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!