By Miles Montgomery
The Colorado College men’s lacrosse team took on The University of Colorado at Boulder club team in a front range showdown this Sunday, eventually falling 13-15 in a hotly contested preseason game.
Midfielder Max Rieser ’20 led the Tigers with three goals on the day. “The game overall was pretty sloppy,” Rieser said. “We definitely have a lot of young players who are needing to step up and contribute major minutes to the team this year. Because of that, we were a bit out of sorts, which resulted in a very slow start.”
After losing nine experienced seniors, including leading goal and point scorer Tyler Borko and four-year defensive stalwart Jack Ammons, there was always going to be some turnover this year. However, the Tigers still have much of their talented scoring core. Rieser, attackman Coby Petau ’20, and attackman John Sutro ’21 combined for 77 goals between them last year, and over 100 total points. Four year starting goaltender Andrew Harwood also returns to lock down a compact Tiger defensive unit. The Tigers are also hoping for significant contributions from their massive 21-man first-year class.
Despite the loss, the Tigers were certainly happy to get some much-needed competition in, and took many positives from the experience against a top level club team like Boulder.
“It’s always nice getting to play a team wearing a different jersey, especially this early in the season,” Petau said. “It wasn’t the result we wanted, but we believe we can learn from this experience, and be a better team for it.”
Rieser echoed Petau’s takeaways. “We need to get a lot tougher on ground balls and defense in order to win games this year,” Rieser said. “Luckily for us, these are all fixable issues that really rely on focus and effort on our behalf.”
The Tigers are certainly coming out with a chip on their shoulder in 2020. After finishing 8-7 last year and missing out on an NCAA Tournament berth that they earned in 2018 after posting a 13-2 record, the team is both confident and hungry, an ideal combination in the world of sports. After one more preseason scrimmage against Colorado State University on Feb. 8, the Tigers will open their regular season slate with a trip down south to take on The University of the South: Sewanee and Berry College, in Tennessee and Georgia respectively.
“I have a lot of confidence in this team and my teammates,” Petau said. “I’m sure we will be able to get it done and have success later in this spring.”