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Final thoughts on 2008-2009 season

May. 20, 2009

Final Thoughts on the 2008-2009 Season

9-4 Final Record - The Volunteers final record of 9-4 is the best record since the 2000 team went 18-4 under coach Buff Grubb.  The Volunteers narrowly missed the SELC tournament due to losing to Georgia and Auburn (by 1 goal).  The top two teams in each division go to the SELC Tournament and the victor of the Tournament gets an Automatic Qualifier into the National Tournament which just finished over the weekend in Denver.  The team is excited about the strong level of young players that will be returning next season.  We look forward to participating in the SELC Tournament next season.

Graduating Seniors - We will sorely miss graduating senior midfielders Kyle Bird and Chris White, and team President and defensemen Justin Estrada.  These 3 players were a part of the first freshman class of Head Coach Matt Synowiez's coaching tenure.  Coach Synowiez remarked that "They have put up with a lot as I have made the transition from being a collegiate player to being a head coach.  I will miss their humor and their ability to laugh at me when I would try and "politely" chat with a ref or after I had slammed my hat on the ground after a costly mistake.  A special thank you for sticking by me and helping me be a better coach."     

Jack Cleary All Conference - The team would like to congratulate Junior Attackman Jack Cleary who was named Honorable Mention All Conference at Attack this season.  Jack also served as Vice President of the team and was a leader on the field and off.     

Thanks for the hard work team!  - The team was full of young talent that all contributed this season.  From the coaching staff to the players we really appreciate the level of hard work and dedication that the team possessed during the season.  After our 3 game losing streak in the middle of the year, after a strong 5-0 start, we were really worried about how the team would respond.  The greatest transformation was in several sophomores and freshman who stepped up both vocally and on the field to help keep the team together.  The strong finish lead by the Captains and strengthened by the underclassmen was very exciting to be a part of and certainly has us wishing next spring was here already. 

Incoming 2009-2010 Class - As of today we have 21 "committed" incoming players for next season.  Committed to us means they have been accepted and have verbally told us they are attending UT in the fall and plan on playing for the lacrosse team.  We are also waiting on the acceptance of 4 transfers that have applied as well.  We had a huge 20 player incoming class this past fall, but all indications are we will easily exceed 20+ new players for this coming fall as well.  Our maximum estimates at this point are 35 returning players with 25 new comers for a fall roster of 60 players.  We have never had to have a "try out" for the University of Tennessee lacrosse team, but with only 3 graduating seniors and another huge incoming class, we may be foced to go this route.  We wish we had the resources to carry everyone, but with only room for 39-40 players on road trips, it is difficult to carry many more than that and keep it fair for all.  We will wait for the spring to see what players have changed their minds during the fall semester and make cuts from there.  We are tossing around a maximum roster of 45-46 players, with players rotating as to who travels and who doesn't to make sure all is equitable.  Any player who doesn't get to travel on a road trip will receive a credit to their dues to also insure all is fair and equitable.  As I mentioned this possibility is new to the Volunteer lacrosse program but it is a positive sign that more and more players are considering the University of Tennessee as the place where they want to receive their next level of education while playing great lacrosse.