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Red Raiders bring home the First Place Trophy from College Station!

Nov. 18, 2009

Red Raiders bring home the First Place Trophy from College Station!

The Texas Tech Lacrosse team has finished their Fall Season with a bang. Following a big win over OU and a close loss to the Dallas Sharks Men’s Team, the team traveled to College Station, TX to participate in the annual Aggie Fall Classic. The Red Raiders were only able to dress around 24 players after many had to sit out the weekend due to injury or sickness. Head coach Andrew Widmer was eager to learn how his young defense would respond without the leadership of the senior tandem of Spencer Nolan and Matt Bickham, two mainstays on the defense for Tech.

After the brackets were released, Tech learned it would face TCU and UNT for its first two games, both regular LSA divisional opponents. “We worked hard this fall and were eager to be tested by two solid teams. We knew these games would be tough, considering both teams are divisional rivals,” said Team Captain Matt Davis. Surviving a late rally by the TCU offense, Tech was victorious with a score 6-5 in its first game. Tech’s offense was fueled by Junior Midfielder Mason Hebert, who scored 4 goals in the game, one of which was the game-winner with 15 seconds left. “Mason had a breakout game and we look forward to him continuing this momentum into the spring,” said Senior attackman William Sterner.

With a short amount of time to recover between games Tech took the field against rival North Texas. After an impressive win, Tech looked weary and lazy as they dropped a game with a 6-4 loss to a team-driven UNT squad. Coach Widmer expresses his view from the sideline of this loss, “The offense moved the ball well but made too many turnovers. Defense remained tough, kept talking, and made the proper slides. The team’s downfall came from subbing during rides, both settled and unsettled, allowing UNT to get easy clears which created unsettled situations that they capitalized on.”

Tech rested up overnight for a morning meeting with Baylor for its first game Sunday. The Red Raiders came out clicking on all cylinders as they took a 12-2 win over the Bears. Junior Defenseman and Team Captain Gavin Carr commented on bouncing back from the UNT loss, “We fixed the slides on defense, emphasized ball movement on offense and the team responded well to the challenge of winning out to set the pace for our season.” After this win Tech was going into the finals, matching up with TCU once again. The team expected a revengeful TCU squad to come out firing. Tech’s brilliant Defensive midfield unit of Andrew Bice, Ricky Del Bosque and Austin Wolf held the TCU midfielders to zero goals. The team didn’t look anything like they did the first time around, coming out with a huge 6-2 win in the championship game.

The Red Raiders were paced on offense by meticulous attack unit of Neil Gordon, Willie Sterner and Danny McNamara. Other contributors on offense included the entire first line midfield, comprised of Matt Davis, Mason Hebert and Monty Gumble. Team captain Matt Davis talks about the team’s possibilities for the year: “It was such a fulfilling feeling to be awarded that 1^st Place trophy. It’s a feeling I have searched for since my freshman year and now, with the squad we have this year, anything is within reach. This weekend just shows our potential for the upcoming season.”

Overcoming a rocky start on Saturday Tech’s defense, led by All-LSA 3^rd teamer Gavin Carr, looked sharp as they held all opponents to 2 goals a game in the final round of play. With the absence of key personnel at the close defensive position players were asked to step in and gel as a unit, holding off the LSA competition the majority of the weekend. Junior Justin Castle and Senior Gavin Rogus were two of these players. Castle comments on the big weekend, ”Winning the tournament was awesome because the team is finally stepping up to its potential as a major contender in the LSA. Our confidence is high and winning the tournament has everyone pumped to get the spring season started.”