PSU Men's Lacrosse looks to have a solid 2011 season

The Plymouth State's Men's Lacrosse team kicks off the season tomorrow by playing the LaSalle Lasers in Newton, Massachusetts. The Panthers went 8-8 overall last season and 4-3 in league play. This will be head coach Gordon Webb's third season at the reins of the Panthers.

The Panthers, who have only 10 combined juniors and seniors on the team this year are led by senior captain Andrew Eriksen (Beverly, Mass.). Eriksen lead the team with 59 points last season (38 goals, 21 assists) and made the all Little East Conference team last year as a junior. Eriksen had scored a combined 34 goals in his first two seasons as a Panther, and looks to add at least 28 goals to become the ninth member of the 100 goal club in Plymouth State's 44 years of lacrosse. While watching practice last Friday, It seems quite clear that Eriksen is a leader for the team, as he was helping out his fellow teammates when he was off the field. He is just one of many players that demonstrated this type of leadership.

Besides Eriksen, sophomore midfielder Matt (11) Fontaine (Wolfeboro, N.H.) looked strong during practice by having multiple passes that were spot on from all over the field. Fontaine was on the same line as Eriksen, and the two of them had great chemistry with each other. The second attack man, who is backing up Eriksen, was freshman Tom Carr (West Hartford, Conn.). Carr, despite being a freshmen, plays like he has been within the Panther's system for more than a couple of months. All three of these players seem unselfish, as they kept passing the ball around amongst each other and their teammates until the opportunity seemed right to shoot on net. Watch for these three to potentially get over 30 points a piece.

Other offensive players that seemed like they would make a difference this year include Shawn McEvovy (Spring, TX), Teddy Akriviellis (Dover, Mass.), Scott Giusti (Newton, Mass.) and Stephen Patch (Newbury, N.H.). Akriviellis had 29 points last season (16 goals, 13 assist) and started 10 of the team's 16 games last season. The junior also had 60% of his shots on goal end up as goals, so whenever Akriviellis shoots, there is a pretty good chance that the end result will be a goal.  As a freshman last year, McEvovy recorded 8 goals and had 72% of his end up inside of the posts.  Both Patch and Guisti come into the season hoping to play valuable minutes throughout the season. Another intriguing prospect is Sean Allen (Derry, N.H.) who is a long-pole midfielder. Allen, a sophomore, had some spot on passes, and is capable of defending almost anyone anywhere on the field.  

Despite having the top 6 defenders of last year's team graduate, defensive coach Tim Vasconcellos seemed confident that his defense will be up to the challenge. "Our guys have been communicating extremely well and seem to be aware of any offenders". Those guys that coach Vasconcellos insinuated include both, Justin Vercruysse (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and Paul McInerney (Scituate, Mass.) are able to stop any offensive attack, and on numerous occasions were able to stop odd-man attacks. Both Vercruysee and McInerney created offense a number of times by different turnovers they created. Vercruysee seemed to be one of, if not the best ball denial defenders on the team while McInerney was good at pressuring the offense in general.  Seniors Justin Dube (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) and Jeff McLoud (Bow, N.H.) also appear to be in the rotation of defensive lines this year. 

In the goalie department Kevin Hayes (Beverly, Mass.) is not only a goalie that stops a ton of shots, but helps his defense by communicating with them often, and giving them tips during different situations that the offense put them through. Hayes, despite playing a position that people don't think of as far as being an offensive threat, is able to pass the ball extremely accurately to help continue to move it forward. When Hayes is not on the playing field, he also helps out the back-up goalies by telling them different things that he sees when the offense is in a certain situation or formation. 

 Head coach Gordon Webb enters his 3rd season as Plymouth State's coach, and looks to improve on last year's 8-8 campaign. Coach Webb has coached everything in lacrosse, from high school to the professional level, and was inducted into the New England Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2002.  When asked where he thinks that this team stands now compared to his first two years, Coach Webb said that this team was "ahead of the previous 2 years". As far as who he thought was better between the offense and defense, Webb said that the distribution was "well-balanced" and that both were constantly making the other better day in and day out. The offense has a mindset of "constantly pressuring the cage" and keeping the ball in the offensive zone. When I asked defensive coach Tim Vasconcellos about the defense, Coach Vasconcellos reinterated how the defense had its "top 6 guys graduate last year" but that the "chemistry is coming along extremely well between the guys"

The Plymouth State Men's lacrosse team seems like it has a really good chance to beat both Keene State and Eastern Connecticut State University this year. The Panthers play both of these teams back to back this year, as they play away at Keene on April 27th while ECSU comes to Plymouth on April 30th. Andrew Eriksen, Teddy Akriviellis and a ton of underclassmen will help the Panthers become a threat to be in every game this year, if not win the majority of them.

For an interview with senior captian Andrew Erikson check out this week's Clock outLOUD at theclockonline.com