Hudson O’Neill
Senior Gregory Massman tries to outrun the Shawnee Mission South defender after the faceoff.
After being delayed by the snowy weather, the Rockhurst lacrosse team finally started regular season. The team has started the season undefeated, 3-0, in league play, and 5-3 overall. With one of the biggest games on the horizon against the number one ranked Shawnee Mission East Lancers on Thursday, April 18, the Hawklets don’t plan on stopping their success.
“We still have two games until then and a week of practice to work out some of the kinks,” Mr. Tim Reidy, head coach, said. “But we certainly have had that date circled on our calendar.”
After losing to the Lancers last season for the first time ever and this year being ranked second behind the Lancers in the Lacrosse Association of Kansas City coaches poll, Rockhurst is looking to prove themselves.
“We can’t take any game before we play East lightly,” senior captain Addison Degen said. “We want revenge from last year, but we can’t get too caught up in our emotions.”
The key to the team’s play in their first tournament to North Carolina and now, according to junior goalie Matthew Brown, is the team’s chemistry and cohesion.
“We started out the season putting some of the new parts of the team together,” Brown said. “Now we are really starting to find how we can win as a whole unit.”
Even with the team graduating a large group of seniors last year, the returning seniors have had no shortage of leadership and unity. Seniors such as Degen, Isaac Zorn, captain, and Zach Hannon, captain, have brought them together.
“Last year we graduated a lot of individuals, but I knew that… we had a good group of seniors leading a solid unit that could play at as high or even higher level than last year,” Coach Reidy said.
The team showed their unity April 4 in a thrilling 6-5 win against Pembroke Hill. Rockhurst, according to Coach Reidy, was outplayed in the first 45 minutes of the game. Pembroke had put the pressure on early by playing aggressive defense.
With Rockhurst down 5-2 and only three minutes remaining,a win looked out of reach, but a quick goal by Degen began a push to tie the game at 5-5. Then with three seconds left, Zorn scored the final goal to win the game.
