Photo courtesy of Villanova Athletics)
Throughout the season, Villanova has occupied a strange space. Itâs a team that typically is good for an early-season out-of-conference upset â like Maryland in 2020 and â17, Yale in â19 and â18.Â
With a Big East-only schedule for most of 2021, that wasnât an option, and the Wildcats rolled through league competition but hadnât been able to get past Top 10 teams Denver and Georgetown, despite a game against each decided by one goal.
Combine that with a one-sided season-opening loss to the Hoyas that grabbed headlines, and Villanovaâs sat somewhere toward the back of the Top 20 without much fanfare â but still talented and dangerous.
There’s no shortage of experienced veterans in DI lacrosse this season.
“You look at that All-American list, and it’s fifth-year, fifth-year, fifth-year, senior, senior, fifth-year,” Villanova coach Mike Corrado says.
The Wildcats are no exception, with a roster full of older players that returns all starters on attack and defense, plus two-thirds of the starting midfield and their top players at shortstick, LSM, face-off and goalie. The differentiator for Villanova, though, might be the minutes together, particularly on defense where they were thrust into key roles early in their careers and have blossomed into seasoned vets.
“It’s kinda huge that you can step out on the field and feel like you haven’t missed a beat because you’ve been playing together for three years,” says graduate student and close defender Zach Kryza, about the weeks of full-team practice in early February after not participating as a full group in the fall.
Post a comment
Thursday January 7th, 2021 8:00am
(Inside Lacrosse Photo: Craig Chase)
When the 2020 season ended a new season began. Or, more accurately, an arms race ensued, and the college lacrosse landscape was altered by a series of player movements that will [hopefully] never be duplicated again. As intriguing and program-altering as the waterfall of DI-to-DI transfers was, there is another group of players that made the jump to different divisions to make their mark in this tumultuous time.
How will those players fit into their new squads?
Kevin Rogers, M, Lynchburg to High Point
Watching Kevin Rogers play lacrosse is sort of like watching film from high-level pick-up games in 2012. Hair-flowing, stick-dangling, and hard-dodging are Rogers’ calling cards from back when.people used calling cards. One of the things that stands out about Rogers is his ability to wrong-foot his defender. He does it with a combination of body control, deception and quickness. Rogers catc
Photo courtesy of Bates Lacrosse)
A season and a year like no other dictates a Holiday Wish List like none before. With his annual review, the occasionally correct and sometimes jolly old Atsap removes his fogged-up spectacles and exhales a long held sigh for 2020, which gave us challenges we’ve never known.
He wants to start this annual tossing of lovingly wrapped parcels by acknowledging up front that he will miss someone, something that deserves mention here. Atsap does not intend Grinchness, but this space (and his brain) have limited capacity.
These first Holidays without will be painfully empty for those who lost loved ones in the last 365 days. Friends, family and the entire lacrosse community mourns with them and celebrates the lives of…