Gettysburg 12-5 rout boosts men’s lax to 5-0 record; Bullets rank No. 7 in US Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association/Nike Division III Top-20 Coaches Poll
By Meredith Tombs, Staff Writer
The men’s lacrosse team came in at No. 7 in this week’s United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association/Nike Division III Top-20 Coaches Poll.
Gettysburg lacrosse (10-2) holds a 5-0 conference record this season, and the team has emerged victorious in their last eight games.
The men are focusing on one game at a time as the 2016 season comes to a close.
“We try to take a day-by-day, game-by-game approach, since every team we play in our conference is very good,” said senior goalie Jake Adoni. “We try not to think about our current win streak and just focus on whoever is next on our schedule.”
Adoni has twenty-two saves this season, and supported the Bullets from the goal for the entire game against McDaniel College this past Saturday.
“McDaniel has played us tough in the past, and we knew that playing them under the lights on their senior night, they would again play us tough,” said Adoni. “We just wanted to go out and compete.”
Junior Chris Palladino agreed. “Every team in this conference is tough,” he said. “If you don’t show up, anyone can beat you.
Palladino picked up five ground balls against McDaniel last Saturday.
Gettysburg had an excellent game under the lights, holding the Green Terror to only two points in the first half and three points in the second. The Bullets came out on top 12-5.
“We knew what type of defense they ran and what looks we wanted to find on offense,” said first year Tommy Heller. “During the game, we found a lot of success with what we went over in film and in practice.”
The Bullets have had a fantastic defensive showing thus far, only allowing one opponent this entire season to score ten goals. The past eight games, aside from resulting in wins for Gettysburg, have seen opponents held to eight or fewer points.
“Our offense and defense unity have gotten so much stronger as the year has progressed,” said Palladino. “Freshmen are starting to get their feet under them on offense, and our defensive cohesion gets greater every game.”
“The team has definitely grown a lot since the beginning of the year, especially offensively,” said Heller. “We’ve really settled into our roles on offense, and that’s helped us find the looks we want.”
“As a team we stress on the little things – throwing and catching, picking up ground balls, and communicating on the field,” said Adoni. “We believe that doing the little things right translates directly to winning on game day.”
“I think we’ve done well at not deviating from our game plan and from our identity,” said Palladino. “We’ve suffered some injuries and starters being out, and we’ve persevered and kept the next man up mentality.”
In addition to the team’s daily work, much of this season’s success can be attributed to the strong program that has been established in previous years.
“The seniors last year set a great example for how to lead this team,” said Adoni. “Most of the guys [this year] have already bought in to what we are trying to do, which makes it easy to keep up a positive attitude among the team, on and off the field.”
“Our leaders, whether it’s coaches or players, provide us with great insight, motivation and knowledge,” said Palladino. “Every year it seems you learn something from each group of seniors and I hope to have that same effect when I’m a senior next season.”
The Bullets took the field this past Wednesday, April 27, against Franklin and Marshall in their last home game of the season. While this matchup occurred too late to be covered by this edition of The Gettysburgian, the Bullets play their final regular season game this Saturday, April 30, on the road at Washington College at 1:00 p.m.
