Gary! Are You Serious? Pizza!?

...Hello!  I hope everyone had a nice weekend and for those celebrating, a Happy Easter!  Well, on a different note, winter made a little bit of a comeback here in Plattsburgh tonight.  Walked into my room and could have sworn in was mid-February.  I'm not going to complain though, the last two weeks have really given  me spring fever, and I knew karma was gonna get me when I posted Kenny Chesney's "Summertime" video on the last blog.  Oh well, anyways, lots to talk about in this one, as the Cards had a busy week facing North Country foe Clarkson, and of course playing the Red Dragons of Cortland this past Saturday...
...So after the long spring break, and the tough way in which we ended it, the team knew we needed a strong performance last Wednesday versus the Golden Knights to bounce back and gain some momentum heading into SUNYAC play.   After two great practices on Monday and Tuesday, the team was ready to go.  Clarkson is always a emotional and close game, and this year's was no different, as the game ended up being a real see-saw battle between the two squads.  After a half of solid defense from both squads, the Cardinals sat a goal down at halftime, 4-3.  The second half was more of the same.  We went on a nice three goal run to take a 6-4 lead, but the Knights climbed their way back into the game, eventually tying it up at 7 with only 3 minutes to play.  When the whistle blew and overtime began, the team had complete confidence that the game would be ours.  After a strong possession and some near misses, the goal finally came.  Dodging to his right and then rolling back, Senior captain Brett McClelland ripped a low-to-high blast in the upper right-hand corner, sealing the victory for Plattsburgh.  Although it was a non-league game, a win over a North Country rival always feels nice, and it gave the Cards some needed momentum and confidence as we headed into the weekend showdown with Cortland.  McClelland finished the day with a hat-trick, while Joey Kramer netted 2 of his own, and Timmy Lawrence,Tom Duggan, and Brendan Damm all added a goal of their each...
...Sitting at 8-1, the team, after nearly 2 months of practicing and playing non-conference games, was finally at the moment everyone was waiting for.  SUNYAC play was on, and if you ask any player of the program, they can tell you that there is just something different about the conference games.  The added intensity, physicality and overall emotion involved in the games makes them special and creates an "anything can happen" type of play.  The team, after another two solid practices, was ready and set to make history.  For quite some time, Cortland has been the bully of the SUNYAC's, and Plattsburgh has never beaten the Red Dragons...
...We felt, however, this year we could change that trend.  Talented, healthy, and determined, we were ready to face the #1 team in the nation.  The game setting was perfect; sunny, 55 degrees, an Awesomeee home crowd (probably the best I've seen in my four years here) and the #18 team versus the #1.  The whistle blew and Cortland jumped off to a fast start.  Up 5-1 only ten minutes into the game, we refused to let up.  With the advantage of a two-minute non-releasable penalty, we climbed our way back into the game.  Both teams delivered blows to the opposing defense, and the crowd in attendance got to witness a great battle.  Another back-and-forth game led to a tied score at halftime, 8-8.  The offensive pace slowed down, and with only 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 11.  Cortland, however, was able to go on a four goal run in the remaining ten minutes, converting on some transition opportunities and successfully playing keep away from the Cards as we desperately tried to make a come-back.  We made it a three goal game with just under two minutes left, but time was not on our side.  Huge day from a few players, as Joe Kramer finished with 4 goals, Timmy Lawrence with the hat-trick, Tom Duggan with two of his own, and Brett Mcclelland, Brendan Damm, and Nick Travers (who also had an awesome day at the face-off X) all finished with a goal each...
...A loss never feels good, but I think I speak on behalf of everyone, from the players to the fans, when I say that this game proved that this team is for real.  Although we fell a few goals short, we showed to ourselves and the rest of the lacrosse community that our team is talented, gritty  and can run with the best of them.  With the win over Clarkson and the close game against Cortland, the Plattsburgh Cardinals were yet again ranked in the Coaches Poll Top 20, moving up to the 16th spot!  A huge accomplishment for a young program, and our goal is to remain in the top 20 throughout the rest of the season.  We realize, however, that we now sit at 0-1 in the conference, and that we can not slip up in any upcoming conference games.  Our goal is to earn a home playoff game, and in order to guarantee that, we have to win every league game from here on out.  The competition will be tough, as SUNYAC play seems to be up this year, but we're confident we can get the job done.  First up this week is our last non-conference opponent, St. Lawrence.  Another team we have yet to beat and a North Country rival just like Clarkson, we want this win real bad.  I've lost to this team in OT and twice in real close battles, so more than any other non-conference game, I gotta get a win versus this team my senior year.  Huge thank you to all the parents that came up and helped with the tailgate, awesome as always, and another THANK YOU to the crowd that showed up Saturday to support us.  Hearing everyone supporting and cheering us on really added to the game, and without a doubt helped us when we were down early on.  I hope everyone can make the Wednesday game, and if not, can hopefully catch us at Oswego this Saturday at 1 p.m. as we look to even up our conference record.  Have a good week everyone...

