It is Monday morning and I am stoked. We are in the playoffs for sure (not that it was in doubt) but we are in and we know we will be playing in the #4 v. #5 game. Depending on if Saint Cloud State is able to get an out of conference game this week or not will determine if we play them or we play Iowa State. Either way, I will leave that to the administrators. We know our path to UMLL Championship will have to go through ISU/SCSU on Friday, UMD on Saturday, and then Sunday will be dependent on a lot of things, so I won’t say b/c any team can win on any given day.
So, our new season is now 0-0 and so is everyone else in our league. On the line is a trip to the National Tournament and the UMLL Conference crown. The road will be tough for us to get there, but it is possible. Minnesota-Duluth is the reigning champion and I have seen nothing to indicate they plan on relinquishing that title anytime soon. However, opportunity is knocking for all 6 teams in conference playoffs. It is so exciting, when opportunity comes right out and slaps you upside the head. It just reminds you that hard work is rewarded with opportunity to succeed.
We have to stay focused on one moment at a time. A game is a series of moments and if you worry too much about winning, you are focused on the moment at the end instead of the moment you are living in. This focus will be something we will work on each day this week in chalk talk and practice. A good example of this might be University of Florida who went into the SELC tournament as the #8 seed and had to play FSU who had beaten them 25-9 only two weeks earlier. Well, FSU won the game 11-9 and went on to win the SELC crown. What a great story of a team focused on getting to where they wanted to go and earning their spot in Denver. We will need to do the same.
Our team will meet three times this week. Our intent is for all of us to stay focused on lacrosse. We have spent a lot of time investing in a fairly successful regular season. We have been plagued by injury culminating in having only 14 healthy players against UW-Madison. However, we are resting up, we are healing, and we are preparing. We could talk about all the what-ifs in the season, or we can take this opportunity and prove that the what-ifs are not just some pipe dream, but something that we could have done. It has been a fun ride so far, but the best is yet to come.
I will write more once I have it, but overall, it is going to be a great weekend. I am looking forward to it.
It’s a shame big number 9 (on the right in the above picture) is no longer on the team… Kid was a freak
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