This is the first entry, in what will be another series of Blogs, about my journey through this “Season” of lacrosse and life. Upon the conclusion of last spring’s lacrosse season, I thought I was done with this type of thing. But, as time has passed, I have realized how much I enjoyed the process of chronicling the lacrosse related events of my life. I also, now realize that somehow or another, I am always involved with the sport.

What will I find to write about? Diana is no longer playing at Mercyhurst. She is now a Graduate Assistant Coach at Springfield College. They had their first scrimmages of this young season, last Saturday, and it took considerable restraint, to keep me from making the 3 hour drive, to check out the action. I don’t want to be over the top (I know, too late!). It is a pretty long story, but the Lacrosse Season at Old Westbury was cancelled. So, I presently have no coaching position (though, I am hoping to change that soon). I have ruminated over this but now see that perhaps it will be a silver lining of sorts. I have an interest in so many college and high school teams, there will be no shortage of games for me to attend or tune in to at home via the many streaming networks that are covering more and more games. In fact, I have already been at it.

I kicked the season off, last Saturday at nearby, Hofstra University, where The Pride hosted the Lady Trojans (or should it be “The Women of Troy”?) of the University of Southern California. On a very chilly day, I was among a very impressive crowd, that was treated to an exciting, well played (especially for a first game of the year, in cold weather) battle that was only decided in the final minute or so. Hofstra trailed 4-2 at halftime, but stormed out to an 8-6 lead by the middle of the second half. USC showed its resilience and would ultimately win by a final score of 9-8. I was most impressed by both defenses, which were stifling and physical. Hofstra’s man to man defense, was rarely forced to slide and USC’s zone made it difficult for Hofstra to penetrate the 8 meter arc. It will be interesting to see how each of these squads fare, as their seasons’ progress.

Sunday, I tuned into the ACC Network for a matchup between Duke and Northwestern. This one was 3-0 Northwestern before I even got the Chromecast working. Thought the final score would be 24-20, it was never really that close. Northwestern had a significant advantage in team speed and employed a high octane offense at full throttle, throughout. There were some bright spots for Duke, who has some very good young players. Once the Blue Devils gain some experience, I expect they will be a far better team than the one that started on Sunday.

Last night, it was back to the ACC Network from the Carrier Dome in Syracuse (is it still called that?), where the Lady Orange took on Stony Brook. I knew players on each team and was very interested to see this one. The Orange had the early advantage and held a 6-2 lead in the first half. It was at that point, the Seawolves began to win draws, force turnovers and became more efficient on offense. Stony Brook’s stars certainly did their part, but it was a number of younger players, who stepped up and pushed Stony Brook to a 16-9 lead with 9 and a half minutes to play. Syracuse staged a furious comeback before falling to a final score of 17-16. I am sure that rally will take some of the sting out of the loss for SU. This was a huge early season road win for a young SBU team! Both teams should continue to have high hopes for this campaign.

So, last year I followed one team through its season. This year, I will be following many teams. It will be a different kind of adventure, than last year’s “Lax Odyssey”, but it should be an adventure, nonetheless. I hope you enjoy it.