Starting Dec. 20 through Dec. 29, we are reliving the top games, championships, awards, firsts, and memories from the year that was in the Ten For 2010 series. You the fans can vote on your top story of the year starting Dec. 29, and the results will be unveiled on New Year's Day. We present our top 10 in chronological order, not in a ranking of any sort.
Ten For 2010
Dec. 20:
The Hall of Champions
Dec. 21:
Women's Basketball In The NCAA Tournament
Dec. 22:
Lax Comes Back
When the men's and women's lacrosse teams hit the field to practice for the first time in late September, 2009, the sport wasn't exactly fresh on everybody's mind. Only the freshmen were coming off a season the spring before; for the upperclassmen (of which there were 13 on the men's team and six on the women's roster), it had been years since they had played a competitive game, if they had even ever played at all - many of them were coming from backgrounds in football, soccer, ice hockey, or field hockey, and had never picked up a lacrosse stick.
So it was understandable that men's coach
John Haus and women's coach Brianne Tierney didn't know what to expect heading into their first games in March 2010, the first at Lebanon Valley since the sports were discontinued in 1985. The first practices were a learning experience for everybody involved.
"Some haven't played in four years, so that in itself is a pretty big challenge, trying to mold all of those different types of kids together and create a team," Haus said to Lacrosse Magazine at the time. "And that's our biggest challenge... to become a team."
"After that first practice I swore that I was ready to stay positive no matter what and find success in different ways that didn't include winning, that's how bad it was," remembered Tierney. "But then we were winning our fall scrimmage. And we were getting better through pre-season. And then we were playing some really good teams and scoring goals. And I credit the success of the season to the girls who have become the core group of this team."
And sure enough, the daily improvement paid off. When the women hit the field to play Lancaster Bible in their first game on March 5, there were jitters all around. But as soon as
Hana Krechel scored five minutes into the game (her first of seven that day and an incredible 67 for the season), the goals started flowing and LVC won their first game 18-7.
The men got an unexpected gift the next day as Mount St. Mary College's field was unplayable, so they both went to Elizabethtown's artificial turf field. LVC walked away with a 14-7 win in their first outing, with
Scott Sutton scoring five times and
Ian Schmid tallying the first goal in modern program history.
And so it was that after 25 years without the sports and a year and a half after the announcement of their return, lax was back - and with wins. Both teams would surpass all expectations. The women, playing with a banged-up roster, won six games and finished in the middle of the conference while showing they had the basis for a dangerous team. The men won their first two games and were competitive in several others, all while playing a tough, entertaining style of lacrosse no doubt inspired by the dual-sport backgrounds of its team members.
The real excitement will come in year two. The men add 22 freshmen to an experienced group of returners, and the women get a talent-laden eight-member class and a transfer to go with eight sophomores and just one junior.
"This year, there's no other team in the conference whose sophomores have the game experience that our sophomores have from last season," Tierney said. "And I can't wait to see how far that will take them."
