Halloween Special

...How's everyone doing on this unusually warm fall day? I hope everyone's October has been great and I know everyone is getting ready and excited for Halloween.  Personally, not my favorite holiday.  Ever since the age where it became awkward asking for candy because you were taller than all the parents handing out candy, I feel like the holiday has gone downhill.  But hey, that's just me...

...So since my last post of roughly 20 days ago, the squad has been quite busy.  First, I want to give a big Thank You for anyone who helped out the St. Baldrick's event.  Once again, it was a huge success and that is in large part due to our parents and all fans who donated, participated, or just attended the event.  To date, we have raised over $8,000, and you can still donate! So if you're feeling generous, help us get to that $10,000 mark and donate for a great cause!...

...Now onto the lacrosse side of our fall, which is why we're all here anyways.  I think it's fair to say that the team helped defend America's dominance over our northern neighbor when we faced McGill in our annual fall ball match-up.  After five weeks of beating up on each other, the team was ready and eager to show what we have accomplished in just a few practices.  Top to bottom, the team played awesome and took a big step in the right direction.  The final score was 14-7, a convincing win for the Cards.  If memory serves me well, the offense was led by senior midfielder Nick Travers, who finished the day with three goals.  Along with that, Ryan Hastings, Brendan Damm, and Anthony Pafundi netted two goals each.  Overall, the players, as well as the coaches, were very pleased with the performance of the team and I think only made us more excited to get the real season going...

...After the game, the squad still had two more morning and night practices, as well as the Alumni game.  I know I speak on behalf of all the seniors when I say we'll all miss the 6a.m. fitness practices very, very much...okay maybe not, but I think it made us realize how all to fast senior year is going by.  That Saturday, the old timers of the lacrosse program came up for the annual Alumni game and, confident as always, gave the current players a good challenge.  I'm not to sure of the final score, but either way, it was awesome seeing the guys that I played with throughout my career.  The game really shows the building of a tradition within the program, and the stronger our alumni base becomes, the more the program will grow.  On a side note, I'm calling a guaranteed Win in next years Alumni Game with my class helping the alumni squad out...

...After the alumni game, the team, parents, alumni, and friends enjoyed an awesome tailgate as always.  Once again, the parents and fans of this team really go above and beyond, and on behalf of all the players, thank you for that.  So now that fall ball is over, its safe to say most players have been catching up on backed up school work, or more likely on some sleep, although I naturally wake up at 5a.m. now so, that isn't possible for me.  For now, the team has some community service activities coming up, including the polar plunge.  This is always a great event, and nothing is more enjoyable than jumping into Lake Champlain in November...just like Long Beach in mid August, kind of...

...My first and last fall season has come and gone, and quite rapidly as well.  Looking at my class schedules, I was a tad shocked and surprised to see we just finished our 9th week of school, yikes.  Guess I should start that 30 page paper.....Once again, the team is pumped and ready to go for the spring.  Although I won't make any Joe Namath like predictions, I will say that the team has some pretty high expectations this year, and I can't wait to get the season rolling...

As promised, Junior Attackman Timmy Lawrence put together the photos from our hike up Poco Moonshine and made a pretty cool video, and the quality of the images kicks in at the 18 second mark....

And being the video lacks a little in the sound department, and the fact that we live in the greatest country in the world andddd since we just beat a foreign team, here's a little American pride....Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!

We're Baaack

...Hello Plattsburgh lacrosse family and fans, and welcome back!  It's a beautiful Friday here in the Burgh before Columbus day break and I am about to attempt to write my first blog of my young career.  But, before I introduce myself and let everyone in on what's been going on, let me first give a big thank you to Mike Santisteban.  Mike, besides the fact that he was our dominant fogo, ran the blog for the team as well as made all the youtube videos, from spring break to season highlights.  He did a great job keeping our fans in touch with the team and up to date on all games and events which is a huge part on building our lacrosse community. I know its been a full month into the school year without a post, but I promise I'll keep everyone posted from here on out, and now for the new guy...  My name is Mike Lind, a senior defenseman and captain from Garden City, Long Island (sorry upstate fans, another Long Island perspective).  I'm a history education major and, sadly enough, already looking into my future grad school program to continue my goal of one day becoming a high school teacher.  I am the youngest of six children and to save your time, I wont go through all of their stories and background, but I will give you their names in order; Kirsten, Eric, Eileen, Kathryn, Janine, myself, and my parents Mary Ann and Albert.  My time at Plattsburgh has been extremely enjoyable, and although I came in as a middie and miss scoring goals ( all four of them) the time I have spent being part of this program has been awesome.  I'm excited to take the realm of the blog for the remainder of the year, and I hope I can live up to the legends such as Dan DeFrancesco, who I am sure will critique my every post...
...Getting back into the team, we have been extremely busy so far this fall.  We are just about to wrap up the third week of our fall ball season, and the players' sleep patterns have been altered to say the least.  Due to time restraints on the turf, we have been having late practices, which wouldn't be to bad if it weren't for the 6am workouts.  Although the lack of sleep and the hard workouts have been a mental and physical drain for the squad, the team has done well coming together and knowing that everything we do now will help extend our season this upcoming spring.  As a team, we couldn't be more excited with the talent and personality we have this year, and I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say we wont be satisfied till we have that SUNYAC champiosnhip...We have two more weeks of fall ball left, with the McGill game coming up next Friday, the 12th and the alumni game the following week on Saturday the 20th, which is always fun and  great getting the old-timers back in the burgh...
...Aside from practice and training, the team has been plenty busy with community service and other events.  Certain members have been helping out with the new youth team established here in Plattsburgh.  The kids love it when the college players come, and although it seems like just a nice thing to do, the building of a youth program is huuuge for making Plattsburgh into a lacrosse community.  These young kids are some of our biggest fans, and maybe one day will be future stars, but for now they're doing their part in getting lacrosse popular in the North Country.  Aside from that, we have participated in the Buddy Walk, a great annual event to bring awareness to Down Syndrome, the Bed Race to try and raise money to multiple charities, and we were also invited to join in on the parade festivities in honor of the Battle of Plattsburgh.  Once again, the team, headed by head coach Ryan Cavanagh, has been working hard in their main fundraiser, St. Baldrick's.  This is a great foundation to raise money and awareness for children suffering from cancer.  Our team has set a goal to raise $10,000, and anyone who is interested in donating can do so through our St. Baldrick's page: http://www.stbaldricks.org/search/everythingresults/searchValue/cardinals+clip+cancer/submitEverything/Search/ .  The team and other members of the campus will also be shaving our heads on Oct. 12th, at Olive Ridley's.  If you have already donated or helped out in any way, thank you!  All events were for great causes and the community really appreciates seeing the athletes out there helping out...
...I know this was a little of a long post, but the team really has been quite busy so far this fall.  I will post more frequently from here on out, and I hope everyone can attend the McGill or Alumni game.  We truly have one of the best fan bases out there, and I thank you guys for that.  Lastly, the guys this morning, departing from the campus at roughly 4:30 a.m., hiked up Poke-O-Moonshine, a peak roughly thirty minutes away from school.  Although it was an early morning, I think it's fair to say we saw some of the best views some of our eyes have ever seen, especially for us Long Island folks.  Attackman Timmy Lawrence set up his go pro to take pictures of the rising sun every five seconds, and the final product came out awesome.  Hopefully by next post I can have those up for you to view in a video format.  But for now, enjoy the extended weekend, and once again, Welcome Back!