And by request of midfielder Tom Duggan, here's a little taste of the 90's to get over that mid-week hump...

Celtic Pride

...Well, we have a lot to cover in this one, eh?  If you're confused about the title by the way, just ask anyone on the team and they'll all tell you its there new favorite movie.  There's a great chance this could be quite lengthy, so I apologize in advance.  I know I said I was going to attempt to keep up with the events and games of the team and make these blogs short and sweet, but this season is really non-stop with games, especially with this spring break week just behind us.  So we left off last time with your Cards being ranked 19th in the nation as we arrived in the city of Baltimore...
...As we woke up to the good news, the mood only got better when we gathered to head over to the aquarium in the Baltimore Harbor.  Although it seemed we had brought some North Country weather with us, we were pumped to head to the harbor.  Personally, best part of the Monday's trip was satisfying my Chipotle addiction, and for those who say Moes is better, well, you're wrong.  After lunch, we headed to the aquarium where we were able to see all sorts of marine life, from sharks too coral reef.  Favorite part of the aquarium for the majority of the team had to have been the dolphin show.  Pretty impressive stuff.  Oh, and they absolutely drenched Timmy Lawrence and Charlie Dullea at the very end.  Always a positive.  After the aquarium, the team went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.  First time there for me and I was pretty impressed, good food and cool atmosphere.  Anyways, team headed back to the hotel and prepared for the next day...
...So the Tuesday of spring break was definitely one of my favorites.  This may come across as a surprise but  the best part was practice.  Coach Cavanagh wanted to make sure we were prepared for Conneticut College on Wednesday, so he managed to get us two hours to practice at  Maryland University at College Park which is an awesome campus.  We practiced on the football/lacrosse practice field, but the Capital One stadium was just behind us, and that was an awesome sight.  After a quality, and warm (finally) practice, the team traveled to Tyler Forsyth's house for dinner, which he and his wife, Gail, put together for us.  It was an awesome meal and it meant a lot to us that an alumni would help out the current squad like that.  Safe to say in five years I probably won't be serving 50 collegiate lacrosse players dinner at my house (most likely my parents' house still, who am I kidding).  So a big thank you to the Forsyths for the dinner from the entire team...
...Wednesday was game day, and one of the biggest of not only our season, but our program's history.  #19 versus #17 Connetticut College, a top tier team of the highly competitive NESCAC conference.  On top of all this, we were playing at historic Homewood Field, the home of the John Hopkins Blue Jays.  The game lived up to the hype for sure.  Down early 1-0, the team fired back with goals from Tim Lawrence and Joey Kramer.  At half, we held a 4-3 advantage, as the game was shaping up to be a defensive battle.  After a few back and forth goals from each squad, Brendan Damm sealed the 7-5 victory with a late goal in the fourth.   Lawrence finished with three, while Kramer, Brett McClelland, Damm, and Tom Duggan all had one goal a piece.  Not to take any personal credit, but a strong and discipline defensive effort was essential to this win, and our overall team effort allowed the Cards to come away with a huge victory for our team and program...
...The following day, the team went off to the Washington D.C. to check out the Zoo.  Who doesn't love the Zoo, right?  Well, the Zoo managed to take up most of the day for the team.  I actually couldn't make it, but from what I heard, the gorillas were the best part, as they were supposedly eating their own vomit (sounds like I missed a good one).  For dinner, we went to the beautiful establishment the Golden Corrall.  I love this place, and for one main reason; endless food.  I've managed to establish myself as the human disposal among the housemates, so buffets are always welcomed in my book.  The following day, the team got a two hour practice in and began to prep for the big match-up versus Mary Washington at their home field on Saturday...
...Well, Saturday, as you will tell from my brief description of it, was a day to learn from the negatives and put it behind us.  No excuses to be made, we just came out flat.  Poor team defense, some sloppy offense and some other mental errors led to a poor result.  We ended up losing 12-8, but it felt more like 15-0.  The perfect season was lost, but, the season for us was just beginning.  We hit a bump, but we knew we could turn things around as conference play lurked in the background...
...After a nice 11 hour bus-ride...you know, to really let the loss soak in...we arrived back at the nest.  Overall, it was a pretty successful spring break with an unfortunate ending.  We knew we had a big week ahead of us with Clarkson and Cortland coming into town.  We always take pride in defending the nest, and these two games are some of our biggest rivals.  I'm gonna cut it short here, for your eyes' sake.  I'll post this weekend after the Cortland game.  I know we had a game yesterday but I'll include the rundown of Clarkson in the next blog (spoiler: OT win).  Well, the team is in the thick of it now.  From here on out, its a must win for the Cards, as every game has either conference playoffs or an at-large bid into the NCAA's riding on them.  Thank  you to everyone and anyone that made our spring break as successful as it was.  From the activities too the tailgates, even 800 miles away we have an awesome fan-base.  Well, I hope everyone can come to the conference opener versus Cortland, should be one to remember, and if not, have a great week and god Cards!

