The USC Men’s Lacrosse Team will play a total of 17 games this season. They’re season will be comprised of 5 division games, 2 games in the Pac-10 Shootout, a trip to Florida State to play 3 games as part of the Southern Shootout, and 7 other games against various opponents. Check out the schedule now and mark your calendars as we prepare for another hard hitting Trojan Lacrosse season.

USC Men’s Lacrosse has decided that with the addition of a new coach and a new direction for the team it would be in their best interest to release Duane Milton as the team’s assistant coach. We would like to thank Duane for his work with the team and wish him luck in his future endeavors.

USC Men’s Lacrosse is pleased to announce David Aktary as the new head coach. Coach Aktary recently moved out to California after completing his MBA at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. He was formerly the coach at University of Michigan-Dearborn.

We are excited to bring a new face to the program and make strides towards becoming a prominent lacrosse program on the west coast. Coach Aktary has previous experience coaching and playing at the club level, which should make for a smooth transition into his first season as USC’s head coach.

Coach Aktary has founded several lacrosse programs in his career as a player and coach, including his high school’s program and the club program at University Michigan-Dearborn (where he later returned several years after graduating to become the head coach).

Aktary has also founded multiple businesses and currently acts as the Managing Director of Aktary & Associates, a business consulting firm. He is also fluent in Spanish and enjoys playing guitar.

USC beat the Bruins Saturday night in a thrilling season ending game. The Trojans scored the winning goal with just over a minute to go in a game that is sure to provide plenty of fuel to the fire of this bitter rivalry for years to come. After falling behind by a small margin of 3-6 at the end of the first half USC came alive in the 3rd quarter and brought the game to a tie at 9-9 to begin the 4th. With just over a minute to go and the score tied at 12-12 Tyler McDonald scored a behind the back goal to give the Trojans the 13-12 victory!

Saturday February 23rd’s game against Claremont has been cancelled because of the rain and tenatively rescheduled for April 10th.

Saturday Feb 2nd, USC Trojans Men’s Lacrosse team kicked off their regular season against the Pepperdine waves with a 15-6 victory. USC, with 22 rookies, played an impressive game where many freshmen saw playing time.

Freshman goalie Alex Rice (Blair Academy, NJ) making his first collegiate start was strong in the pipes making 12 saves out of 15 shots on cage. Three weeks of hard conditioning paid off with USC winning the face-off and ground ball battle. The two major contributors in the groundball battle were Luke Whiteside (Wesleyan, GA) 6 gb’s and Richie DeBeikes(University, CA) 5 gb’s.

USC scoring was led by impressive attack play by freshman Tyler McDonald (Hingham, MA) tallying 5 goals and 2 assists for 7 points in his first time wearing the cardinal and gold. The midfield was led by 2 stand out freshman Drew Ness (Westview, CA) with 3goals, 2 assists and Jake Medwell (Bellvue, WA) with 3 goals.

Next week the USC Trojans Men’s Lacrosse team is preparing for a home division rival with national powerhouse UCSB ranked #3 in the nation. Good luck to Pepperdine in 2008.

The 2008 season roster is finally online. The roster is complete with player profiles and biographies. Check back soon for pictures from the Trojans’ season opening games.

The Men of Troy take on the Pepperdine Waves on Saturday February 2nd at 1:00pm at Peppedine.

The Trojans kick off their season tonight with their first practice of the season. After a 7-7 finish last year the Trojans are ready to build a new team an show everybody what USC Lacrosse is really all about.

Their 2008 game schedule is up online now so be sure to mark your calendars.