Although the regular season may be a few months away, the UCSD lacrosse team got back to work with a pair of scrimmages at Warren Field on Oct. 28. Looking at the bigger picture, these scrimmages usually have little importance, but with new head coach Albert Mann taking the reigns this season, the games are instrumental in shaping the team’s identity and working toward the squad’s future success.
“We are going to try and really control the pace of matches this season, so we tried to begin doing that in these scrimmages,” Mann said. “Unfortunately, we were not able to control these matches like we wanted to.”
In the first of the two scrimmages on the day, the Tritons took on Chapman University of Anaheim, Calif. The Panthers will enter the regular season ranked fifth in Division A of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League. They proved to be a formidable test for UCSD, which garnered a preseason No. 7 ranking.
The Tritons knew that this matchup would be good time to implement their new strategy.
“Chapman is a very good fast-break team, so we knew that we had to control the pace and slow them down,” senior midfielder Tim Carter said.
The Tritons ended up losing the match 5-10, but Carter was not completely disappointed with the showing.
“We did a good job of taking them out of their game and limiting their fast break,” Carter said. “We are not quite up to their level yet, but we took some positive steps.”
In the second scrimmage of the day, the Tritons took on their fierce rival, San Diego State. It may only be fall ball, but the Tritons were looking to make a statement against the Aztecs. Unfortunately, they were not up to the task and dropped the match 4-10.
Mann attributed the loss to the Tritons’ inability to play an effective defense.
“Our entire defensive attack needs some definite brushing up,” Mann said. “We had a lot of trouble being in the right position and helping each other out.”
Carter believes that if the team is to be successful, the younger players will need to make an immediate impact.
“We had a lot of younger guys make a solid contribution today,” Carter said. “We will need them to step up in a big way if we hope to compete with the top teams.”
The play of the underclassmen will be extremely important, as the Tritons must replace three All-Americans from last year: Nick Dean, Brandon Hays and Morgan Silldorff. Fortunately, UCSD will return senior attacker Chris McCall, who was an All-American Honorable Mention.
The Tritons will get a chance to play against the top teams in the country when they travel to Colorado over spring break to play in one of the toughest tournaments of the year.
“We will be playing Colorado State University, who is ranked No. 1 and Colorado University, who is ranked No. 2 [in the nation],” Carter said. “It will be a good test to see if our new slow and deliberate style can be effective against the very best in the nation.”
The Tritons will look to perfect their new system through the fall months, which will feature additional scrimmages and fall practices. The UCSD lacrosse team will begin its regular season in the beginning of February.