We left it on the field...

Oh man this sucks... On the eve of the SUNYAC Championship, I sit here in my room wishing I was instead down in Cortland in a hotel room. Things do not always go the way you want them to sometimes, and this happens to be one of those times.

Having little time until the highly desired rematch, we took full advantage of what could of been our last full practice. That afternoon, from start to finish, we knew we would give ourselves the best opportunity to win if we worked extremely hard in the areas we saw we needed improvement after the first game. The offense worked on dodging hard and running our 'O' the way the system had been placed from day one. The defense worked on clearing and rides. The foshos worked on ground balls and scrappy battles at the X. Not one minute in my mind was wasted and it showed on Wednesday. We finished up the day with a long film session where we basically were able to see and understand our mistakes and missed opportunities.

 Not having practice Tuesday morning allowed most of the guys to attend their classes and send out emails to their professors informing them of the sudden disappearance. We were really fortunate this time around to have the entire team travel with no one having to be left behind. Coach Cavanagh worked his magic and I think it really did make a huge difference. The "flock" is only as strong as its weakest player, and those guys who might not have their opportunity right now still are able to contribute on the sideline in tremendous fashion. I mean you ask guys about Big Cheese and you know instantly what is going to be said about his presence on the sideline. Dirty Birds were officially flying low baby and off on our way to Geneseo, New York.

The bus ride Tuesday afternoon was nothing close to enjoyable, but behind the movies playing and earphones blaring were the thoughts of this game. I know personally, all I could think about was what I was going to do differently. I had it all mapped and planned out. The images and ideas kept running through my mind like a song on repeat. Gratefully, we did not return to the monstrosity of a hotel that we stayed in the previous trip (sorry coach). With a good night rest and an enjoyable breakfast and lunch, the stage was pretty much set. There was nothing else to do but play, and we knew it . The locker room was quiet and packed with tensions and anxiety. Speaking for myself but I am sure most of the team would agree that this was going to be the biggest game any of us had ever played. Yeah, a lot of us have played in high school championships, but this was different. I have played in a few championship high school football games, and in the biggest one of them all, I had to step up and play my starting position on defense while also fulfilling my job as the second string quarterback after our starting quarterback got injured. All I can say is that those feelings as a junior in front of 4,000 people honestly did not skim the surface of how I felt in that old locker room Wednesday afternoon. Looking around seeing everyone dialing in, starring either down at the ground or up at the ceiling, I was pumped...

The game could not have gone any better in terms of external factors. We were focused, humble, and ready to shut them up. I just think it came down to opportunities and with huge missing pieces to our success all year such as junior Tommy Kilderry (suffered a concusion the last game), freshman Nick Parrella (ejected form the last game, carries a one game suspension), sophomore Charlie Dullea (who has been out with a torn hamstring, but due to the loss of Parella attempted to give it a go), and Joey Krammer (who did eventually play, but suffered a high ankle sprain that limited his mobility greatly the game before). We were walking in man down, but we were determined and were going to fight to the end. The game started the way any team would want. The opening face-off led to a fast break pass to Joey who was robbed in front by the goalie. Even with a turn over we were still able to go up on the board first. All game it was back and forth, back and forth. At the end of the day we had some shots that we wish would have been a little better, some defensive plays that we wish would have not happened, and some face-offs that I wish I could have contested better. Having said all that,  NOTHING that happened during that entire game was due to a lack of focus, preparation, desire, will, or heart. We left it on that gross grass field and every player and coach knows it. It just was not enough that day.

The history throughout this conference is unbelievable, and it is more inspiring and personal when you wear the letters across your chest of the team who is the underdog, year after year.
Here are some facts listed in the SUNYAC website.

Top 15 Countdown: Things You Really Need To Know

1. 2012 marks the 11^th annual SUNYAC Men’s Lacrosse Championship.

2. This is the second time in tournament history that Plattsburgh has qualified for the tournament (previously appearing in 2009).

3. Cortland and Geneseo have qualified for the tournament every year, while Oneonta will be making its ninth appearance.
4. Cortland has served as the number #1 seed in the tournament nine times and Geneseo has been the #1 seed twice.

5. The #1 and #2 seeds have advanced to the finals every year of the tournament.

6. The #2 seed has won the Championship four times (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009).

7. The championship game has featured a Cortland v Geneseo matchup eight times (2003-2010). The first tournament in 2002 was Cortland v Oneonta and the 2011 tournament was Cortland v Potsdam.

8. Cortland has won eight tournament titles and Geneseo has won two (2004 and 2007).

9. Cortland is the league’s hottest team entering the SUNYAC Tournament. The Red Dragons are undefeated this season at 16-0 and rank second in the nation. 
10. Oneonta’s only SUNYAC playoff win was in 2002 against Oswego.

11. Plattsburgh has never won a post-season game.
12. Geneseo is 10-8 in SUNYAC post-season play including 1-0 against the Cardinals.

This program will change these facts one day, I am sure of it...

I just have to take a deep breath from that. I am for a loss of words when I even try to explain what those last minutes truly felt like, looking up at the score board, knowing it was over. How badly I would have wanted to get one more chance at a tie game, 6-6, when we were trailing by 1, and just give my team that possession in what ever fashion and just giving us that shot to win it. I know it would have been different. I know Tucker wishes he could have made one more check or hit earlier in the game that might of caused a change. I know Caufield wishes he was on that field and not on the sideline. What I really know though is that will never happen, but it sure does feel good to dream.

Well enough.. So what is going on now? The semester is coming to an end very soon and the work just seems like it is never going to end even when the semester is long over. I am currently compiling all the film we have so I can begin an end of the year highlight film. I still have a list of things to blog about such as the careers of the three seniors, individual and team accolades, end of the year awards, switch up game, and then I guess my short time at being the author of this blog will be over. I will also have a blog where I post a bunch of photos as well, probably when the video is complete, just so you all can have some to enjoy, and that will probably be it. I hope to have another post before the semester ends but I cannot promise.

I cannot believe it is basically over... Have a great night, and hope to hear from me soon

-Mike Santi #12

This is it...

It is a very simple concept that has been around since the creation of sports. "Win or go home." Simply put, nice and sweet, and right to the point. Wednesday we beat Geneseo and live to fight another day, or lose and reminisce about the highlights of this season. What is it going to be boys?

I really can not write right now without pouring out all my emotions of Saturday's loss on this page. All I can say is it does not feel like it is our time to go home. I can not really put it in words. If you witnessed Saturday's game you would know what I mean. Playing a game that can easily be summed up as our sloppiest game played this season, we are determined to make Wednesday one hell of a rematch. I am not going to sit here and point fingers at this or that, but I know that personally this could be my last game in a Plattsburgh State uniform and I am going to go balls to the wall. Saturday was tough because I did not play one of my best games, and I let one of my flaws overtake me and it took me out of my game. I feel bad for my teammates, because with a couple of more possessions out of me it could have been a different game early on, but mentally I am moving on and am excited that I get a rematch. I think Tucker Glass needs to be talked about. A senior captain who played beyond expectations, absolutely shutting down one of their deadly offensive players in the second half. I know he is greatly excited for the opportunity that is in front of us. I know that every player wishes they can take back some part of Saturday if you ask them, but that is what is so awesome, is that on Wednesday, everything you wanted to take back you can do differently.

