2013 Lehigh Lacrosse Player Blog: Choo Choo, All Aboard
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The 2013 season is here and we wanted to work closely with college programs to bring a part of the excitement to you. Throughout the 2013 season we will highlight lacrosse programs on our space for all of our readers to follow. Player blogs serve as a unique outlet for programs to showcase their season as it develops, plus highlight everything they have to offer a student-athlete. In contrast, families and fans get a glimpse into the program’s athletic and academic regimen.
Brian Hess
Midfielder - #2
Blog 10
Practice wrapped up on a great note last Friday and as Coach Cassese says, “the hay was in the barn.” Navy was coming to town and we knew we were in for a dogfight, which is always the case with a league school let alone one of the academies. A huge emphasis all week was on the fast start that Navy has been able to conjure up all season, as they were crushing their opponents in the first quarter. To simulate this, Coach had a scrimmage on Thursday as the Brown Squad played the White Squad (our scout team) for a “first quarter.” The White Squad handled the Brown Squad 3-1, and this served notice that we would need to step up our game against Navy to avoid a similar fate. Learning from our mistakes, the Mountain Hawks were able to jump out to a quick lead on the Midshipmen. Alex “Drizwiz” Drake went off in the first quarter, going 1 and 2. Dan Taylor was a recipient from both of his apples, and finished 3 and 1. His Canadian counterpart Patty “Crank One Up Kid” Corbett went 2 and 0. We were up 5-1 at the end of the first, and took a 6-2 lead at half. We continued to play well and were up 12-4 in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately got complacent. The final score was 12-7, and although Coach was definitely excited about the win, he was not happy at all about how the way we finished the game.
Being Easter weekend, many of the guys on the team headed home on Saturday after the game to be with our families. On Saturday night, I headed down to Federal Hill to hang out with a couple of my buddies, and was fortunate enough to run into Josh Hawkins, my former teammate at Deerfield Academy who is now on Loyola. Hawkins was killing it per usual and it was great to catch up with him. Sunday, I went over to my Aunt Mary Neil’s, and had a great dinner. Her husband, my Uncle Mike, is my biggest fan along with my dad. Uncle Mike has watched almost every one of my games via webcasts and is always checking in on me. He is my main man and I love his support. My pops, affectionately known as Big Al, has been to an astonishing 57-58 games in his career (an absurd 98.72 %). He has been my role model for sports my entire life and has been my biggest supporter. Lastly, my older brother Josh, who is in graduate school at University of Alabama, is finally making it up for a game. He is not coming alone though, as he is bringing up his girlfriend, Carolyn. It is a big weekend for Josh, as I think he may have finally found “the one.” Sorry about that rant, but I had to give all of them some deserved love.
Heading back to school on Monday, we knew we would be in for a workday after the way we finished the game on Saturday. Coach told us he was unhappy, and he quickly turned his words into action as we started off practice with conditioning followed by transition drills. Knowing that we only have three guaranteed games left, the urgency has risen and the intensity in practice has definitely increased. As a team, we know we have to embrace this mindset if we want to accomplish our end goals. One of the highlights of practice was when Kyle Stiefel had to take a lap after making a mistake, and proceeded to somehow make a jogging motion when, in fact, he would have been faster if he had he crawled. He should have known that the hyenas were watching. Regardless, the Hawks were able to top practice off with a lift and crushed a Monday Workday.
On Tuesday, we met for film and had another tough practice. Everyone on the team knows how big of a game this Saturday is, as it is a rematch of the 2012 Patriot League Championship Game. We were fortunate enough to come out on top, but Colgate got us last year in the regular season and was therefore able to host the Patriot League Tournament. One of our main goals this year was hosting the Tournament, and we know we have to get this one if we want to accomplish that feat. It will be no easy task though, as Colgate is extremely talented and led by the 2012 Tewaaraton Winner Peter Baum, who is quite the player. Intensity in practice is at an all time high this week as our focus is solely on the Colgate Raiders, and going 1-0 this week. Roll Call (Michael Voice)!