Mens lacrosse getting ready for action

This article is originally from KSU Sentinel.

The KSU Men’s Lacrosse club will begin their fall season at home on Sept. 27 against Mercer.

“The team is excited to start playing, and it should be a good opening game,” said team president Zach Statham. “We are just happy to be able to play lacrosse at KSU.”

The team will use most of September and October to prepare for their spring season. The additional training will give the younger players time to get their feet wet and see if they have the ability to earn  spots on the roster for spring. For many of the returning players, the fall season will be spent fine-tuning plays.

Their first two games at home will allow the coaches to get an idea of what the team needs to improve on before they travel to face the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. 

Upon returning to Georgia, they will continue to compete in the Atlanta area but will not return to play at KSU until the spring season begins in 2009. Their final game for the fall season will be held at Clemson on Oct. 25-26 for the Southern Classic. The schedule for spring has yet to be announced.

The Owls will be guided under the watchful eyes of head coach, Ken Byers and asst. coach, Mark Stopher. The coaches behind this team bring forth decades of experience, having been involved with some of the most successful lacrosse programs in the country.

Byers is a recent inductee to the Georgia Lacrosse Hall of Fame, and Stopher won the Division I National Championship with Syracuse University during the late 1980s.

KSU possesses a talented roster of predominately metropolitan Atlanta students who grew up playing Lacrosse for various neighboring high schools.

Scott Schulze, last year’s conference rookie of the year, and Tim Minick are expected to be the team’s leaders in offensive production. Last season, the two combined for 37 goals and 15 assists along with helping to secure victories over Alabama, Furman and Georgia Southern.

The Owls’ strong offense, however, was not enough for KSU to qualify for the conference championships, and the Owls’ season came to a close. They also continuously struggled at home, losing four out of their five games at KSU in the Southeastern Lacrosse Conference (SELC).

In the 2008-09 season, they want to be as prepared as possible for their big games, particularly those against teams in their own region. The Owls are already backed by a strong fan-base of supportive students who have helped club sports grow by leaps and bounds at KSU.

“Interest in the team has grown a great deal,” said Statham.

The fall season will kick off at home against Mercer on Sept. 27 and again on the following day Sept. 28 versus the Metro Atlanta Inferno.