On the bus ride home, Tucker could not have said it any better.  I am paraphrasing, but this is close..."We will think about what we did on the ride home and we will come out Monday and Tuesday and outwork them, and then on Wednesday we will run them off the field..." I think Wednesday you can expect us to play some great lacrosse, and mistakes are going to be made, but we will make fewer, and if we play how we are capable then that bus ride home is going to feel a lot different.

I have little to say... this is the biggest lacrosse game that I have ever been a part of and my demeanor has just completely changed right since we arrived home. I know this has been short, not detailed, not sweet, or anything, but right now there is nothing to be up about other then the fact that we have another shot at these guys. That is all... See you Wednesday.

-Mike Santi #12

#whydoyouplay lacrosse part 2....

Playoffs! You wanna talk about playoffs?! Ya kiddin me?... Except not this time

What a day yesterday turned out to be! Unbelievable. Playoff implications, rain, senior day, and a team who ruined our season last year, all on one field. So last blog I explained what exactly was on the line for yesterday's game. Win and your in, three seed automatically, playing Geneseo next weekend for the two seed. Lose and next weekend would basically be a must win. The lesson yesterday that I think was clearly evident, was when playing in-conference games you should throw out all the earlier box scores and statistics, because it does not mean crap. On paper, are we the better team, with record and statistics to show it? Yes. Would that make Brockport bend over and surrender to us? Certainly not. They knew what they accomplished last season, after defeating us allowed them to earn the 4th seed in the conference tournament while knocking us out with the tiebreaker, and they were determined to do it again.
With weather not particularly on our side, it was going to be a battle of wills. With warm-ups going quite similar to that of Potsdams, I was taking back when I realized how much trash-talking they were capable of. With a first quarter much similar to that of the Potsdam game, worrisome emotions were starting to awake. 5-1 at the end of the first quarter resulted completely in time of possession heavily favored by them, sloppy defense, and a sloppy start at the X by myself. Fighting back in the second, hard rides, face-off wins, and transition play are what really closed the gap for us. Always down by one or two it was always a nail biter. Back and forth we rallied in the second half, until huge saves, I mean HUGE -like enormous- like mammoth, saves by Gordie are what kept us alive and fighting to the end. With our attack really taking advantage of their skill sets, we were able to generate most of our offense through them. Sophomore Anthony Pafundi with an over hand high to low shot is what tied it up at 9, with about 3 minutes left. Even with the ensuing face-off victory, it was still not enough to keep us out of overtime. Overtime was nerve racking. Both teams had possessions during the 4 minute period, and with a shot by Travers that was an inch or "post" away from being the game winner, we were heading to double OT. In double overtime and the face-off possession, I remember just running off, taking a knee, and feeling my stomach twist and turn as I watched on. It was probably a two minute possession until Kildo, using his strength and quickness, backed into their largest defensemen and with a couple of quick rocker turns shot a lefty bouncer right past the goalie's hips. Game-Set-Blouses. And here is what happened next...

 

 

I think you get the idea. It felt just amazing. Personally it has been the main goal and I almost want to say expectation, since my class arrived. Make playoffs. "You guys are a young team, who when you are junior and seniors will be a very good team." Well we are that very good team right now. However, with all feelings sky high right now, we must come back down and focus on the entire next week. We have a huge out of conference game against RPI, who has been in and out of the top 20 the entire season.

With a ton of work to do right now, I do not have time to talk about senior day and the three guys it was shared with in this blog. I will make a blog dedicated to the three of us, similar to how DeFran did for his class, but maybe I will do that when the season is officially over, because right now we are not going anywhere. So stay tuned for that. I am also getting good footage for the "I play Lacrosse because" video, and I plan to have that out pretty soon. 

Until next time... Mike Santi #12

Mission Not Accomplished Yet...

Oh man was Wednesday your typical Plattsburgh vs. Potsdam hard fought nasty game. What else is there to say really? With their backs against the conference wall, it was essentially do our die for Potsdam. The same team who played in the SUNYAC Championship last year against Cortland was face to face with the reality that their post season dreams could be ended. The only thing standing in their way of a chance of a repeat of last season was us. Their hatred along with the position they faced caused for an interesting warm up. With both teams trash talking back and forth on their sides of the midfield line, this game was definitely going to live up to the bad blooded rivalry that is always talked about.
With relentless determination to not face their freight destiny, the bears sure did come out hot. Scoring three fast unanswered goals off of three consecutive possessions, a timeout and a deep breath is what we needed to turn things around. With the ensuing face-off won by us, it did not take long to turn things around. Scoring five straight goals to end the quarter, there was no looking back. Although we maintained the lead throughout the whole game, they were always on our tails. In the fourth quarter down four, things began to get real chippy. Late hits, penalties, and more trash talking on the field and sidelines all made for non-sincere end of the game hand shakes and good lucks. In the locker room after the game, Coach Pedrick made an awesome call by awarding freshman Andrew Tralango --A T--, a game ball. Although this is not something we do traditionally, it was totally well deserved. He played his @ss off the entire game, coming up with tough groundballs and delivering big hits. He is a huge part of this team, especially being a freshman and playing like he did in a conference game was just tremendous.
So where are we now? Tomorrow we host the Golden Eagles of Brockport, where if we win, we are in. A victory tomorrow will ensure us a three seed in the conference tournament, and then we will fight it out most likely with  Geneseo for the two seed and home field for the first round. That is looking too far ahead though. Brockport is a solid team who is fighting to make their post season dreams as they did last year. We have been practicing with an understanding at what is at stake on Saturday. We lost a tough one to them last year at Brockport, and I know for that game is lingering in all of the older guy's minds. Today we have a lighter practice, followed by film where we can look at our match ups more closely.
Following the game on Saturday, the team and coaches will be hosting another clinic for the kids up here in efforts to spread the game of lacrosse in the North Country. Last week was our first clinic after our Oswego victory. Things went great, and there was a surprisingly large amount of kids and parents. These kids are hockey players and are tough boys and girls. It just comes down to culture and lacrosse is not a big part of theirs. We hope to see even more people this time around and encourage them to come out and support us during the game as we fight to get a big win.

