Remember the old saying, “First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest? Or was it treasure chest?” Either way, don’t try and talk to the Northwestern men’s lacrosse team about the perceived merits of being a runner-up.
NU proved it was better than all but one other squad in the 34-team Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference last weekend in Fenton, Mo.
Led by the scoring of club president Doug Dresser and the deft passing of senior Gareth Hayes, the Wildcats stormed through the quarterfinals and semifinals before falling to Southwest Missouri State in the championship game. But they left the field far from satisfied.
“We should have won, I think we have more natural talent than anyone else in the league,” attacker Doug Yamada said.
Although he didn’t make excuses for the defeat, in which NU mustered only four goals, Yamada said some valuable contributors couldn’t make the three-day trip due to midterms and injuries. Among the missing in action was junior Kyle Hamm. Hamm was out with a hand injury, and Yamada called him “possibly the best player in our league.”
Yamada then echoed the words made famous by comedian Rodney Dangerfield, noting that although the Cats fielded an extremely dangerous team throughout the season, the rest of the club lacrosse world gave the squad very little respect.
The evidence seems to support Yamada’s contention.
Although Dresser, Yamada, B.C. Broussard and Kyle Weber made the All-Conference squad, Yamada said he was frustrated by the omission of some of his teammates, notably defender Ben Blickle, an honorable mention all-conference defender last year. Further vexing the Cats, NU failed to land a player on the All-America team.
On the Waterfront: Few sports fans would confuse the men’s crew team with the Cash Money Millionaires, but with a second-place finish in Athens, Ohio, last weekend, NU hauled in some serious bling-bling worthy of the hedonistic rap group. The varsity eight-man team earned the silver medal at the Middle American Collegiate Rowing Association championship regatta (MACRAs), losing only to 25th-ranked Marietta College.
Turning in what captain Raphael Anstey called a “blazing” time of 5 minutes and 46 seconds, the varsity men rowed their fastest race of the season to date.
Anstey and the rest of the team said their stellar performance last Saturday should propel them into next weekend’s Dad Vail Championships in Philadelphia, where NU will face more than 30 teams from across the nation in what is considered one of the most prestigious regattas.
The novice men also turned in a new season best at the Middle American championship, improving by 30 seconds from the week before and making the finals in the eight-man as well as the four-man boats. Although they eventually settled for fourth place in both races, the improvements made by captain Alex Stark and his team of youngsters bode well for the future of NU crew.
Rowin’ it and rowin’ it and rowin’ it well: Not to be outdone by its hairier counterparts, the women’s crew team medalled on both the varsity and novice levels.
The varsity women raced to the bronze medal in the four-person boat despite taking to the water for preliminary heats just three hours after persevering through a nightlong, eight-hour bus ride.
The novice women also fared well in the fours, taking home the silver medal and dropping 35 seconds off their previous best.
“It was really amazing, most of the girls showed fierce endurance,” novice captain Tiffany Wilson said.
The improvement of both the men’s and women’s novice teams as the season comes to a close is extremely important to sustaining and building on the success of NU crew.
Although promising rowers may end up quitting for a variety of reasons such as studying abroad, financial constraints or abhorrence of pre-dawn wakeup times, Wilson said “a hardcore base” of novices will continue to develop and aid the varsity squads in the future.
