The men’s lacrosse team hosted their annual Set the Expectation game on March 20 against Clark College as a means to raise awareness about domestic and sexual violence.
Players wore t-shirts, decals on their helmets and wristbands provided by the Set the Expectation campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to use sports teams to raise awareness about sexual violence and the different modes of prevention people should be aware of. Players like junior Ethan Shap said they were happy to help support the cause.
“I think it’ll get people just kind of thinking more about what goes on on campus and what some of the issues that there might have been,” Shap said. “I think as more people realize that it is an issue more people look at it, and maybe things will change.”
Zachary Draves is the faculty advisor for men’s lacrosse. He is also the program director for sexual assault awareness education and pitched the idea to the team to raise awareness for this campaign.
“For me being able to pitch this to them, it was a no-brainer, because I knew that they were going to be on board,” Draves said. “They’re just guys that have such good character. They have integrity, they have compassion and they’re always willing to be part of the solution in every way possible.”
According to the Set the Expectation campaign website, the program was founded in 2017 by Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault survivor.
Since then, the organization has been using various sports teams across the country to help advocate for sexual assault awareness and prevention. In October 2023, the football team participated in the campaign as well.
The Set the Expectation game was also used as a morale boost for the team as they were struggling to translate their practices into game time. Their recent game against Lake Forest College on March 16 ended with a score of 23-5.
With this loss, the team wanted to get their play into gear and start making improvements to shape up and turn their season around, especially since the team was trying to bring good light to the Set the Expectation campaign.
“We know what we need to do,” Shap said. “We usually run our offense, and the defense is pretty good in practice. We just need to translate that into the games where we need to run things in games the way that we do in practices because things in practice look a lot smoother. We look a lot more together.”
So far in their practices, the team has been focusing on shooting, footwork and different gameplay situations to prepare themselves for game day better. Senior Carson Ghys, one of the four team captains, believes that practice will help them improve their competitiveness.
“We’ll jump right into competition drills and game-life situations,” Ghys said. “Ideally, [practices] help to prepare us for the next competition.”