Although I am getting ahead of myself, the weather in the Burgh this week has definitely made me eager for some summer...

A Little Catch Up...

...Keeping up with this blog was going to be a challenge for me; I knew this going into it.  However, spring break has definitely offered a new level of difficulty to the task of being the team blogger.  From the traveling, hotel internet failing me, and the all around activity level of the team, the week has been a difficult one to blog on.  I've had a draft sitting on my computer for the last week which I've been chipping away at and I decided that I'll fill everyone in on what happened before the start of this week which I haven't talked about yet.  At the end spring break, I'll post everything we did this week, from the activities to the two games we played.  So let's get into it...

...First, we had our game versus Morrisville last Wednesday at the nest.  Morrisville is a team that has been getting consistently better every year, and we know they could be a real challenge if we came out flat.  However, we did quite the opposite, stopping two early man-down situations and then letting our offense do the rest, with a final score of 17-1.  The offense was once again led by our attack, with Joey Kramer finishing the day with an impressive 5 goals, while Brendan Damm and James Higgins each had 2 a piece.  Midfielders Nick Travers and Brett McClelland each had two goals as well.  Congratulations to freshman Andrew Duque who scored his first collegiate goal of his career.  Defense played stellar again, sadly losing that shutout again in the last minute of the game...

...After another successful win, the team got two more quality practices in.  The condition of the second practice, which was windy and snowing the entire time, paid off as we arrived to Western Connecticut for our game Saturday night.  Conditions were exactly what we were use to, snowing and cold, and as we expected, it didn't slow us down at all.  The team jumped out to an early lead and didn't look back.  Brendan Damm and Joe Kramer each had four goals, while Brett McClelland, James Higgins, and Brendan Cefalu finished with 2 goals.  Another freshman had his first collegiate goal of his career, Matt Renko, coming in the second quarter.  Overall, the team played exceptionally well, with weather conditions and a long bus drive that day against us, the team managed to come together and put together 60 minutes of quality lacrosse...

...After the game, the team was able to head home to Long Island, where players either stayed the night at their house, or for the upstate folks, were able to stay over another player's home.  On Sunday afternoon, we all met up at a restaurant/bar called Shananigans in Kings Park out on the Island and was able to enjoy a nice lunch, filled with cornbeef and cabbage, Irish Soda Bread, live Irish music, and some of the best wings I've ever had.  The lunch was a great success and a great opportunity to get players, families, alumni, and fans together on St. Patrick's Day.  The parents once again put on a great raffle, giving out some great packages families donated to help raise some money for the team.  After a few hours, some eating, talking, and raffling, the team said their goodbyes and thank you's to the parents and friends, and we were back on the road heading down south....