Alright so on a different note. Alumni Dan DeFran is back with his creative thinking and has produced a video where he asks players over in England, Why do you play? Instantly after watching it, I thought what a great idea if I made one, interviewing the guys on the team, coaches, and even the kids at tomorrow's clinic. Lacrosse is not just a sport, it has seriously become a lifestyle for many. There is such a innovative movement that has been created by the "lax bro lifestyle" that these comments vary greatly. Some play to live the lifestyle, some play because they love it like any sport, some play for chicks, and some are just hereee for the gearrr. Stay tuned because I will be producing a video similar to DeFran's. As an attempt to get some reactions nationally, I brought the question over to Twitter, where I have tried to make it a trending topic to receive, what should be, some clever answers. #whydoyouplay

if you did not see DeFran's video, you can check it out here...
 http://www.lacrosseplayground.com/i-play-lacrosse-because/

-Mike Santi #12

Ball is in our court...time to play

Wow it is a great feeling being back on the winning side of things! All emotions feel even better because both wins were against conference teams. It has been a little while since the last blog. I remember just typing aimlessly, trying to come up with words to sound good. I was just really in the dumps after that tough three game losing streak. Well, we are back. The guys have come together through intense practices and long film sessions, in order to prepare for these past two games. Basically two games with huge implications. The fate of this season would be determined by the outcomes on both Saturday and Wednesday.
There was a lot of talking going on inside the locker room about Oswego. With the past two years having gone our way against them, you knew they were ready to hand it to us. Having also beaten Ithaca earlier in the season in triple OT and seeing how we suffered to them 10-5, they had in their minds that this year things would change. Unfortunately for them, they were heavily mistaken. Just a complete team effort and intensity was brought to the field on Saturday. With most of the team's parents and friends in attendance, due to the holiday weekend, the boys put on quite the show. 51 seconds into the game, Kramer put our first goal on the board. We just exploded from then on out, scoring 6 unanswered and leading 7-0 at half. A big day for myself at the X along with 9 saves by Gordie Ghering allowed for Oswego to never even think of making it interesting. Final 13-4.
With a solid statement win, we enjoyed the rest of the weekend with our families and friends. Back strapped up on Monday, we hit the field destined to do something that has never been done in this programs history, Beat Oneonta at home. With the past victory behind us, we focused on a team that we have played close almost every year. Practicing to their strengths to prepare our defense and middies really allowed us to be fully prepared. We even had Division 1 Coach Pedrick suit up to replicate their best player in our minds. Film allowed us to explore weaknesses to exploit in the actually game. I will say, there were not many. We were prepared to play just a good team, well balanced and equipped with some players that could play at a very high level. With the right preparation and focus in mind, we knew was not enough to get us the win. We would have to play an entire 60 minutes, and completely keep them out of the game, because we are familiar with what it is like if we let them hang in there. Last season, with the major help of their face-off man, they rallied a comeback that almost put us in the losing column.
Tim Lawrence just played a fantastic game, scoring the the first two goals of the game within the first three minutes of play. Suddenly tied up at 3-3, Lawrence scored his third of the day to give us the lead that we would then not let up. Sophomore Anthony Pafundi, had a big day as well, adding a hat trick that solidified a 13-8 victory for the Cards. This year our long stick middies did a great job at just completely shutting down their best players and causing multiple transitional goals as well. As always we had a wonderful tailgate provided by some of the best parents. The Kilderry's who make the trip up just about every Wednesday game, which we all know is extremely hard to do considering work schedules. The Olsens, McClellands, Mr. Phillip/ Tolan (they are like a package) and who ever else I missed, we just appreciate as a program all the effort that you guys put in to be great fans.

Nothing really more going over here right now. Back to practice tomorrow, and more school work. Oh! Let me not forget to remind everyone to tune into tomorrow's NHL playoff match up between the NY Rangers and the Ottawa Senators. Go Rangers! Now that hockey is almost coming to an end, all we have left is baseball and basketball, SOO depressing! Although I am a big Knicks fan also, but despise baseball...

We have no game this weekend, so all of our focus will be aimed at next weeks rivalry versus Potsdam. A large "unfavorite" for pretty much anyone who has played here.

Keep racking of views on all the videos on YouTube (MJSLAX12) All you have to do is type that in on the search bar and all my videos will come up.

Last night I watched this documentary on Harvard Lacrosse... Just fell in love with it basically. It is something I really would love to do for this program but am just so limited with equipment and also the fact that I play for the team. Who knows, maybe in the future...take a look in your spare time




Have a good night..


-Mike Santi

Perserverance is Genius and Patience is a Virtue

"Stop moaning because it didn’t happen today. Nothing happens in a day. It’s exactly the same on any journey, focus on the bigger picture, have fun along the way (ie enjoy the journey, if you’re not, quit and try another journey), you’ll get there and it’ll get better. Just keep making the small iterative changes, be proactive, you can probably get there faster than you think (even if it’s not overnight)."

I think this excerpt goes perfect to how this season is going so far.
Q. Are we happy with what has happened during the last three games? A. No, we are certainly not.
Q. Can we step back and look at the bigger picture? A. Absolutely, SUNYAC conference play coming up this weekend.

After last night's loss which extended our brutal three game loosing streak, the team's morale has been pretty low. Clarkson as I explained in the last blog was a tough pill to swallow because of how the tempo of the game did not match ours and it really hurt us. Looking forward to a tough challenge that Saturday, we were determined to show how much of a threat we can be this year in the conference at Cortland. Again, no need to re-iterate, but those of you who read this and follow us obviously understand Cortland's dominance in the conference for the last 10 years. It is just getting old, and we really felt like it was a great day for an upset. We were mistaken. On a positive note, it was not a game where hustle, focus, or attitude were missing elements. Honestly, Cortland was better at capitalizing on our mistakes, and they made us pay for each one of them. At the end of the day, to beat a team of their skill you need to play a near flawless game, and we just did not.

Having lost those two games, we really felt like our preparation needed adjustment. Practices starting Monday were more intense. We knew that if we learned from our prior mistakes, we could finally beat the same team who has had a complete dominance over this program, St. Lawrence. Last year was the closest we had ever gotten. We fell short in overtime 8-7, and it was a real heart breaker. The irritating thing about this match-up is that St. Lawrence feels as if they should not even be on the same field as us. We came out fast and strong, playing our tempo of lacrosse and going up 1-0 real early in the game. We struggled at the X, and defensively we did not have our best day. Tied 5-5 after the 1st, St. Lawrence has a second quarter that all teams dream of, scoring 8 unanswered goals. In the second half, we rallied a 6 point come back, but it was just not enough.

A three game loosing streak never feels good, but like that quote says, it'll get better. Now that the bigger picture is amongst us, we hope to get back on track. Oswego this Saturday will be the second in-conference game this season, and although it will not be a walk in the park, we are determined to get to 1-1 in the conference and get rid of this loosing taste.

So after about 15 denials from YouTube, 30 song changes, and over 75 hours of accumulated time spent on this, the spring break video is finally here. What a hassle it is has been. With a complete swap of all original songs over three times, I finally figured it all out at about 2 am last night. So here it is, enjoy!

Once Upon a Time..

Once upon a time, in a little city called Plattsburgh, lived a hungry little cardinal with the tenacity and courage of a lion... Okay who am I kidding, I am an elementary ed major, not an author of books for elementary school kids, although that did not sound too bad.

How is everyone doing on this brisk Thursday night? I hope all you readers are in a warm comfortable environment and if you are, stay there, if you are not so lucky, like myself, well layer up! It is amazing how fast the days go by when I think of the last time I blogged. I have been overwhelmed with a couple of midterms and student teaching, and things have just been moving so fast.

