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The Ohio University men’s lacrosse team is running laps around the track at Pruitt Field, the team’s home turf. The turf looks like cloverleaf-green concrete, stretched across a slab of land. Streaks of light beam from the field posts, outlining the area where the team forges battle every fall and spring season.
After some warm-up running, stretching, and an off-kilter rendition of Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” the team gets to work.
They begin with passing drills. There are eight lines, four facing each other along one half of the field. The passing commences in almost uniform fashion: balls are flung and whipped from one aluminum stick to another. A soft “pow” christens the stick’s pocket. The lines run fluid. There are no mistakes.
At OU, lacrosse is not a varsity sport. The team exists within the realm of the club sports universe. Carving its own niche into this campus’ athletic echelon is something that the team has been doing consistently since 1991.
At a recent tournament at Ohio State playing an already forfeited match against under-manned Denison University, a fiery club president Zach Crusse urged his team to start considering this a “real” game. Down at halftime against a team that consisted of only 10 men, the vibe in the huddle was testy and tense. A mental kick-in-the-ass from Crusse resulted in a flurry of goals and a win for the team. This is how the team operates every game, no matter the circumstances.
“We pride ourselves in playing like a varsity team… We want the team attitude to trickle down from the seniors to the freshman. We want to find guys who are serious and passionate, guys who won’t just fade out,” Crusse said.
Just consider the team’s National Club Lacrosse League (NCLL) Final Four last year: up 7-3 against a strong Salisbury University team at halftime, the team lost the game 9-8 in the dying seconds.
“The Salisbury game stung because I think all of the young guys felt that we owed a championship to the seniors and we let them down. It was bitter because we were leading by so much,” Crusse said.
The team’s zenith did not occur at the Final Four but at a tournament last year at James Madison University. The team played NCAA Division II program Wheeling Walsh Jesuit and attained its most surprising result of the year.
“[They] didn’t think that we’d be any good. We took it to them and beat them 3-2. We could tell that they were just stunned. They were asking how could this measly OU club team come and knock off these guys that are on scholarships and going to school for lax,” Crusse said.
Senior midfielder Sam Kriegman is a sleek midfielder from New Jersey who has grown up with lacrosse. He’s a competitive catalyst whose shifty stick skills and pinpoint passing help the team’s attacking possessions. His on-the-field demeanor is a far cry from his mellow personality off it. As he calmly explained, the team’s goals every year are guileless.
“We want to win it all. We won’t settle for anything less. We lost in the semi-finals as the number one team against a team that we should’ve beat. It’s frustrating, but we have the talent to get back to the title game,” he said.
For most varsity teams, results like the club team’s accomplishments (3 NCLL Final Fours and one championship game in the past ten years) coincide with parades, celebrity status on campus, and sold-out arenas for game day. What does the men’s club lacrosse team receive for their efforts? A pat on the back and a burning desire to repeat the concluding season’s triumphs.