Attitude change paying off, LC regains their swagger
Dave Lomonico
Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Sports
At the beginning of the spring season, men's lacrosse coach Charley Toomey said his young team had the potential to be better than last season's NCAA tournament squad.
At the beginning of the fall season, men's soccer coach Mark Mettrick said his young team was going to be better than last season's veteran squad.
"Yeah right," all of us media types thought. "Wishful coach speak."
The lacrosse team lost 80 percent of its offense for heaven's sake! Look at the midfield -- who's going to score!?
The soccer team doesn't have any upperclassmen! There are three freshmen starting in the midfield!
With that, we dolled out our critiques, let the coach speak wash over us and tabbed both teams as middle-of-the-pack finishers, perhaps ready to make a run in a year or two. Even as both squads showed signs of greatness, we dismissed any delusional thoughts of a sustained run.
I wrote a column at the end of the fall saying the soccer team's success was a façade. Too young, I said. I then wrote an article halfway through the spring saying the lacrosse team would be "up and down" all season. Too young, I said. Oh how wrong I was.
Toomey's squad won their first ECAC title, and despite the loss to Hobart on Saturday, finished 6-1 in the ECAC and earned a second consecutive NCAA birth. Mettrick's squad won the MAAC and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003.
Who's laughing now? Certainly not the coaches. Certainly not the players. They could've taken the opportunity and shoved it right back in our faces with an old, "I told you so."
But they didn't. They weren't satisfied with what everyone else perceived as overachieving.
After the lacrosse team defeated heavily-favored Georgetown back on April 12, Toomey's first comment was, "This is where we expect to be. We expect to win."
And when the Hounds clinched their first ECAC title a week later against Fairfield, Toomey said the same thing, "We aren't surprised by this. We expect to win."
At the beginning of the fall season, men's soccer coach Mark Mettrick said his young team was going to be better than last season's veteran squad.
"Yeah right," all of us media types thought. "Wishful coach speak."
The lacrosse team lost 80 percent of its offense for heaven's sake! Look at the midfield -- who's going to score!?
The soccer team doesn't have any upperclassmen! There are three freshmen starting in the midfield!
With that, we dolled out our critiques, let the coach speak wash over us and tabbed both teams as middle-of-the-pack finishers, perhaps ready to make a run in a year or two. Even as both squads showed signs of greatness, we dismissed any delusional thoughts of a sustained run.
I wrote a column at the end of the fall saying the soccer team's success was a façade. Too young, I said. I then wrote an article halfway through the spring saying the lacrosse team would be "up and down" all season. Too young, I said. Oh how wrong I was.
Toomey's squad won their first ECAC title, and despite the loss to Hobart on Saturday, finished 6-1 in the ECAC and earned a second consecutive NCAA birth. Mettrick's squad won the MAAC and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003.
Who's laughing now? Certainly not the coaches. Certainly not the players. They could've taken the opportunity and shoved it right back in our faces with an old, "I told you so."
But they didn't. They weren't satisfied with what everyone else perceived as overachieving.
After the lacrosse team defeated heavily-favored Georgetown back on April 12, Toomey's first comment was, "This is where we expect to be. We expect to win."
And when the Hounds clinched their first ECAC title a week later against Fairfield, Toomey said the same thing, "We aren't surprised by this. We expect to win."
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