By Shane Ostroski
Sports Editor
The Marywood University Men’s Lacrosse team is entering its second season under head coach , Mic Grant. The Pacers are looking to improve from their inaugural season in which they reached the conference semifinals(9-5). The team has many new faces with 21 freshman adding to the roster for the 2008-2009 season.
The Pacers will be one of the youngest teams in the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) with 95% of the roster being freshman or sophomores. Although the team will be young, Coach Grant has high expectations. “ Our goal is to make it back to the playoffs and hopefully have the opportunity to host a playoff game which means finishing first or second in the CSAC,” said Grant in an interview with The Wood Word.
The team has grown from 25 players last year to 40 this year. The addition of players has Grant thrilled,“ It has been more competitive in practice with a larger roster. Hopefully that tougher competition will better prepare us for the season.” The Pacers also have set up quite a difficult out of conference schedule. The team will travel to Maryland and Virginia during spring break to face some tough competition. “We added some pretty good teams for our out of conference schedule with the intention on helping us come conference time,” said Grant.
The Pacers which finished fourth last year in the PAC(now CSAC) were selected to finish third in a preseason CSAC coaches’ poll. There will be plenty of opportunities to see the team this year, they are hosting a total of 7 home games on the campus of Marywood.