Welcome to the danger zone!

Welcome to the official SUNY Plattsburgh men's lacrosse blog. My name is Dan DeFrancesco, better known as DeFran, and I will be posting on this site throughout the season. A little background info on myself: I am a junior close defense man from Poughquag, New York, a small town located just outside Poughkeepsie which is essentially the half-way point between NYC and Albany. Here at PSU I am a journalism major with a minor in general business.

Now on to the team...for those of you new to the program I'll give you a brief recap of last season. 2009 was big year for us. For the first time in our program's history we clinched a birth into playoffs in the extremely competitive SUNYAC conference. Current captain and senior Luke Weidlein became the Card's all-time leading scorer with 175 points after only three years. Redshirt junior and captain Kyle Norchi ranks third on the list with 132 points after just two seasons with the Cards. Records were also broken in goals scored, total points, ground balls, wins, ground balls in a season by one player (captain Ryan Price), career assists (Weidlein), face-off wins (Price), conference wins in a season and season saves (Matt Billia). The Cards also placed three players on the All-SUNYAC team with Weidlin and Norchi earning spots on the Second Team and Matt Maes receiving honorable mention.

This fall, led by captains Norchi, Price, Weidlin and senior defense man Mike Glynn, the Cards made big moves on and off the field. Despite integrating one of the biggest recruiting classes the program has ever seen the team continued to work hard towards making its second consecutive post season appearance.

In addition to working hard on the field and in the gym we also gave back to the community. The team accumulated over 600 hours of community service in just four months. The majority of the hours came from a project the team decided to undertake at a local Salvation Army. In an effort to give back to the less fortunate each team member worked at least six hours, either organizing or serving food. The team also got it done in the classroom, achieving the highest GPA for all men's athletic teams on campus for the fall of 2009.

Although due to the start of the season we have stopped working at the Salvation Army our team hasn't stopped all its community service efforts. Our assistant coach Ryan Cavanagh has organized a St. Baldricks Foundation Fundraiser in which our whole team will shave our heads for children's cancer prior to our game against Briarcliffe in Northport. I'll post more on this as the game approaches but anyone interested in donating to a GREAT cause should go to the events website here or contact Coach Cavanagh at rcava002@plattsburgh.edu.

So now, after five weeks of practice we are only four days away from our first game. Without a doubt the team has grown by leaps and bounds since that first day of tryouts in September. A casual fan might glance at our team's roster and immediately label it a "rebuilding year" with more freshman and sophmores on the team than juniors and seniors. The underclassmen have stepped up big time however and has gladly taken on the extra responsibility. From top to bottom, every player has worked hard for us to achieve the goals we set in the off season.

I think I've droned on long enough. I look forward to keeping you up to date throughout the season. Feel free to comment on any of the posts I make. And now I leave you with a great montage to a great movie that featured a great song....
-DeFran