I apologize, I am just not full of words tonight which is shocking. I left you last time before we left for Morrisville. Man what a ride that was, can we say middle of nowhere? After finally arriving we began warming up. The opposing team then came marching down hootin' and hollerin'.. REAL trash talkers! I think that they expected that to intimidate us but instead it just pissed us off. We used this anger to come out with a quick 6-goal quarter that was enough to hold them off. After a hot first quarter we did not play with the same intensity but still managed to accomplish what we set out for. Although we pulled off the W, it felt as though our minds were focused on the week to come. Even though this win felt good, we wanted to get a win that would prove our legitimacy. We knew that the next two games (Clarkson and Cortland) would be the perfect opportunity.

I was going into this game having never lost to Clarkson. We knew that this team would be more challenging this year having been a young team who were finally coming together. The game came down to two things, time of possession and penalties. Clarkson did a good job of keeping the ball away from our best players, and we just could not find a way to give our man-down defense and Gordie a break. It is the interesting aspect of the game of lacrosse which often gets overlooked, TOP. Time of possession is huge. You can have Paul Rabil, Mikey Powell, and even Rory Pedrick all on the same team and if you limit their touches, you could beat the best of them all. Now, nothing against Travers, Brett, or Tommy, but they are no Paul Rabil. However, they are some of our best players and when they play more defense than offense, something is not going the way you want it to. Well anyways, I guess you can tell where this is going. We lost 10-7 in a game where they just played to their strengths better then we did.

Now the point of this blog was to catch everyone up, put the 2012 spring break video up, and finally talk about Cortland. Well your caught up, and the video is still uploading, so Cortland it is. What more is there to say? #2 team in the nation, plays fast and tough, the favorites in just about every game they play, and the list could continue but then I would sound like I am a fan, and I am not...Is this not why sports are played? Is this not why we workout so hard in the off-season? A lot of the guys especially my year, know what it feels like to get stomped on by them two years in a row. I think this year we know what we have to do, we know how we must play almost perfect, but that is what we have prepared to do, and we know it will not be easy, nothing worth anything ever is, but that is what makes it worth while.
Personally, I just do not want this season to be looked at as being a team who beat up on weak teams and got bent over by stronger teams.

Tomorrow we have a 7:30 AM practice to go over some things for Saturday. We leave at 3pm for our hotel in Cortland. I need to get some shut eye for this practice, but before I go, what you have allllllll been waiting for.. The 2012 Spring Break video...

-Enjoy Mike Santi


sikkke.. due too some seriousssssssssss complications this video has been edited probably 15 times and I can am still having problems with YouTube. These copyright laws and regulations really chap my @ss..  it will be out soon

On The Road Again-Willie Nelson

Six long away games, one home opener, and here we are, back on the road again for another three straight games. Before I get ahead of myself, let me recapture Wednesday's home opening victory over Norwich University. With fuels running very low after a long spring break and only Sunday to recuperate, we were back at the drawing boards in preparation for the Cadets of Norwich. Norwich is most notably known for being a Military College, as well as for having an outstanding hockey program that competes in division three. The Cadets were coming in 0-2 and hungry for a victory. We knew we seriously could not just take them easy or else it would be an embarrassing performance in front of our home crowd, who put on quite the attendance show. It was probably due to the gorgeous weather that we have been having up here in the burgh.

With all conditions perfect and a brand new mix tape that I put together the night before that got us pretty pumped, no excuses could be made now. A huge night from Travers, Hastings, and Lawrence and it was pretty much the beginning of the end for the Cadets. Our defense ( Lind, Phillips, and Gargiulo/Glass) and Gordie played exceptional, only allowing 1 goal before they were retired for the night. However we did suffer a minor lose that night with a scary yet not serious injury to Joey Kramer. Joey doing what Joey does, as you guys might have seen in the recent video, threw a one handed wrap check where he actually dislocated his shoulder. With the help of our doctor and training staff, a quick 1, 2, and 3... and it was popped back in, but still was the conclusion of his night. At the end of the game, I think you can give a great deal of compliments to the guys who normally do not play a lot, and when they all got in, they showed that they are capable of stepping up and that they are not just fading away due to playing time. Guys like AT (Andrew Tralango) who is just on the verge of being a big contributor, had his first collegiate goal in some pretty fashion. Freshman Frankie Falcone held it down at the face-off X going two for two and hitting pipe twice on two good shots.

Okay, well I have been working diligently on the spring break video but with other larger issues like midterms, housing for next semester, and scholarships going on, I cannot issue a release date yet. It is currently 11:30 and I am the only one in this blue room left for the night, kind of creepy. Tomorrow we head 4 1/2 hours to Morrisville at 8AM. Game is scheduled for 3PM. The team will be with out a couple of key players, Joey Krammer (injury), Mike Lind (sickness), and Will Hockenjos (injury), but we will have to get it done.

Before I go I want to give another crazy shout out to MIT again. They somehow have received top 20 votes on InsideLacrosse for this past week. With a 2-1 record I do not know what constitutes such a decision but hey, I am a huge fan of what they are doing over there and I have much respect for all the guys sticking this season out and playing with what you have and making it work. That is what defines TEAM, if you ask me.

Wrapping this night up, because rest is much needed, I leave you with two pretty awesome videos. One is one that I had much to do with in terms of the editing process. It is an inside GoPro video look of snowboarding and skiing Whiteface Mountain, a huge attraction up here in North Country, filmed by sophomore Alex Carnoxide featuring coach Pedrick and sophomore Anthony Pafundi. The second is a a documentary of a very, very talented high school lacrosse team in which one of our own is from. Jamesville-Dewitt, Gordie Ghering's alma mater, has been featured in Inside Lacrosse on their tremendous accomplishments at the high school level. The video is done pretty awesome if you ask me.

Hope to see you all tomorrow. Good night.

-Mike Santi #12

Bitter Sweet...but still sweet

Does anyone have an extra hand I could borrow, seriously?! Things have been out of control for me lately. I have been doing things like a mad man honestly. Currently I am working on the three YouTube Videos, one is of the first trip down to Long Island for the first two games, the second of spring break from LI to Philly to Virginia Beach, and the third is an awesome look at some snowboarding clips filmed on Whiteface Mountain which kind of gives future recruits a look at how awesome it is up here. On top of that I am trying to make the ideal warm up tape for Wednesday's home game versus Norwich. ON TOP of THAT I am trying to be a productive student and study for my midterms next week as well as being able to keep my eyes open while student teaching full days in a third grade class room. That is hard enough with a full nights rest, let alone 5-6 hours. The guys in Virginia Beach were all busting my chops, "why do you do it?" "How come you are the one that got put in charge of doing all this stuff?" Truthfully, I do it because I enjoy doing it, I know sometimes it is a lot and I probably put too much time and effort into it, but I know it is for a good cause and in the future I will be able to go on YouTube and search for these videos to show my friends and even kids. (Yeah dad, it will not be some grainy fuzzy black and white film where numbers can hardly be made out so you can tell me that is you scoring all the touchdowns when I can barely see.--pure tough love for the old man)

Take a look of my computer screen... The blog top left, warm up tape, top right, and video editor bottom. Yikessss.


