Despite the 2015 men’s lacrosse team having an overall record of 8-8, head coach Dan Leipert attests that the team’s overall record does not take into account the close proximity of matchups this season, which ended on May 19.
The team was knocked out early in the playoffs by Glenbard West in the first round with a score of 5-6.
“We’ve got blown out twice [this season] by the number one team and the number three team in the state, but if you look at [our other matchups] they were very close,” Leipert said as the season came to an end. “[However], I think we could be doing much better than we are. Some of that comes down to everybody sticking on the same page. We haven’t played a full season of good lacrosse; we’ve had break downs throughout the season.”
According to Leipert, one of the devastating defeats felt by the team was against the number three team in the state and rival, Glenbrook North on April 30, which ended with a closing score of 13-2 GBN.
“I was disappointed, and the boys on the team were embarrassed,” Leipert said. “We were overwhelmed by the pressure [of their defense and] they would double team, so that threw us off. From now on, we are making it a point in practice to play with a higher pressure defense, so offense can learn how to handle that. The game play wasn’t suffering; the execution was.”
Junior captain McLain Murphy believed that the team was crippled due to the absence of key players, yet the team didn’t use that as an excuse and expects more from themselves.
“We were missing some key players, but we aren’t going to let that be our excuse,” Murphy said. “We simply got outplayed and had a rough time generating offense against their tough zone defense. It’s upsetting losing to North, but I would be very excited if we received another chance to play them.”
In contrast, junior captain E.J. Reynolds asserts that the GBN match demonstrated the Titan’s ability to put on a fight without key players, and it served as an opportunity for bench players to get a chance to play.
“It was a close loss, but our defense played really well,” Reynolds said. “Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of our starters there due to Kairos, but I think it was a good showcase of our secondary efforts as far as starters. It was a good experience for kids to play when they’re usually on the bench.”
A week after the team’s loss to GBN, the team took another defeat to Libertyville. Despite the defeat, Leipert asserts that the game showed the team’s ability to keep their energy up in close matches and is proud of the team’s effort.
“That game was awesome, but it was a shame that we let it slip away,” Leipert said. “It was [like] a game of chess. They would do things, and we would make adjustments and we would do things and they would adjust. We fought hard. If we didn’t bury ourselves at the beginning of the game or let it slip away at the end, [we would have won]. [However], I think we were outplaying them the entire game, so I was happy with that despite the outcome.”
Their final game before playoffs was against Schaumburg on May 12, which ended in a loss with a score of 13-7. According to Leipert, he has high standards for the team to hopefully avenge some past defeats in the future.
“We expect to win,” Leipert said before the playoffs. “The rest of the season we should be able to use what we learned from the teams [we’ve played] and use that to our advantage.”
Furthermore, Murphy expected the boys to come out on top during playoffs and feels the team had the skills to do so.
“We [had hoped] to be the underdogs in the playoffs this year and make a big run,” Murphy said. “Our offense finally started to click this past game against Schaumburg [and] our defense [had] been doing a great job. [I was hoping] we [could have] really come together as a team and [made] a big run during playoffs.”
