Three men’s lacrosse players named to CCIW athlete of the week

Senior+and+goal+keeper+Cameron+Duffy+guards+the+goal+with+junior+%2891%29+Paul+Huber+against+Dubuque%E2%80%99s+%2822%29+junior+Ben+Farraday+on+March+16+at+Thorson-Lucken+Field.+The+Vikings+won+the+game+10-6.+

Lauren Pillion

Senior and goal keeper Cameron Duffy guards the goal with junior (91) Paul Huber against Dubuque’s (22) junior Ben Farraday on March 16 at Thorson-Lucken Field. The Vikings won the game 10-6.

Abhib Lal Amatya

Men’s lacrosse has enjoyed a good season so far, winning eight out of 12 games played since the season started. The highlight of the season could include the whopping six game winning streak throughout the month of March.

In addition, senior captain and goalkeeper Cameron Duffy, senior captain and attacker Mark Teschke and senior defender Matt Pierson were named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) men’s lacrosse student-athletes of the week during the season.

Duffy said he felt really excited when he was given the honor. 

“It took a lot of hard work for me to finally get something like that. It is pretty cool,” Duffy said. 

Duffy believes that there is still a lot of work to do and the team will try to get some big wins and hopefully go to the conference and even win the championship.

Lacrosse requires every player on the pitch giving their best towards their role while coordinating well with teammates to win games. This is exactly what Duffy believes as he acknowledges his teammates effort and role in his achievement. 

“It is a team sport and everyone is very important, especially my defense. They helped me out, forced other teams to take bad shots and really just put me in a good position to do well,” Duffy said. 

Sophomore midfielder Brenson Brown acknowledges his fellow teammate’s hard work and believes that he deserved that. 

“[Duffy] has been playing great. He made huge saves against North Central in the last couple of minutes,” Brown said. 

“He has made his statements and I definitely think he is the top goalie in the conference and one of the top in the nation for division three,” Brown added.

Teschke won the same honor as an offensive player during the third week of March. He also said he believes that Duffy deserved it. 

“I think he has been playing lights out all year and it is great for our team and for our exposure to be able to get those kinds of awards and it definitely is deserving. I think just getting that recognition for our accomplishments is definitely really important,” Teschke said.

The team seems to be very happy with their performance so far this season and the team indeed has done great. 

“It is going really well. We just beat a big conference opponent in North Central and we have a couple more big games left. We could win those that would be really big. But otherwise, it has been really fun,” Duffy said. 

Teschke also has similar thoughts. He would not let the couple of losses at the beginning of the season overshadow the fight back the team has made by winning the next six games in a row. He also believes that the team is meeting expectations well. 

“We have definitely met or exceeded the expectations,” Teschke said. 

Similarly, Brown is also very confident in his team. 

“We came out to a rough start but we have been building up these past couple of weeks. I think we are really getting to where we need to be, so I think we are in a good position to make the conference tournament hopefully,” Brown said. 

The boys, however, think that clearing the ball and switching from defense to offense needs some work.

“I think the two places that we need improvement would be our offense and then clearing the ball. I think we struggled there, and it creates a lot more issues,” Teschke said. 

Even though Duffy and Teschke are playing their last season, they said they hope the team will continue doing great next season. 

As a senior, Teschke wants to be an example for younger players. 

“My hope for next season would be to leave an impact on the players and hopefully improve the younger player’s mindsets. There is also their ability, and we may have a good culture behind that can lead the team to success for their future,” Teschke said.