So anyways, like I said on the previous blogs, I am making these short and sweet from now on, that is the new motto. Except for this blog, there is little sweet and more sour a taste in my mouth as I quietly reiterate what I am going to write next. First off, this spring break was by far with out a doubt the most enjoyable break I have had in my experience at Plattsburgh. I mean truthfully everything just went great. Starting off in Long Island and getting a win to start the break off was huge. Having a night to stay home one last time with the family was also great. After the wonderful fundraising event out in Kings Park, the trip to Philly felt like a breeze. We stayed in a wonderful hotel with amazing views that only money could top. Only thing not good about Philly was the Ursinus game. As a player, you lose and you say okay short memory and you move on, and you learn from there. Ursinus was a huge test coming in for us, and I think everyone felt as if it just slipped through our fingers.

Well moving on... right after a tough loss the team made the 8 hour trip down to Virginia Beach, arriving at about three o clock in the morning. Please do not jump back in your chair, it is a reoccurring theme for this trip as you will see later. I must say it was completely worth it, boy was Virgina Beach unbelievable. Beach front views 24/7 for four days! I was in paradise. All of us took advantage of all of our time there by waking up early the following morning and walking the beach and the boulevard which was filled with shops for tourists like myself. In the last blog I showed you all a picture of our hotel views, so I will let you all wait for the spring break video for more inside looks.

Down there we faced off against number 17th ranked Ithaca University who we knew coming in was going to be a challenge, but nothing that we could not compete with. The game was hard fought but it came down to who played better for those two hours and Ithaca did indeed. We wrapped up the trip with an opponent who this program is nothing but familiar with, Western Connecticut. Coming in with a 3-0 streak against them (noted to me by alumni Dan DeFran) we were not looking to wrap up break with a third straight loss. Even with a tough day at the faceoff X for myself, the guys had my back and we were able to pull through with a 12-7 win to extend the streak to 4-0. Back on the bus we went after a great tailgate provided by the parents who made the trip all the way down from all parts of New York. 12 hours, ETA to Plattsburgh, 3:30 AM. Someone get me a Tylenol PM!

So you read the title and might of wondered why I chose bitter sweet... When you think back to last year and our spring break and the video you might have all seen, you might remember that we went 4-0, which brought our overall to 6-0 on the year at that point. This year just feels different. Going 2-2 actually does not feel that bad, I think myself as well as others feel that the level of competition was more beneficial to this program as well as us as a team. We are aware what the top teams in the nation are doing and what we can do to beat some of the better teams coming up on our schedule by suffering these loses now. It has definitely been eye-opening to say the least. I think you will see a big improvement in our overall team play when our schedule picks up soon.

I must go now, I am uploading this first video of Maritime and Farmingdale, which you can see below. It is certainly not my best, but like I said, I am pressed for time and I hope you enjoy it anyways.. Wednesday is our home opener against Norwich University at 7pm. I hope you can all make it and if not I am pretty positive there will be live stats. Also I encourage you still to enter the world of Twitter. My newest followers are the Dullea's who were able to enjoy the live stats versus Western Connecticut that a team member provided. (@Platts_lax)

I want to also throw a shout out to my little bro who scored his first collegiate goal this season like myself. However, I might be a little embarrassed to mention that he plays defense. MIT is on a roll and they are really fighting with what they have. Great job boys! #Engineers #NerdPride #31
Until next time...

-Mike Santi #12

Short and Sweet Please

Hey everyone, okay so I had a "realization" on the bus back to the hotel tonight. After reading some division 1 team blogs, I decided that it makes a lot more sense to write more often but make it right to the point. Until now I had been saving up loads and loads of news, gossips, and what not to compile into large blogs. I realized it has been becoming hard to remember all the good details you guys want to hear.

Okay so let me catch everyone up. Currently we are 3-2, but we are rewinding back to the beginning of this spring break. The first game of break started down in Long Island again. Haha who can complain about playing on Long Island? It never gets old! All of our fans packed out the bleachers at Levittown Saturday night, it was great. Manhattanville was no cake walk but we got it done. Most of the guys suspended from first couple of games were back and able to play. Freshman James Read really stepped up to the plate and fulfilled the void lost by injured freshman Brendan Damn by scoring nine points, 5 goals 4 assists. His performance earned him SUNYAC Player of the Week, congrats Read. Now, usually I am not a selfish person, but I got to get it out there for those fans who were not there to witness, and for the stat keepers who messed up. Not to take anything away from James, but he only scored 4 goals. The other goal was from a guy named Mike Santisteban. I officially recorded my first goal of the season versus Farmingdale and my second in this game. Just throwing that out there. It is not being selfish, I am just trying to catch up to some guy named Kyle Norchi. Keep chipping away man.

Following a great fund raising event in Kings Park on Sunday, the team headed off to the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. We prepped ourselves by watching consecutive episodes of Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I was pretty excited to visit a new city and be able to compare it New York, but then again is anything really comparable? We arrived at about 11pm and the whole team was pretty blown away by the rooms we were staying in. 10th and 11th floor suites with flat screen tvs, full kitchen, dinning room, and a balcony views that would impress just about anyone. Most of the guys just hit the hay the first night to rest up for our first day off. The next day we toured Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was pretty awesome, but pretty boring, sorry John Wayne (our tour guide).
(This painting lies inside Independence Hall, but the funny thing is, it is a painting of the signing of the Constitution and not the Declaration of Independence.) Oh well...


Is everybody here familiar with the U, formerly known as the University of Miami? Well I guess Ursinus did not get the message. I do not want to talk trash, but cmon man. You can not represent a small school in Pennsylvania as the 'U', hundreds of miles away from the real thing. Well anyways, Ursinus was finally going to be a true test for us, and everyone was pretty pumped to go out there and make a statement. I do not want to make excuses but I really think we shot ourselves in the foot and it is frustrating because if you were not there to see how poorly we played and just looked at the box score, you would not understand.

Alright I know this was not my best, but I needed to just catch things up. Right now we are in beautiful Virginia Beach and we are loving it. I will have another blog up on the bus ride home after Saturdays game versus Western Connecticut. I am also working on a video for YouTube that I think is just going to be a compilation of some game clips and clips from us just hanging out. You will be able to get a better picture of how great things have been so far on this trip. You can get a little tease by this picture of our view from our rooms.
Stay tuned on Twitter or check back in soon to read about the rest of our trip. Hopefully the video will be ready soon also.

-Mike Santi #12

Are titles obligatory? How Aboutt... A lot to write, a lot to read, and not a lot of time...

After a short night of sleep, a full day of teaching, and a nice swim session at Memorial, I am finally ready to sit down and write this bad boy. Question is where do I begin...? So most of you have already seen the publication of some of our gear on LacrossePlayground.com. Well, not too long after, InsideLacrosse published an article featuring our three captains wearing our new jerseys from photos taken by our assistant coach Jared Burns.
--Found here for those who have not seen--
http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2012/02/29/suny-plattsburgh-gear-looking-spiffy-gear-zone

So last blog I told you how we were taking roster pictures that day. They are up on the site and damn we look good. Steph Dutton our SID, did a great job as always. Well guys, we do have some good ones...

The annual goofiest photo of 2012 goes to the one and only Peter Knutson. Caught in a moment that looks very personal, if you catch my drift.



