2013 Colgate Lacrosse Player Blog: Senior Day on Andy Kerr
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Benjamin Shapiro
Senior – #19 – Midfield
Colgate Lacrosse
Senior Day on Andy Kerr
The victory over Lafayette punched our ticket into the Patriot League Tournament, but the regular season was far from over with a rivalry matchup against Bucknell coming up on Saturday. Not only were we playing one of our old foes, but also we were celebrating Senior Day in what was our last home game this season at Andy Kerr Stadium. After spoiling Lafayette’s senior day last week, we didn’t want the same happening to our senior class on Saturday.
After the day off Sunday we were back to work on Monday beginning with a pre practice meeting to wrap up the Lafayettes. Bobby Lawrence was awarded player of the game for a great effort that included a long distance goal, while #5 Eric Pfiffner earned practice player of the week honors, for great effort throughout the spring rehabilitating from a torn ACL. Monday was a beautiful day to be a raider, and we had a great practice outside on Andy Kerr. We ended practice with a scrimmage with parameters between the Maroon and White teams. The white stallions played with a lot of energy, and took it to the jockeys beating them in a 13-11 decision. Don’t look now but break up the Stallions! The rest of the week proved to be overcast and windy, beginning with Tuesday where we began our formal preparation for Bucknell. Wednesday we spent time working on full field six on six situations, while Thursday we cleaned up our riding and clearing game. On Friday afternoon we had our pregame practice, with captain Jimmy Ryan breaking us down after practice. Jimmy called on us to bring a lot of intensity in our last home game, and play for each other, and get a win for the seniors.
Saturday morning the team got up to a chilly day to have a team meal at Frank Dining hall before the game. One of Coach Starsia’s notable quotes, “The weather changes every five minutes here”, referring to Hamilton, New York, proved to be true on Saturday as the weather throughout the game fluctuated between snow flurries and a sunny day. Before the game we were able to honor our senior class, which included myself and 9 of my fellow classmates. All our parents joined us at midfield for a special moment with our families. After celebrating our seniors we had to shift our focus and turn our attention to the game at hand against The Bison. Bucknell got off to a fast start, including a goal as time expired in the first half, to take a 5-3 lead into halftime. Similar to last week we came out strong to start the third quarter, taking the lead 7-5. Although, Bucknell fought back, and ended up taking the game 13-8. It was a tough loss because we gave a great effort, but another slow start on top of mistakes throughout the game proved to be the difference.
While as a senior it was frustrating to lose our last ever home game on Andy Kerr, it was just one loss in what is a great career for our class. We have had a lot of great memories on that field and opposing fields that we will never forget. Still, there is more to come, as we open up our second season on Friday in Bethlehem. After falling in the Patriot League Championship game the past two seasons, we will be gunning to win our team’s first title since 2008.