By Arielle Gordon
The Colorado College men’s lacrosse team spent Block Break on the East Coast, but came back with more losses than they would have liked.
The Tigers dropped games to Western New England University 13–12 on April 19, and Connecticut College 23–12 on April 21. They have not won a road game this season, and all seven of their wins have been on Washburn Field. Their record is 7–7 heading into the final weekend of the season.
“Going into Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference playoffs we are looking forward to sending our seniors out on a positive note with a win against Southwestern University and bringing back a trophy to Colorado,” midfielder Max Reiser ’20 said.
After being ranked No. 20 during the 2018 season and finishing 13–2, this season has not fully lived up to expectations. The Tigers’ biggest goal for this season was to play in the NCAA championship, but they did not qualify. Their final game will be this weekend at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) championship.
“We did take a big step forward this year in terms of our strength of schedule,” Reiser said, “We had one of the toughest schedules in Division III lacrosse so that was a major step forward for the program as a whole which we will look to build on next year. Even though the results don’t necessarily show success on our part, I believe our willingness to compete against what the best DIII has to offer is a great sign for our future as a program.”
This was the first year in recent memory that the Tigers were part of the SCAC. For the past several seasons, they have played independently and did not participate in SCAC championships.
In addition to receiving contributions from the expected leaders, several underclassmen played crucial roles in the lineup. Attackman Elliott Nelson ’22 scored 15 goals and had a total of 19 points. Attackman John Sutro ’21 scored 40 points and had seven assists against Widener University.
“Confidence is a big thing,” goaltender Andrew Harwood ’20 said. “We had a tough schedule this year, and things didn’t always work.”
All three starting midfielders are about to graduate, including Tyler Borko ’19 who had 10 points in two games last weekend, with four goals. Midfielder Tom Haller ’19 also scored four goals against Conn College. Faceoff specialist Parker Woo ’19 scored one goal and recovered seven ground balls.
Senior night was several weeks ago, but this weekend will be the final game for the class of 2019.
“They have done amazing things for the program,” Harwood said. “They’re a tremendous group of guys, and they have helped me out a lot.”
Despite not getting to play in the NCAA tournament, Harwood is looking forward to playing one more game with the graduating class as they return to the SCAC after several years of playing independently.
It’s a quick turnaround for the Tigers going into SCAC championships. They got back to campus late on Sunday night, and left for Dallas, Texas on Thursday. They had two days of practice on campus to prepare for SCACs, where they will most likely face Southwestern University.