As the team begins to practice for the upcoming 2019 season, the men’s lacrosse team starts a new journey in the Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Conference (HCLC).
After winning the Ohio River Valley Conference championship for the past three years, Coach Terry Justice is pushing his talented group of players in hopes of them making school history by winning a fourth straight conference championship.
There has been an expectation created by the team after making it to the NCAA tournament for two years in a row. Sophomore mid-fielder Jack May said this about the upcoming season: “We expect to win more of our conference games than last year and be a united, competitive team come tournament time.”
Last week, the preseason coaches poll was released and projected the Pioneers to finish first in the conference. Junior defenseman TJ Toivonen said this about the team’s expectations: “I think our goal as a team is to always go deep in the NCAA playoffs. We have more than enough weapons to get there. I am very excited to get started!”
With all of the high expectations this team is facing as the season rapidly approaches, the school will all be watching with high hopes for this team to make history.
The first game of the season for the team is Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 5:30pm against Augustana (IL) at Pat Deacon Stadium.
Correction: an earlier version of this article misstated the position that junior TJ Toivonen plays. He plays defense, not middle.