The next one goes to a guy who has been getting a lot of photo action, but hey the swag here is undeniable. I mean the product, the chops, the stash, it is just ALL there.
Moving right along. Friday we left at 10am for Long Island. Setting record time by any bus driver I have been with, Paul da man got us down their in about 5 hours. It is always great to play at Maritime, especially for me because I spent two summers there for football camp and had some good memories there. All of us were really focused and just excited to play guys in different colored jerseys. Let me tell you, five weeks of pre-season really gets to you after a while, and this first game was a display of how hard we have been working and our potential from here on out. We really came out with a bang against them, and as an upperclassmen, it was good to see us continue that intensity after halftime as well.
Tailgate hosted at the end of the game was phenomenal as usual. I really am not just saying that to sound like a suck up. Our parents are simply unbelievable. This parent association I think has exceeding any persons', who have been associated with this program, expectations. You could not get the same food at the fanciest catering hall, and trust me, been there done that. I really want to thank the Krammers. I mean come on. They are just out of this world. The shoes that had to be filled after Donna Glynn left were enormous and Veronica Krammer has slipped into them as if they were a pair of her own. I do not know if the news has been spread. I am sure it has, but Joey -Filth- Krammer was awarded SUNYAC Player of the week with his 11 point weekend. I think his parents should be named SUNYAC Parents of the week especially for organizing the dinner Saturday afternoon at the Lindenhurst pavilion. You just can not ask for more.
So Sunday we faced off against Farmingdale in a rematch of last years disappointing loss. As far as we were concerned, we were the underdogs with something to prove. We knew it was going to be a close one, with factors like time of possession, ground-balls, and face-offs being the difference. Personally I had a chip on my soldier from a poor performance last year that I was urging to get rid of. With a stance full of Plattsburgh fans, better then a home game actually, we really played a sufficient first half. I was able to get my first collegiate goal, and man did it feel good (88 BABY). Hopefully that will not be my last. With the great play of our goalie Gordie, a scoreless second half for us was enough to hold them off. Unfortunately a big win also brought a big loss. Freshman Brenden Damm suffered a broken collarbone midway through the game and is officially out for now. Everyone is wishing him a fast and healthy recovery.
Okay we are almost there! I want to congratulate coach Ryan for a 2-0 start to his head coaching career, but I know him well and I know he is no where close to satisfied with where we are. We had the day off of practice today which was much needed. This week we prepare for the first of four games during our spring break down in LI, PA, and VA (notice how LI is abbreviated as if it is a state, yeah that is righttt). Yup, no Mexico or Punta Cana for us, strictly business. We hope to get some wins against some big name schools to finally earn some respect in division three. We know what we have to do and how we have to do it. I think that it will be one of the most intense and fierce stretch of games until conference play.
So currently besides my school work I am working on a million things. I am trying to set up a photo sharing account on any website that is FREE, so far that has been nothing but a fail because of trial restrictions. I have a ton of photos from both games from my pops and my girlfriend's dad. I am talking close to 1,000 photos. If any parents or who ever wants any player or just some good shots you can send me an email at m.santi002@gmail.com and just let me know what you are looking for. As of now that project is on a hold because I am working on a warm up tape for my brothers lacrosse team over at MIT, as well as putting a video together of this weekend probably combined with spring break though, and I am trying to maintain being a student also. Man I should get a check from Plattsburgh State for this. I will also be randomly tweeting pictures that I think are good shots on @platts_lax, so if you still have not been convinced to make a Twitter, I would highly advise it. I would say there are close to 10 or 15 parent followers, 70 followers in all. It has received so much publicity, it is unreal. Well, if face-offs are not bad enough for my wrists, blogging will sure do the trick. I think I have said what needs to be said, and I must go study for a biology quiz. Two games into a long season ahead, but we achieved what we wanted this past week, and now need to continue to work hard this week in practice.
I wish you all a wonderful night.

-#12 Mike Santi

Two great shots from this weekend...


-it has to be played... after Tommy and Nicky decided it was a good idea to yell all the lyrics on the way up last night. Cheers to Sunday.

Finally Some Publicity...

Exciting news everyone! I have been working hard for about two weeks with the men and women at LacrossePlayground trying to get our new equipment, gear, and this program some national publicity. LacrossePlayground is a very well known website amongst all "laxers". After seeing SUNY Potsdam's new helmets getting some glamor on the website, I quickly emailed the writers over there and they were more then willing to do an article on us. Well here it is...

http://www.lacrosseplayground.com/plattsburgh-state-lacrosse-gear/

Those who follow @Platts_Lax on Twitter have already seen this news but I do understand that we have some old school fans so I rushed here to blog about it.

Lets see... The weeks feel pretty repetitive, and I think I speak for the whole team when I say we are just ready and anxious to finally play. The guys have been battling through injuries, sorenesses, and mental breakdowns. We are continuing to fight threw it so we can get the results we want next weekend down in Long Island in front of MOST of our fans. Being on the team for three years, I think it is funny when games in Long Island, (5 hours away), feel more like home games then games up here. It is all because of you guys, our wonderful fans and family. Even the parents from homes upstate or western New York come and support always and it is just motivation for us to play harder.

Today before practice we are taking our roster photos. This year unlike previous years before, we will be in shirt and ties. I assure you that there will be another annual selection for the goofiest photo on the team. Stay tuned to our website to check them out. I believe last year was Dan Field's but I could be wrong.

I really cannot update on anything else besides the fact that the weather has been decent until last night's snow fall of about 1-2 inches. I must get ready for my class and practice. It never stops!

I want to also give a shout out to the NY RANGERS and the NY KNICKS! Henrik Lundqvist and Jeremy Lin keep going baby!! We as a team really cannot wait for the first tailgate as well as the dinner Saturday night in Lindenhurst. Just being on ZZ Island will be great for all of us! Should be great!

FOLLOW @Platts_Lax, it is not too late!

-Mike Santi

-would not mind this every time we scored!

A Promise is a Promise

Hello fans, friends, and family! I am happy to be writing on this gorgeous sunny Super Bowl Sunday. In this Super Bowl game, the world will be watching two teams who have done nothing but amaze their fans in spectacular fashion during this decade. I can easily say I am a not a big fan of either team, especially the Giants. The sound in my mouth makes me want to vomit, but hey, I give credit where and when credit is due and I tip my hat to them. For another year, with their backs against the wall, the Giants have endured one of the toughest playoff journeys in NFL history. It should be a good one.

In my last post I promised that I would blog after the first week of practice, giving you guys kind of an idea of how things have been going. Well I have one word and one word only, COLD. On the first Monday practice we were thrown into a gauntlet battle with the baseball team inside the field house. The list of challenges included the mile run (very happy I was not chosen for that), tug of war, Indian wrestling, monkey suicides, and shuttle runs. By a dominating score of 150 - 45 (rounded) we sure proved why lacrosse players are that much better than baseball players, would you say so? Tuesday practice took place inside the field house. I know for all the alumni that are reading this, you guys all remember how much it just sucks in there. Hot dry stagnant air that lingers with the smell of pepper that just fills your lungs in the most unpleasant of ways. Yeah well that was Tuesday. In the past years, this regimen would be the same every day for the next 4 weeks depending on weather. Not this year people!

