Twice the experience

Some freshmen look to get a firm grasp on their first year of college before joining any extracurricular activities. The shock of classes and a new setting for most new college students is enough to keep them away from any activities that would keep their focus off of the books.

However, Matt Mohr is not your typical college freshman.

Mohr came to Portland State with the specific desire to play for the lacrosse team. The team plays in the Pacific Northwest College Lacrosse League (PNCLL), where they take on teams from all over the Northwest.

Mohr served as the goalie for the team this last season, their first full season of competition in the league.

After getting into lacrosse in his early teenage years, Mohr, who played other sports as a youth, said that there was a period of adjustment as he learned the new game.

“I first started playing lacrosse in eighth grade, as a goalie. It’s funny, I remember that year I almost started doing track, then some of my friends told me about lacrosse,” Mohr said.   

Often seen wielding a lacrosse stick of some sort around campus, Mohr noted that he has played other positions outside of goalie during his lacrosse career.

“I like playing midfielder,” Mohr said. “I have enough skill to play it. I’m just never in good enough shape to do well. I get tired of standing there in goal sometimes. That’s mainly the reason why I run up the field with the ball sometimes when I’m playing goalie, despite my team and my mother yelling at me.”

In addition to his time protecting the net for the lacrosse team, Mohr has started working out with the Portland State soccer club, in hopes of potentially serving as their goalie as well.

“It’s been a couple years since I’ve played soccer goalie, so I was a little rusty. So far, I think they want to keep me around, although it’s obvious I need a lot of practice. So it’s just going to take some work to get myself trained as a solid keeper again,” Mohr explained.

Goalies, for any sport, play what Mohr called “a peculiar position.”

“We’re usually a different breed,” Mohr said. “What I’ve discovered to love most about goaltending is the fact that my entire team relies on me. I thrive on the fact that I have my entire team’s back. I’m the backbone, and the support for my team.”

Despite his busyness with balancing school and two club sports, Mohr also spends time as a member of a Greek club, plays on an intramural soccer team and helps coach a local youth lacrosse team.

Although he admits that his first season with the lacrosse team was filled with ups and downs, Mohr said that he expects to be able to balance his time between the two sports next year.

“”It’s going to be a busy and fulfilling lifestyle balancing two sports like that. Lacrosse is in the spring and soccer is in the fall,” Mohr said. “The difficulty is being able to drop the other sport in off season. It will be a sacrifice just so I can manage my time.”