Weston, Mass.—Freshman Bradford Hastings (Mansfield, Mass.) has been a
regular contributor to the web site www.InsideLacrosse.com, and
recently had his second blog for the site posted. You can read his
entire blog here, or visit http://insidelacrosse.com/blog/2010/04/15/spring-lacrosse-full-swing-regis-college
Regis College lacrosse is in full swing these days. It seems that the warm spring days are all blurring together creating a seemingly endless extravagance of bros, babes, beaches, blowouts, and barbeques. Of course we like to throw practice, class, and homework (what's that?) into the mix; we are all STUDENT athletes after all! It’s a typical college existence seasoned with a layer of lacrosse that sweetens life to a full, zesty taste. College is truly the greatest time of your life, which in my short 6 months here I have already found to be 100% true. Anyway, back to lacrosse!
First off, congratulations to our female counterparts here at Regis, who locked up the programs first win this past week on a brisk spring evening in front of 100 or so fans who dared to brave the Antarctic conditions. Well done ladies, on to number 2!
Men's lacrosse has been making momentous strides as well. Good Friday was one of our best afternoons as of yet. We travelled along Interstate 95 up to Nashua, New Hampshire to take on the Eagles of Daniel Webster College. All eleven of us battled for 60 minutes against a great group of guys up there and came out with a heart-breaking loss which can only be blamed on Frank Tammarro and his broken hand. I mean, who breaks their hand in the first half and plays the rest of the game?! That’s dedication, get well soon bro! We came out with an 11-8 loss, from which we learned a lot about ourselves and our team. However, it’s a game we want back. And now that Mike Kaplan discovered he is a demi-god and the son of Zeus, he has aligned the stars to give us another shot at DWC! Thanks Kaplanitus!
The next day, literally Saturday, we had a 1:00 match up with Roger Williams University. Thanks coach, i was really getting worried that the 11 of us had been getting too much rest lately! However, now that Frank had a broken hand, we had a grand total of 10 players! (Can you say 'Epic playing time'?) Special thanks to Coach Farman who didn't bother to show up to that game, because everyone knows there’s nothing worse than getting crushed physically by another team, and by your own coach. Long story short, after the first quarter "Running Time" was implemented and we ended up getting shut out. Props to #17, sickest flow I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Another week of practice and a game at Gordon College on Wednesday was next on our slate. However the game was cancelled because of an asteroid apparently struck a nearby volcano and their entire campus fell into a giant crevasse or something ridiculous like that. Regardless, we practiced in anticipation for our matchup that Saturday, as New England College came to Weston. Similar to the majority of our games this season, we were outmatched. Our extreme lack of depth was on display for the 400 in attendance including our resident cheerleaders Sarah, Molly, Kara, Michaela, and Meghan. Thanks ladies, there’s nothing quite like five lovely ladies screaming your name as you get planted by a bench warming defensemen. Anyway we were again publicly embarrassed, 24-3. Good game NEC, also, nice flow #7.
Finally the gods have been good to us and graced us with three new players; Chris Tran, SiPan Leong, and Andrew Haddon. With the addition of Chris and SiPan, Wade Thongsythavong's ninja task force has increased to three members, who together will use "ninja focus" to eliminate our opposition. Now that we have an astonishing 13 players on the team, we hope will turn the tides of our misfortune and win a national championship.
Wednesday we take on University of New England, and then we travel to Becker College on Patriots day. Now that we have reached the halfway point of the season, we have seen all the progress we have made as a team, and are still striving to be the best individual lax bros we can possibly be. The struggles and public humiliations are a real character building experience for all of us. I speak for the entire team when I say to all the people who have supported us, including the numerous parents of our opposition who have sent emails to Coach K and even approached us after the game to commend our efforts: Thank You. We really appreciate all the support we have received, this season has been a humbling one and all the comments we receive are awesome.
Heart. Hustle. Pride
Bradford Z. Hastings