chronicle
Under a new head coach, the Marlins have been revitalized, ending their 9-year playoff drought.
Closing off an old chapter, the Marlin’s Men’s Lacrosse team is entering a new era with a splash. Fresh off a challenging previous season, the Marlin’s have their sights set on newfound success.
In Sam Jones’ first season as head coach, the Marlins have locked themselves into a coveted playoff spot in the ODAC tournament.
“I think we’ve overcome a lot of challenges, and I think we’re in a stronger spot than where we started,” Jones said. It will be the Marlin’s first playoff appearance in almost a decade, with the 2016 appearance ending in the quarterfinals to the No. 4 seeded University of Lynchburg.
It’s been almost a decade of difficulty for Men’s Lacrosse, but the Marlins are ready to spread the word that they are a force to be reckoned with.
“Of course, the goal is a championship. So they always say, if you shoot for the moon, at least you’ll land among the stars if you miss. That’s the way we’re thinking this year,” Roman Foster, sophomore defenseman, said.
In the first game of the season, the Marlins faced a challenging matchup at Neumann University. With 6 seconds left in the game, the Knights netted a goal to tie the score at 17 to force overtime. In the end, it didn’t matter as senior captain Parker Lucas assisted sophomore Cooper Seidner with the deciding goal in overtime to start the season off with an away win. “Cooper Seidner in OT stepped down to end it. That was an insane way to start off the year,” Foster said.
Despite a challenging stretch of games for the Marlins midway through the season, attention has turned to the playoffs. “As a team, we’re not going into it thinking, ‘what if we lose?’ We’re just practicing every day thinking, ‘how can we get better and go from there?’” Pat Ruffalo, junior midfielder, said.
It’s easy to lose sight of what’s ahead, but the team has been taking each game one step at a time. “Our next focus is that next game and what we’re doing for that week,” Zack Tucker, senior goalkeeper, said.
Ruffalo made it clear that high standards aren’t just for the playoffs: “I expect that out of myself, I expect that out of my teammates, and that’s a culture you build all year long, and you kind of stick with that mindset.”
Playoffs aside, this season will be one to remember for Men’s Lacrosse. For the first time since 2015, the Marlins have beaten both Bridgewater College and Guilford College. The game versus Guilford in particular was monumental. Going into the second half, the Marlins were down 9-6 at home. Yet, in the second half, the Marlins outscored the Quakers 10-2 to do what hadn’t been done in a decade.
“Coach Jones came in the locker room and he just asked us to show that we care and show that we mean the things we say at practice, and we came out and went on the 10-2 run in the second half to finish the game. That was a really good feeling to pull that off,” Ruffalo said.
Beating Bridgewater on the road was another memorable moment for the team. “There’s games you circle at the beginning of every year. I know guys do it. You’re not supposed to, but everyone does it right? Beating Bridgewater up at Bridgewater, a game that I know those guys cared about a lot, felt really good for this team. You know I’m singing karaoke on the bus at two in the morning on the way back,” Jones said.
It doesn’t matter who the Marlins are facing, it doesn’t matter where or when they are playing, the drive and commitment is the same no matter what. “We step on the field, we want to win. We expect to win like that. That’s the mentality we’re going to take every time we play a competition,” Jones said.
Even with the ODAC tournament looming, the Marlins aren’t worried. “You can’t have sports without pressure. We just have to focus on doing what we’re doing,” Foster said. “I see them every day trying. They embrace it. They want it,” Jones said.
The Marlins’ success this season has been supported by some standout individual performances. Sophomore Ben Andrews leads the team in goals and points, while Lucas tops the charts in assists. Junior Jeremiah Madriaga has been dominant at the face-off, also leading the team in ground balls. Foster ranks second in ground balls and leads the team in caused turnovers with 46 and 25. Senior goalie Zack Tucker, coming off of a shoulder injury last season, was recently named ODAC Defensive Player of the Week.
“Jeremiah Madriaga, he’s having a phenomenal year,” Foster said. “We had a transfer in, Patrick Ruffalo, just a dog. You watch him on the clears. He’s a dog. Just watch him shooting. He’s a dog.”
It’s not just the upperclassmen or returning players who are having an impact either. “I think there’s a lot of lower classmen on this team who are stepping up. Maddox Coelho, he’s a freshman out of Texas, and he comes in here, and he’s a force on the field,” Ruffalo said.
The coaching staff has also been well-received. “Coaching-wise, coach Jones is having himself a phenomenal first year as a head coach,” Foster said.
This season in particular has seen a strongly unified Men’s Lacrosse team. “Playing as a team is very important. It’s not always about you as a person, it’s about your team. Our expectation this year is if we play as a team, we can achieve great goals,” Tucker said.
By Eli Casey
emcasey@vwu.edu
