It’s taken me three days to write this update quite simply because I couldn’t figure out where to begin.  The SC Lax team played a dominant game in every aspect on Friday. 

The Offense riddled Fullerton’s goalie putting in 14 goals.  We also played the best possession offense of the season.  Whenever we control the ball our offense is guaranteed to make great things happen.

The ‘D’ shut them down.  The only goals allowed were unsettled garbage goals or a rare man-up goal.  Other than that, the Defense was on track to hospitalize somebody with their aggressive play all game. 

 All three goalies made an appearance and each one proved their worth.  Carter even proved that no one can score on him better than he can.  He saved a ball and then continued to save it into the back of the net as he fell into the cage.  You gotta respect the commitment. 

I don’t know if they put something in the water or in that rice crispy treat I got from a fan before the game, but the team really brought it together.   Friday, no doubt, was the best team win we’ve had so far.  With the playoffs looming, I’m confident that we can carry this momentum into our game two days from now against Clairemont.

This week’s game against Claremont will now be held on Wednesday, March 31 at 7pm at Upland High School.

The game against Fullerton will still be at 5pm, but now will be held at Tustin Sports Park:
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Due to a scheduling conflict for the Cal State Fullerton home field, our away game against them this Friday will now be held at 5pm at Tustin High School.

The 2010 USC Lacrosse Boys’ Residential Position Camp is tentatively scheduled for August 5-8. The camp will offer high school boys’ lacrosse players a chance to learn from current USC coaching staff and players, as well as from guest speakers and coaches from select programs in the MCLA and NCAA.  Registration is planned to open by early April.

Details will be released on the team’s website, http://www.usclacrosse.com, as they are finalized.

[EDIT: Dates are final!  Please look here for more details: http://www.usclacrosse.com/camp/2010-camp-registration-now-open]

The Trojan lacrosse team has been forced to keep its win-streak on hold for a few weeks due to crazy amounts of rain in southern California.  Someone needs to get Al Gore on the phone and let him know that global warming has just gotten serious: it’s affecting lacrosse.  

People of America hear me when I say the climate is out of control.  Innocent college lacrosse players are being denied their freedom to play lacrosse.  Citizens, it would appear America has a new enemy.  We’re being terrorized by Mother Nature.  

The climate alert has just been updated to an orange, almost red level.  It’s kinda like a burnt orange.   Or a sunset-esk amount of terror.

Which is ironic because things are far from sunny!  We must come together and solve the climate crisis before lacrosse remains a victim of of Mother Nature forever.  I pray the Lax Gods her something for Valentine’s Day…

Due to inclement weather in the forecast, Claremont’s administration has closed the field this weekend.  The game has been rescheduled for April 1st at 7pm at Claremont.

College Station, TX – The Trojans Wrapped up a weekend of lacrosse today with a dramatic overtime win against Texas A&M, marking the third win in as many games.  The Men in Cardinal and Gold dominated early in the game, jumping to a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter with a quick wrap-around goal by Attackman John Duddridge (Santa Ana, CA/Foothill), who had 2 goals on the day, 8 on the weekend.

“This game we began to see our middies find their match-ups and captalize offensively. The offense has been coming out firing in the first half, with a lot of different faces hitting the net”, Duddridge said of the USC offense.  Going into the half, the Trojans led 8-5.  After halftime, it was the defense that would make the difference, especially since penalties continued to dog the Trojans.

“Defensively we did a lot to put ourselves at a disadvantage considering the number of penalties that we tallied up, but we were still able to come together and dig ourselves out of the hole. The man down unit finished the day with a strong success ratio”, commented goalie Jeff Barton (Englewood, CO/Cherry Creek).  Barton’s quick hands kept the Men of Troy in the game multiple times, making clutch one-on-one saves in the waning minutes of the third and fourth quarters.

As the final seconds of the 4th quarter wound down, the Trojans looked to be victorious, leading the Aggies 10-9.  But with 3 seconds left on the clock, a scrum developed in front of the Trojan goal, and a ground ball was flipped into the net by A&M, dashing USC’s hopes for a regular-time victory.

The overtime clock wasn’t going to tick for long, though, as another crucial save by Barton led the Trojans into a transition.  Senior Midfielder and Captain Kase Lawal (Houston, TX /Kinkaid) would lead the Trojan clear into an offensive attack.  With a quick split dodge, Lawal found enough separation from his defender that he could fire a 12-yard shot that found rope and ended the game.

“It Started as a normal clear, and then the wing attackman, Jordan [Levitz], led his man away from me, leaving a lot of room for me to dodge and shoot.  I’m just glad we didn’t give the game up”, quipped Lawal, who had 3 goals on the day.  Barton added “It takes a lot of composure to get scored on with three seconds left and turn around and win in overtime, so i’m proud of my team for being able to pull it off.”

On the day and the weekend as a whole, Lawal said “It was a hard fought game. I’m glad we came out with the win, we just have to stay consistent through the rest of the season and not let up towards the end.  Overall it was a nice three W’s.”

Head Coach David Aktary said of the wins “we played well this weekend.  I don’t think we are yet playing to our full potential, but we’re getting there.  It’s nice to see both the defensive and offensive units gelling… there is communication and anticipation now that wasn’t there just a week ago.  Our experience from this weekend will go a long way to prepare us as we head into our conference games.”

With a record of 4-2 after this weekend, USC plays at conference rival Claremont College next Saturday at 2pm.  For more information on USC Men’s Lacrosse, visit www.usclacrosse.com

It was a stat rat’s weekend at the Texas A&M tournament this weekend.  The SC offense came out bangin’ mad G’s scoring 18,16, 11; in our games against Kansas, Baylor, and A&M respectively.  Our defense put in even more effort than our offense.  The D killed all kinds of man-down situations.  Yes, we’re still having problems with penalties.  But the average is slowing dropping.  So that’s a plus.  Honestly though, I think the MCLA just needs to add some flexibility to the rules to account for our beastitude.

Kase Lawal topped off the weekend with an OT game winner against Texas A&M; and it was almost too perfect.  Only a few minutes into OT Kase had the ball at the top of the box and we all knew what was coming.  The stars had aligned: it was his home state, his parents were at the game, he’s a captain, he’s a senior, and he has the dirtiest split dodge on the team.  Just about everyone on the SC sidelines had their hands in the air before Kase even shot.  It was a great way to wrap up the weekend.

As for Texas itself, we have all been pleasantly surprised by what the Great State has to offer.  Unfortunately, the weather was a little cooler than we had hoped for.  So the only usage of Daisy Dukes was kept secret.  The sun was definitely out, though.  Half of our team looks like stop signs.  We all needed to start our spring-break base anyway.

A special thanks goes out to all the parents and relatives of the team that fed us to point of explosion.  We all appreciate the hospitality so much.  I think we can attribute the wins this weekend to being so well nourished.   Thank you.