Men’s lacrosse crushes opponents to open season

The lacrosse club team started out the 2006 season last weekend by going 2-0, winning their two matches in a dominant fashion.

On Sunday Tech beat South Carolina by a score of 20-2, and in the season opener on Saturday Tech beat Presbyterian College by a score of 18-4.

In Sunday’s match, Tech dominated both offensively and defensively as they beat South Carolina. On offense, the Jackets used good ball movement and early scoring to take the win over the Gamecocks.

“Offensively, we just dominated,” junior midfielder Collin Wallace said.

The defense also played excellent, only allowing just two goals, with goalies Andrew Babock and Steve Cusick having a combined 17 saves.

“[Our goal] is to talk on defense. [We need] to clear the ball so our offense can just take over,” Babock said.

The first half saw Tech score 12 goals by seven different players. Alex Del Pozzo led the offense in the first half with four goals, with Wallace and Garrett Simmer each adding two goals. The first half scoring was finished out by Carl Wilson, En Simmons, Bryan Garman and Colin Johnson scoring one goal each.

The Tech defense also finished the first half out strong. The defense allowed only one goal as Babcock had seven saves in the first half.

The second half saw Tech continue their good play as they outscored the Gamecocks 8-1. Derrek Wiedeman led the offense in the second half with four goals, while Simmer added in two goals. Brian Kobbler, Eric Crawshaw, John Ianelli, Matt Crabtree Garman and Johnson rounded out the second half scoring one goal each.

The defense also kept up the good play by giving up just one goal, with goalies Babock and Cusick each having five saves.

Tech also saw five freshmen score in the game on Sunday.

“A lot of the freshmen stepped up. Our freshman recruits this year have probably been the best we’ve ever had,” Wallace said.

In Saturday’s game, Tech opened up the season with a decisive win over Presbyterian College.

“[Presbyterian] is [an NCAA] D-II program, so it was a good opportunity to show off our skills as a club team,” Wallace said.

This is Presbyterian’s first year in NCAA D-II competition. After forming a club team in 2004, Presbyterian opens their season today as a member of the Deep South Conference.

Tech outscored Presbyterian 11-1 in the first half and then 7-3 in the second half to gain the 18-4 victory. Tech saw ten players score during the game with Wiedeman and Simmons leading the offense with three goals each. Del Pozzo, Wallace, Simmer, and Ianelli added two goals each with Garman, Johnson, Wilson and Swelgin each contributing one goal.

The Jackets look to win the Southeastern Lacrosse Conference championship for the second time in three years this season.

“We got the Southeastern championship [at the end of the season]. [Our goal] is to win those each year,” said Babock.

The national championship is also a goal the Jackets look to attain.

“[Winning] the national championship is really one of our goals,” Wallace said.

Tech’s next game comes against Vanderbilt in Nashville on Feb 18. The team’s next home matches are Feb. 24, 25, and 26, as the team hosts the Southern Shootout. In that tournament Michigan State, Florida State, and Texas A&M will face Tech.

“We got three really good teams coming at us. They’ll be pretty tough competition,” Babock said.

Meanwhile the women’s lacrosse team begins their season tomorrow at a tournament in Louisville, Ky. against Missouri. Tech will also face the University of Buffalo and Vanderbilt this weekend. The women’s first home game is Feb. 25 against Florida State.

The women’s club lacrosse team competes in the Southeastern Women’s Lacrosse League, which is composed of 12 club teams from schools located in the Southeast. Florida St., Florida and Georgia are all SWLL members.