The men’s lacrosse team kicked off its fall season at the fifth annual Price Modern Lacrosse for Leukemia Tournament on Oct. 5th. The tournament, started by current University of Maryland head coach Dave Cottle, is held every year at the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Md. to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Since the tournament’s inception, it has raised over 500,000 dollars from sponsorships and donations.
During the day each school was assigned an honorary team member, a young child that has been diagnosed with leukemia. Cornell’s newest member was a young boy, Tyler, who followed the players around and joined the team in its huddles.
Although Tyler may have received a signed helmet and jersey from the Cornell players, the players received so much more from Tyler.
Senior tri-captain Ryan McClay explained, “I think it’s the best thing we do all year. When you see little kids that realistically aren’t going to have the opportunities that we have, it really makes you thankful.”
With Tyler cheering the players on, the Red scrimmaged powerhouses Towson, Loyola and Johns Hopkins.
Despite a strong effort, the team did not play as a cohesive unit, something both head coach Jeff Tambroni and McClay attribute to a lack of team playing time.
Tambroni compared Cornell to its opponents, stating, “In terms of our athletes I think we match up with every one of them. In terms of our lacrosse players I believe we match up with every one of them. In terms of our progress and development in the fall, that was probably where those teams were a little farther ahead and it showed.
“Anytime you graduate 10 guys and you bring in seven new ones, there is a completely new chemistry on the team, and it’s going to take a while to develop and certainly down there it showed that we are not nearly where we want to be but certainly much further along this year than we were last year.”
Overall the team was “average” on both ends of the field. It did not capitalize on some possible key transitions and made some mental mistakes.
McClay was not worried, however.
“You have to put it in perspective,” he explained. “You want to go down there and play well because that is what you worked all fall for, but when you look back on it, it doesn’t mean anything. I think that we understand that