After playing two hours on a sloppy, spongy playing field, the lacrosse club chopped down the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 12-5 last Sunday at the Lady Colonels soccer field.
The lacrosse club’s defense, which held SFA to 16 total shots and allowed them to score only one goal in the first half, used a variety of attack schemes and quickness to shut down SFA’s offense.
The lacrosse club’s players said the intense defensive play this season has impressed other clubs’ coaches and players.
“It’s not me bragging, but other coaches in the league said we have the best defense in the league,” defender Vigil Gurdian said. “Everybody just gave 100 percent out there. We blocked shots and did everything we had to do, and that’s why we are the best defense out here.”
The lacrosse club out-scored SFA 4-1 in the second half, and SFA could not overcome the 11-1 halftime deficit.
“We put ourselves in a hole,” SFA head lacrosse coach Mike Buffington said. “It’s our first time traveling on the year and we didn’t travel well. It’s the second game on the season. We got down in a hole, and in the second half, we held them to one goal.”
Despite leading 11-1 at halftime, the lacrosse club’s head coach Billy Tauzin III said he was disappointed with his team’s second half play.
“We played sloppy in that fourth quarter,” Tauzin said. “This game shouldn’t have been as close as it was, but we never were a fourth quarter team except for the past weekend. I hope we are not getting back into that slump and not being able to play in the fourth quarter.”
Starting the game with only 10 guys in attendance, Buffington said his team entered the battle vastly outnumbered by the lacrosse club.
“We started off short of players. It seemed like it was 50 against 12,” Buffington said. “I’ll chalk it up to experience on the road.”
Attacker Dustin Schuetter scored four goals, attacker Jacob Degate scored three, attacker Jonathan Nobile scored two and midfielders Andre Brunet and Jason Smith scored one apiece.
Schuetter said the offense wanted to score often early because of the lack of SFA players in attendance.
“We knew they didn’t have enough players to play and didn’t have enough subs,” Schuetter said. “We worked them down on offense and did a lot of one-on-one’s. I think we definitely took advantage of them getting tired. The more tired they got, the more of our goals went in.”
Schuetter said the club plays better as a unit when they are in the lead instead of trailing.
“We do well when we’re coming back, but we do a lot better when we are in the lead,” Schuetter said. “We are going to work on playing better in second halves, maybe do some running because it looked like we got tired and let them come back.”
Goaltender Derrick Stevens finished the game with nine saves. In 16 total shots, Stevens surrendered five. Midfielder Josh Sanders collected 12 groundballs.
Tauzin said Stevens made incredible saves, especially at the end when SFA started their unsuccessful comeback.
“He made some great saves there at the end,” Tauzin said. “They could have made it a game at the end, but Derrick came on pretty strong for us.”
With many family, friends and students in attendance, Tauzin said it was exciting to see such a large fan turnout to show support and blow duck calls.
“I guess there were like 200 or 300 fans out here. It was wonderful,” Tauzin said. “They sounded like more than that if it wasn’t that close. I want more duck calls, that is some good stuff. (I hope they) bring the duck calls. They got a little rowdy, and they gave us a penalty, but I’ll take that as long as they come out here and have a good time.”
Starting the second season, the victory gave the lacrosse club their first 3-0 start in their short history. Tauzin said he hopes the team rides the victory all the way to the lacrosse championships in San Marcos, Texas.
“We have to get up. We’re 3-0 and not stopping,” Tauzin said. “We’re taking this train all the way to San Marcos.