After a season filled with injuries, the Portland State lacrosse team is looking forward to next year. The team will be hiring new coaches, bringing back formerly injured players and building on their freshmen and young athletes.
After a season filled with injuries, the Portland State lacrosse team is looking forward to next year. The team will be hiring new coaches, bringing back formerly injured players and building on their freshmen and young athletes.
Injuries were a huge aspect of last year’s season. The Vikings got off to a strong start early in the year, but started to drop off as more and more players got hurt. Lacrosse club President Keith Jayne blew out his knee and wasn’t involved with the team as much as he would have liked. Vice President Neal Bateman missed five weeks with a pulled hamstring.
“It was definitely a trying season,” Bateman said.
Jayne was also disappointed with how the season turned out.
“We weren’t fully conditioned, and a lot of us got hurt,” Jayne said. “It didn’t pan out the way we wanted, and we just really couldn’t compete.”
Besides the injuries, Jayne also believed coaches checking out during the season affected the team. The lacrosse club is currently in the process of getting a new coaching staff, and they should be hired before the end of the month. “Our coaches just didn’t do their job,” Jayne said.
If the lacrosse club can stabilize its coaching situation and avoid injuries, it is set up for a successful season next year. Even with this year’s season not panning out, the team still finished only two wins short of the playoffs.
“We’ve got a really positive outlook for next year,” Jayne said. “We’ve got a really solid core with our seniors, going into our fourth year. We like the freshmen that we picked up this year. We don’t have any recruits coming in, but we always expect good talent in the area. It’s going to be taking what we built this year and making it better.”
Aside from replacing its coaching staff, during the offseason the lacrosse club is putting together fundraisers. The team is almost run completely off fundraisers and player dues. Only one fifth of its budget comes from Portland State. Their goal is to get the PSU lacrosse club name out in the open.
“We’re really excited to get out into the community,” Jayne said. “We just want it known that Portland State lacrosse exists. This is our fifth official year, and I still hear kids saying ‘Wait, Portland State has a lacrosse team?’”
The lacrosse club wants to continue to grow and be a part of this community. Although last season didn’t go as well as expected, the team is trying to head in the right direction.
“We want to be more involved,” Bateman said. “We want PSU to be known for having a lacrosse team.”