...Three and a half hours later, we arrived to our hotel in Baltimore and settled into our rooms.  It was pretty late when we got in, so the team ordered some pizzas and called it a night.  The team had a busy day planned out for Monday, with a full-day trip to the Inner Harbor.  One thing I HAVE to mention is some great news the team woke up to Monday morning.  The coaches poll for March 18th came out and for the first time in program history, your Plattsburgh Cardinals cracked the Top 20.  Ranked 19th in the nation, this was a major achievement for not just the current squad, but for the program in all.  Every year this team has been working to get better and build a stronger program, and this achievement marks a major step.  By next week, I'll be sure to catch everyone up on the events of this week.  I would mention the first half now, but the blog would be a little to long, so this is just a way to break it up a little.  Be sure to check out our twitter account to see when that will be posted next week, as it should be a good one filled with aquarium trips, results of two massive games, and all other trip activities the team does this week.  A big thank you to everyone that came out to the lunch on Long Island, or has come out to the games down south this week.  Even while we are hours and hours away from our homefield, you guys do an awesome job getting fans to the games and helping out with the tailgate and overall supporting the team.  Hope everyone has an awesome week and Go Cards...

We are in the South, soooo here's another country song to get you through the week...

Enjoy

Getting There...

...While we are only four games into the season, it looks as if the team is definitely starting to come around.  Although we know we have areas to improve on, another impressive win this past Wednesday versus Norwich has the team building some nice momentum as we head into the middle of our non-conference schedule.  The final score from Wednesday's game was 14-2, and although the game got off to a slower start than we would have liked (1-0 at the end of the first), our offense eventually began clicking and didn't look back.  The offense was led by Brendan Damm, who finished the day with four goals and one assist.  Freshman James Higgins earned his first points as a Cardinal as he netted two goals and added one assist to finish with three points.  Senior Ryan Hastings added two goals of his own, while Brett McClelland, Nick Travers, Anthony Pafundi, Anthony Tralongo, Cole Anderson, and Tom Duggan all finished with one goal each.  Although the play was slow to start, the team did a great job staying focused and running our system offensively.  Defensively, the team did an awesome job shutting down any opportunities Norwich had.  It was sad to see the shutout slip away, as Norwich scored their first goal with only 5 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but overall, no one could complain about the way the D played...

...Our next game is this upcoming Wednesday versus Morrisville at 4:00 p.m. at the Fieldhouse.  Morrisville is always a tough and gritty team who gives us a challenge every time we play them.  No game this weekend means we have some extra time in practice to prepare for the upcoming game next week.  With a little extra time off, we were even able to switch things up today.  After a shortened practice, the gridiron stars of the past were able to relive some high school memories as we ended early to play some small sided football games.  Watching from the sideline (due to an injury), it was hilarious to watch the inner child of everyone come out as the days of backyard football games came back to everyone.  I witnessed at least four Ray Lewis pre-game entrances, and the pure excitement from playing some pick-up football was definitely a sight to witness.  The talent pool varied to say the least.  From my view, I think I have to give out the MVP from the game I was watching to either junior midfielder Anthony Pafundi, who had a handful of td's and was going all out to say the least, or Freshman midfielder Qusarn "Q" Caldwell.  Aside from the few bombs he threw, which were impressive, the play that most impressed me was his run that made a junior on the team, who will remain nameless, look foolish as he whiffed on the tackle attempt...

...The little football game gave us the chance to lighten the mood a bit, but we were back at it working hard at 8 a.m. practice today.  Scrimmaging for the most part, we were still focusing on polishing aspects of play on both the defensive and offensive ends of the field.  I hope that everyone can make it to the game on Wednesday.  We always appreciate anyone and everyone that can make it out to these home games which we know isn't always easy, especially during the middle of the week.   Well, the next few days promise to bring some warmer weather in the region, so I hope everyone enjoys the weekend and as always, I'll leave you with a little country tune...

There's an old saying...

