DANIELLA BOSIO
Assistant Sports Editor
With its season still three months away, the Pepperdine men’s lacrosse team wastes no time to prepare for what members think will be their best season yet. The team is already training twice a week and has an off-season schedule of games in progress.
The Waves will return a solid squad of 15 players this season and will add six new ones to the roster. The team will be under the leadership of seniors Drew Kaspers, Trevor Watkins, Joe Kaatz, Andrew Longman and Kevin Longo.
The Waves are also returning Head Coach Scott Bross. Bross is a graduate of Duke University where he was an All-American and team captain for the Blue Devils. Bross, along with Waves’ captains Kaspers, Watkins and Kaatz said they hope to make this season more intense than last year.
“This year we are taking our season more seriously,” Watkins said. “We are going to have more practices, and it is going to be harder.”
The Waves are in their official Fall Ball season. During the fall season, players are encouraged to come practice and meet the new players on the team. Not only does the team practice, but it also plays several scrimmages. This fall, the team will be matched against rivals UCLA and Cal Lutheran. It will also play against a local Hollywood club team.
The Waves ended the past season with an overall record of 6-5, and they completed league 4-2.
“The last two years our team has been very similar in terms of competitiveness and success,” Bross said. “We have basically beaten every team that we were ‘supposed’ to beat and lost to every team that we were ‘supposed’ to lose to. This year, I would like to break out of that mold and establish Pepperdine lacrosse as having a competitive program, by beating some of the better teams in the league.”
The Waves are in the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League, which is the only lacrosse league on the West Coast. This conference includes teams such as Arizona State University, San Diego State University, Claremont College, UC Berkeley and reigning national champions University of Southern California.
The Waves hope to win league this year so that they can get a bid for nationals.
“Our main goal for this season is to win league,” Bross said. “This year we are looking to have a more dedicated team adding another practice each week and playing higher level teams.”
Bross said it won’t be easy to complete that goal, but it’s possible.
“We need more commitment to success if we want to be more competitive this year,” Bross said. “I have always said to the team that it is ‘their team,’ and that it is up to them to determine how hard they want to work.”
This year, lacrosse has made its way across the nation, and it serves as a new interest for several high school and collegiate athletes. Recently Major League Lacrosse, the premier outdoor lacrosse league, announced four new expansion teams for the 2006 season. These teams will be from Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Three out of the four teams are from the West, and Watkins correlates the rapid rise of lacrosse in the West to the addition of these expansion teams in the MLL.
“Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports,” Watkins said. “Expanding the professional league for west coast teams has drastically increased interest in the sport.”
Matt Kalish, the Intramural and Club sports coordinator agreed.
“Lacrosse is on the rise nationwide as a popular sport among young people,” Kalish said. “Youth leagues are popping up all over the country and over the next few years I see the sport growing even more in high schools and club programs in colleges and universities.”
This new interest in lacrosse has helped Pepperdine recruit several athletes from all over the country.
“Many people are drawn to Pepperdine,” Watkins said, “because not only are they going to a great school in California, but they are still able to play lacrosse competitively.”
The lacrosse team attracts many different types of athletes because it is recognized as one of Pepperdine’s most well-known and established clubs.
“The team has been active for a long time, and it remains a popular sport,” Kalish said. “The leaders on the team continue to develop a quality program.”
Most of the players on the team have played lacrosse throughout their high school careers. However, there are several players who joined the team and are just playing the sport for the first time.
“We don’t have tryouts for the team,” Hoyt said. “Anyone who is interested in playing is welcome to join the team.”
Because the team is only composed of about 20 players, everyone gets playing time.
“Each year we have about one to two players who have never played lacrosse before,” Watkins said. “That doesn’t mean that they won’t play. We have a small team and everyone gets play time.”
The Waves are anxious to see what this upcoming season has in store for them. With the addition of a new class of freshmen, the Waves are eager to see how they compete in their Fall Ball scrimmages.
“This year we have a good class of freshmen,” Watkins said. “It seems like the team is more dedicated than it has been in the past.”
09-29-2005
