With the lacrosse season now underway, NCC men’s lacrosse team will look to build off their historic season. They plan on defending their first conference championship that led to an NCAA tournament appearance.
Returning cast and crew
The 2022 lacrosse campaign marked the best season for the program since its inception in 2017. Expectations are undoubtedly high, as the Cardinals will look to retain their CCIW championship and return to the NCAA tournament. The team finished the regular season with a record of 9-8 while finishing CCIW play at 3-3.
The team will be led by head coach Jay Farrell, who has been with the Cardinals since he was named the program’s inaugural head coach in 2015. His record as a coach with the program improved to 50-30.
Farrell and company will have much to work with this season, as the team has its most extensive group of upperclassmen in the program’s history.
“This season we have our largest group of upperclassmen with one grad student, twelve seniors and eleven juniors. It’s great to finally have four-year guys who have gone through the program a handful of times and understand our culture. They have been great influencers for our newcomers in adjusting to the college game,” said Farrell.
The Cardinals will certainly use having returning experience and leadership to their advantage. Making team members aware of the culture and expectations helps streamline preparation for the season.
Midfielder Jack Moran, ‘23, sees the returning cast as a chance to get started right away.
“Having a large amount of our team returning for another season has really made getting off to a good start this season. We don’t have to spend time building chemistry we can just jump right in where we left off last season. We’ve got a good group of guys all willing to learn and adapt,” said Moran.
Using their stronger bonds and understanding of the expectations, the Cardinals will look to come out of the gates hot.
Keys to success
Returning players will be an essential aspect of the team this season. Players such as Moran and attacker Tom Eberhardt, ‘24, will be key to the team’s success.
Moran is a key piece for the Cardinals, as he is coming off the best season of his collegiate career at NCC. He played in all of the team’s games and led the team in points with 63 by putting up 33 goals and 30 assists.
While it is easy to think about statistics and the potential of playing for another CCIW championship, Moran believes that taking it one day at a time is key.
“We overlooked some teams and got a bit ahead of ourselves but that experience last year has stuck with us and we have no intention of repeating that this year. The most important thing in front of us is the next practice, drill, rep or game. If we do that everything else will take care of itself,” said Moran.
With the Cardinals scheduled to play 15 games this season, it will be essential for them to treat each game as important as the next one.
Eberhardt will also be a big piece for the team, as he is also coming off the best season of his collegiate career at NCC. He led the team in goals with 49 and started every game for the team in 2022.
Eberhardt sees the team succeeding if they commit to hard play while maintaining a strong family culture.
“In an on-field sense, we have to make sure we play as a team and play hard in between the lines. Off the field, however, I think we just need to be a family and make sure to continue to have fun,” said Eberhardt.
Combining a high level of on-field play while maintaining a strong culture around the team will prove to be helpful for the team as they prepare for their upcoming slate of games.
Combating lofty goals
The beginning of every sports season comes with goals for the upcoming campaign, the Cardinals are no exception. The obvious goals that loom for the team will certainly be retaining their CCIW title and taking another crack at the NCAA tournament.
Farrell believes that the goal of that team is to defend their title, but not let the prize at the end of the tunnel get in the way.
“Our team goal is to have great competitive practices every day. Obviously, we want to be CCIW champions, both regular and post-season, but that doesn’t happen without having great sessions throughout the season,” said Farrell.
Taking a day-to-day approach is an important mentality for any team. As Moran mentioned before, the Cardinals learned from their mistakes last year and will look to keep their outlook on the short term.
Moran has the CCIW in mind in his goal for the season and looks to potentially initiate a power shift in the conference.
“Near the top of the list is beating Illinois Wesleyan. They have been the dominant team in the conference for the last 6-7 years and we feel we still have something to prove by beating them,” said Moran.
Preparation for conference
There is no greater motivation than potentially dethroning a division rival who has had the Cardinals’ number over the years. The team will have plenty of time to prepare for their conference foe, as they are scheduled to play Illinois Wesleyan at home on April 26.
Eberhardt wants to see the team build a reputation for itself on the national stage.
“I don’t think we were satisfied with losing in the first round of the tournament, we want to go further and show just how dominant we can be at the national level,” said Eberhardt.
Using last season as leverage and motivation will be a useful tool for the Cardinals, as aspiring for creating a name for themselves on the national level is a big task. If the same level of winning is found again this season, there should be no problem seeing the Cardinal’s reputation rival the big names in Division III lacrosse.
Return to the turf in sight
With expectations as high as ever for the men’s lacrosse team, all eyes are on them in the CCIW as the title defense has now begun. Farrell, Eberhardt, Moran and the rest of the team returned to the turf on Feb. 24 to kick off the 2023 campaign.
The first game the Cardinals played this season was at home against Benedictine University in another installment of the Battle for Chicago Maple Avenue. They were able to beat the Eagles 14-3. This match marked the first of nine non-conference matches before the pivotal six-match stretch against conference foes leading into the CCIW and NCAA postseason tournaments.