"It's not how you start, but how you finish"...Well, this may be true, but if you ask me, just because you start well, doesn't mean you can't end well.  The team is definitely starting well this year after our first week of games has come to a close and we are sitting at a nice 3-0 record.  Our first game last Wednesday, versus RPI, had a final of 7-5 in favor of the Dirty Birds, and this past weekend we finished strong versus Farmingdale, 16-6, and FDU 20-10.  Each win had different key players and brought our team one step closer to reaching our potential, which we know we haven't hit yet.  Now lets take it game-by-game shall we...
...The first game is always one filled with a little added jitters and butterflies in the player's stomach, especially for those playing their first collegiate lacrosse game.  After waiting four weeks to get to play a game, the team's emotions were at an all-time high as we were eager to get the season rolling.  Luckily for us, the rain and snow held out, and for a February night in Albany, the conditions were perfect for a season opener.  From the get-go, we knew this was going to be a great test.  RPI is always a well-polished team, and their first possession almost led to an early goal.  However, our defense stiffened up, and held the RPI offense to only 5 goals and minimal quality opportunities.  Offensively, the cards got going starting with goals from senior captain Brett McClelland and senior Joe Kramer.  Brett and Joey both finished with hat-tricks, while Brendan Damm rounded off the scoring with one.  The game was definitely a great way to start the season, and gave the team some needed confidence as we prepared for a long weekend...
...Farmingdale is always a scrappy and hard fought game.  We know every year they circle us on their schedule and they are looking to come away with a W.  Discipline and playing our game would be essential if we wanted to win, and that's exactly what we brought.  The first half was closer than we wished, with the score 4-3 in our favor.  The second half we came out flying, and after a quick goal by the Rams, we began to pull away with the win.  Offense was led by our attack unit, as Damm, Lawrence, and Kramer all finished with three goals each.  Shout out to Brady Helmer for his first goal as a Plattsburgh Cardinal.  Top to bottom, it was a great game.  Best part, we were home on beautiful Long Island, so the crowd was filled with friends, family, and alumni of the past supporting us.  We were able to head home for the night which is always a nice benefit of playing on the island.  I think its fair to say the upstate boys are alwayss impressed with all that L.I. has to offer...The next day, at Town Hall in Hicksville, the parents and families put on an awesome dinner and raffle to support the team.  The spread was impressive to say the least, and it was great to get the cardinal family together and meet the new parents and families of the program.  I'll probably repeat this multiple time throughout the season, but our programs parents and families are the best around.  We get spoiled for sure, but they do a great job in making this team of 50 players, into a family of hundreds...
...After a bus ride to New Jersey and a nice stay in the Madison Hotel, we finished our long trip with a dominant win against FDU, in which we were able to get everyone some playing time.  To say we came out to a fast start is probably an understatement, as the score at the end of the first quarter was 10-1.  Brendan Damm led the way with 4 goals, while Tom Duggan and Cole Anderson scored their first goals in Cardinal red, and Brendan Schecker netted 2 for his first collegiate points.  After a tailgate, we boarded the bus and began our venture back to the Burgh, which went surprisingly fast.  On a sidenote, I suggest the movie Argo, great watch even on a bus...
...Tomorrow we face Norwich at the Fieldhouse here in Plattsburgh with the opening faceoff set for 4p.m.  It will be another nice non-conference challenge for us as we continue preparing ourselves for SUNYAC play only a few weeks away.  Hopefully we can get a large crowd together for our home-opener, which would be nice after a long road trip this past weekend.  I'll be sure to post another blog after the game tomorrow, but until then, have a nice day and go cards!

I'll leave everyone with a team favorite....or at least a favorite of the country fans on the team....

It Won't Happen Again...

Alright, I guess I can start off by apologizing for the lack of posts during the past few weeks.  I would like to say that my absence of writing is due to the overload of school work, but I'll save that excuse for a later time...in honesty, time kind of just caught up with me.  It happens every year, four weeks of preseason seems like an eternity from the beginning.  Nothing but a month long of practices with running, lifting, pressure grounders, bowdoin breakouts, more pressure grounders, cold weather and some more pressure grounders.  But, as always, time flies and finally, we get to test our skills and preparations against someone other than ourselves this week...

...The preseason went as most do.  Shaking off the rust and getting back into the flow of things, a few days into practice we were able to really get rolling.  Obviously, the first practices won't be perfect, and there's always a little adversity to deal with.  For any alumni out there, I think it's fair to say one of the biggest is the weather and the dreaded gym when weather doesn't permit us from getting out on the turf.  Personally, there's a love/hate relationship with the gym.  When it's 10 degrees out and windy, the last thing you want to do is run around on a field and get smacked with a metal pole.  However, after a few drills in the sand-covered gym, a part of you wishes you were outside.  In a perfect world (called Florida) it would be 65 degrees and sunny out in February, but that's a tad unlikely for good ole' Plattsburgh.  Anyways, for the last 2-3 weeks, we've been able to get outside and really get the ball rolling.  Working on game-like situations, 6v6, and full field scrimmages, we have been able to incorporate team philosophies and work on our chemistry both offensively and defensively.  With only two more practices left until our first game this Wednesday at RPI at 4:00, the next few days will be really important to put in those last pieces to make sure we're ready to go...

