This past Saturday, April 7th, the Men’s Lacrosse team took on North Central at home, looking to improve upon their already solid 6-4 record and 1-0 record in conference.
Junior Jason Van Dyck discusses the preparations that were taken going into this game.
“Our preparations for North Central this weekend is to watch film from previous games and learn from any mistakes that were made. We will also watch film on North Central and prepare for their schemes during practice,” Van Dyck said.
Their preparations seemed to pay off, with Augie coming away with a 6-5 victory thanks to a go-ahead goal by senior, Nick Zielinski with just under three minutes left in overtime.
With the Lacrosse season being extremely short, Zielinski talked about how much every game means.
“Every game is extremely important in a season like ours. Right now is the most important time. Coming into our conference games which tend to be the most competitive, we need to be perfecting what we’ve been working on and really analyze the teams we are matched up against and do what we need to do to win,” Zielinski said.
With the season flying by and every game meaning more than the next, there needs to be constant work on improving in every facet of the game. Zielinski described what the Lacrosse team has been focusing on.
“I think one of the biggest things our team has worked on this season has been communication and understanding the details of our offense and defense. Communication is a huge key to success on both the offensive and defensive ends, so having vocal leaders and great team comradery helps us with that,” Zielinski said.
These preparations and constant improvements that go on within the Lacrosse season are all to achieve one goal that Jason Van Dyck puts sweet and simply.
“At the end of the season, we see ourselves battling it out in the CCIW Conference Championship,” Van Dyck said.
Zielinski had very similar things to say about the goals they are trying to achieve.
“At the end of the season, we are looking to be competing for the CCIW conference championship like we have the past four years I’ve been here. We have a young team this year but there is a lot of talent and I really think the effort and passion is there with our team to get us to the conference championship,” Zielinski said.
The road to the conference championship continues next Saturday, April 14th, against Carthage in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Photo above: Mckay Potter tries to reclaim the ball for Augustana from North Central. Photo by Chelsea Meyer.