This year, Coach Cavanagh has invested a lot of faith in the material cotton. Some of you may have heard about it before, most sweatshirts and sweatpants are made out of it... Intended to keep one warm in cold weather elements right? Wrongg. From Wednesday on, we have been outside in temperatures of no higher than 35 degrees. This cotton material that I was explaining to you before, well yeahhh, it just does not do the job. The lovely turf field has been blanketed by a sheet of ice, blanketed by a sheet of snow. Coach Pedrick says, "Hey this is lax in north country baby," and hell yeah I am on board. It really has been something else. Weather aside, the team has been getting a lot accomplished and we are slowly developing and coming together. It really is appreciated when you can get those pre-season practices outside and the issue of space inside is no longer, well, an issue. Saturday was our first team scrimmage, and boy it was a good one. Up 3-1 for most of the time, the white team just needed to fend off the offensive threats of the red team. With a couple of costly turnovers, the game of lacrosse can change almost instantly. Tied 3-3, freshman Brendan Cefalu put one in for the white to go up 4-3. Mind you that game is 5. With the white defense getting a lot of action and playing real good, junior Nick Travers was still able to rip a nice shot off stick side of the goalie. Even with a face-off infraction that gave white the ball, the red team proved too resilient and junior Tommy Kilderry finished the game with a tough dodge and shot.

The guys have just been working on keeping their bodies healthy and as strong as possible. Ice baths, gym sessions, rehab, stim, and heating pads, have all become the daily routines for most of us. It really is a long pre-season, and guys like me who have done it before, understand and value you the rest we get on days like today and the equipment we have which helps in that effort as well.

Alright, well tomorrow is Monday and that means work and classes for most of us. I really appreciate all the recent followers I have accumulated on Twitter (@platts_lax). It is so good to see the parents keeping trendy with today's social networking and giving it a try. I will soon be "tweeting" a picture of the helmets with the new decals. I hope you understand that the Twitter aspect is great because it allows me to post new updates fast and easy. I do not have to write a blog just about helmet stickers, bags, or sticks. Enjoy the week everybody.

-Mike Santisteban


Haha how can I not? What a great Super Bowl that truly was, although I was 2! Good luck Madonna. Try to top this..

It is not the BCS, but the preseason ranks are in...

Well Happy New Year everyone, I hope that the first 13 days of 2012 have brought nothing but pleasant things to you all. Let us all enjoy the 341 days, 8218 hours, 493082 minutes, 29584957 seconds (to this moment) that we have left until the "Apocalypse". I am kidding people, lighten up.

There is nothing like starting a new year with all new things. For this blog, I have conjured up a list of 'all new Plattsburgh everything' to tell you guys about. Before we jump in and get our hands dirty, I must take a moment and talk about this winter, or for that matter lack of. I think you definitely know what I am talking about. We are 3 days away from being home for an entire month and there has not been the slightest sign of winter. Sunny clear blue skies with temperatures in the upper forties and fifties has been the consistent weather for the duration of this break. Hey, maybe this 2012 end of the world prophecy stuff is not too far off. Seriously though I can not complain, it has been great for anything outdoors, like running, surfing, practicing outside and what not. I am sure all the guys have been taking advantage of this opportunity and enjoying it as much as I have been.

Alright, so you read the title of this blog and might be wondering what I am talking about. Every year Inside Lacrosse, yes the same Inside Lacrosse that proud alumni and previous captain Dan DeFrancesco blogs for, releases a preseason ranking for all conferences in division three lacrosse. Heres how it lines up for the SUNYAC this season.

SUNYAC

Rankings

1. Cortland
2. Geneseo
3. Potsdam
4. Plattsburgh

5. Brockport
6. Oneonta

7. Oswego

As you can see we landed the 4th spot behind our close rival Potsdam. We beat them 11-6 in the regular season but they proved to be a strong team after stunning Geneseo 18-17 in the SUNYAC tournament, but falling to Cortland 16-3 in the SUNYAC finals. As well as the preseason rankings, Inside Lacrosse also creates a preseason All-Conference team which consists of the real stand out players from the prior season. The team and I are honored that one of our own for another consecutive year has made the list. I want to congratulate Nick Travers, whose 18 goal, 13 assist, 31 point season stats earned him this impressive achievement.

Preseason All-Conference

A Mike Tota, Cortland
A Peter Pike, Potsdam
A Greg Wright, Cortland
M Robbie Ashlaw, Potsdam
M Joe Slavik, Cortland

M Nick Travers, Plattsburgh
F/O Jimmy van de Veerdonk, Oneonta

LSM Jack Kennedy, Cortland
D Rashaun Durden, Potsdam
D Brian Winterfeldt, Cortland
D Derek Drance, Geneseo
G Scott Tota, Cortland

Traveling into some not so new news, coach Cavanagh wanted me to remind everyone of the gear package that is made available for additional orders unlike years prior. You can just print this sheet out, mark down the sizes and numbers you want next to the item (s). Mail all checks payable to Plattsburgh State Lacrosse. I know this gear is going to look awesome and I am anxious to see everyone sporting it at our games.

So here is the part you have all been waiting for. If you have not decided to follow @Platts_Lax via Twitter you probably have not seen the new Maverik bags that we will be using this year while traveling. Take a look at these bad boys...

As well as the bags, a decision for the new sticks and heads has been made. All black STX Professor heads with red STX Sabre shafts. Glad to see these mad the cut and not the bamboo shafts. Take a look...

I can certainly assure you that in the thirteen years of this programs history we have never looked so fresh before. From head to toe this team has been completely transformed. I know this sounds all great and dandy but these changes are just a small speck of the changes really being made to this program. With the new coaching changes along with the leadership of some familiar and some new faces, we are forming a team that is going to bring this program to that next step. With an exciting and tough schedule ahead, the preparation and hard work has already begun for most of us. We are going to have work extra hard this season with the lose of senior captain Danny Caufield who started every game in net for us last season. Danny suffered an unfortunate injury during the last practice of fall which kept him out of our fall ball game and unbeknown to him, the rest of the season. Danny is going to work with the younger goalies as well as the entire team to help us become the team he would of wanted to have for his last season. We owe him a great deal and we will certainly play our tails off for him.

Alright well I hope everyone loved all the new equipment and I can not tell you how excited I am to get back up there to start this spring semester. Once again I really want to urge everybody who follows Plattsburgh Lacrosse, and supports this program to please create a Twitter account and follow @Platts_lax. I really have some great ideas for the season pertaining to Twitter and its capabilities. DeFran is the one who originally came up with the idea of creating an account for fans to follow. I took that same idea and expanded it by creating a strictly Plattsburgh account, identical to the ones of many division 1, 2, and 3 teams all over the nation. It is going to allow Plattsburgh as an organization to gain more recognition nationally and show everyone how large our fan base is. If you have not read prior blogs, I already update images of new gear and equipment first hand before any of the blogs I write. I also keep followers updated with things we are doing on and off campus, such as community service and events done together as a team. For the season I have hopes on keeping updated scores at games that you guys might not be able to make. I know first hand that my old man gets very aggravated when the home team does not keep live stats and will even go so far as to paying for a live feed. So hopefully this will save money and some headaches.

Well I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the break, I will probably blog the weekend after our first week of practice to keep all you guys updated on how things are going. Take care and enjoy this weather and time with family and friends.

-Mike Santi

Some country music to change it up a little bit... I know Kilderry and Travers will enjoy this