...The whole team is itching to get going and play in a game.  A month of drills, conditioning, and hard work has everyone ready for the opening faceoff.  Our first game, which is at RPI, will be a nice non-conference rematch from last year's game, which the cards won 9-7.  RPI is coming off of a season of highs and lows, as they had victories versus some top teams in the nation, but loses against weaker opponents left them out of the playoffs for 2012.  Fair to say, as a team that is often in the running for top 20 in the nation, RPI will be ready to go when we arrive at their place, especially after they lost their season opener this year in OT.  For us, we're looking to get off to a fast start and keep going.  We have a very challenging schedule this year which, with the addition of Stevens Tech game for March 9th, includes four Top 20 teams.  We know we have a ton of talent, most of it returners as well as some key new players, and we're eager to prove that this year will be one to remember.  We're taking this season one game at a time, and it starts with RPI this week.  I will do my BEST to update this blog as often as I can, and post updates and game reviews at least once a week.  If anyone has any suggestions or ideas they would like to see on the blog, please let me know.  On that note, I hope to see everyone there this Wednesday supporting your Plattsburgh Cardinals!

For anyone looking for some quality Monday night t.v., I suggest watching this mini-series on NatGeo...tune in at 10:00 p.m...God Bless our Troops

                                                                          

New Year...Same Goal

...Hello Plattsburgh family!  I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season and a happy New Year! Crazy how fast it comes and goes, and for us students, it really makes our relatively long break go by way too quick, but I know everyone is excited and ready to head back to the nest to start our 2013 season...
...There isn't too much to mention in this post, so it won't be a long one.  First, and I know it's late, I wanted to make sure that if anyone wants to order team gear, that goes for family members, friends, hell maybe even a co-worker, the order forms are due January 20th.  I know the link has been posted through our twitter account, but if you would like to or are interested in purchasing any of the sweats, shorts, or shirts, you can go to Lacrosse Team Gear, then head to team apparel and click on the Plattsburgh logo from there.  If you have a twitter account and you follow the team account, there's a direct link there.  So if you're interested, hurry up!  Times running out and we have some awesome gear this year...
...Secondly, after multiple attempts, Coach Cavanagh has set up the first annual Plattsburgh Men's Lacrosse team golf outing for this summer.  I know a lot of the kids on the team talk a big game when it comes to golf, so this is a great time to prove your skill and help support the team and its future.  Players were given pamphlets with specific information about the event and here's a link to it... Golf Outing Pamphlet... but just for some general information, the outing will be at Crab Meadow Golf Course, in Northport on beautiful Long Island.  I know this is a commute for some of you upstate players and fans, but I promise it will be worth the drive!  The event is set place to take place on August 12, with a 7:30 a.m. start! ...
...Well with the season upon us in only a few weeks, the team and myself couldn't be more excited to finally get going.  The schedule is up on the website, you can view it here 2013 Team Schedule ... In my four years here I can honestly say that this is the most competitive schedule we have faced and that's exactly what we needed to prepare ourselves for the conference games we have.  By facing challenging teams such as RPI, Connecticut College,  Mary Washington, Clarkson, and other non-conference foes, we can prepare ourselves for the games that will get us into the playoffs and the SUNYAC championship where we plan on being this spring.  With the amount of talent this team has and the work ethic we've shown, the potential we have is awesome, but we know talent alone won't achieve our goals.  It's definitely bitter-sweet that this is my last season playing, but I'm looking forward to finally get going and playing with the team and getting to see everyone at the games and tailgates....
....On a side note, I just drove 10 hours down to North Carolina with my friend Mike Regan, aka our self-proclaimed #1 fan for the last 3 years, to visit the Ritz-Carlton of College, High Point University.  In honor of the southern culture, and the fact I'm going to his concert next week, here's a personal favorite by Corey Smith, an awesome country singer from Georgia. See ya'll soon...

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