Penn College spotlight on men’s lacrosse

The Pennsylvania College of Technology men's lacrosse team opens its season at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Misericordia University in Dallas, and fourth-year coach Jordan Williams is ready for the challenge.

"We're in a really good spot. A lot of our core are juniors who have maturity and a little bit more composure. And we have a decent number of freshmen who we think are going to help us out. It’s just cool to have a majority of our team recruited," Williams said.

The key returning players from last year’s team that finished 11-7 overall and 3-3 in all conference matches, including a United East semifinal appearance, are junior attackman Sam Hills of Maynard, Massachusetts; sophomore attackman AJ Dotson of Wilmington, Delaware; junior defenseman Mason Nester of Schwenksville; senior faceoff Michael Stank of York Haven; senior midfielder Danny Harkins of North Wales; sophomore faceoff Brody Borkowski of Eagleville; and sophomore midfielder Colten Hajicek of Redmond, Washington.

Hills led last year’s squad with 37 goals and also had 20 assists. Hills, Stank, Nester and Hajicek made the UE second team a year ago.

Newcomers on the team whom Williams looks to make an immediate impact are freshmen attackman Jake Small of Bloomsbury, New Jersey; attackman Aidan McFalls of Gilbertsville; defenseman Connor Gentile of Oxford; long stick middie Ian Stambaugh of Red Lion; long stick middie Billy Trimbur of Doylestown; and midfielder Will Ehret of Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

Also new to the team are transfers junior midfielder Sam Nice of Schwenksville; and sophomore defensive midfielder Andrew Tavarez of Asbury, New Jersey. Nice came from Neumann University and Tavarez from Kean University.

Sophomore Alex Hammond of Lincoln University is expected to start in goal, succeeding JJ Cilla, who was 10-6 with 184 saves a year ago.

In addition to Stank and Harkins, other seniors are midfielder Graham Purdy of Hillsborough, New Jersey, and defender Angelo Varcadipane of Boonton, New Jersey, who have been with the program since its inception.

“They (the four seniors) did not come here to play lacrosse; they came here for the education. I have a lot of respect for those guys sticking it out. It’s gotten more serious every year. It’s gotten better every year. I think the reason we are where we are, with the culture, just the general attitude, it’s those guys taking that leap of faith and sticking it out and setting the example,” the coach said.

“When we stay within the system that we’re putting in, good things happen because it gives us a framework, and we can play out of it. But when we don’t, we struggle a little bit more. We don’t want to be overstructured, but we want to have an idea where guys are going to be,” Williams said of things learned from his team’s early scrimmages.

“We want to play fast. It is said that lacrosse is the fastest sport on two feet,” Williams said. “We are a very physical team. We’d rather throw the first punch and adapt than get punched in the face first. We’re always going to try to push out, to make it difficult and uncomfortable. Ideally, we want to be able to create some chaos because all lacrosse is, at the end of the day, making decisions under pressure.

“It (physicality) has hurt us a lot in our prior years. With our lack of discipline, we sometimes get carried away, but I’d rather be a little too physical because we can rein that back. This year, we’ve already started to find that balance, having more discipline.”

Williams also has addressed the mental part of the game that uses meditation and visualization to help players refocus when things don’t go as planned.

“They’re still 18- to 23-year-old young men, and emotions run high, but we try to put them in situations where they get the tools to handle adversity,” the coach said.

Looking ahead to conference play that begins on March 30, Williams said, “We can all say we were a little disappointed with how we played in conference matches against the better teams (last year) … The outlook for nonconference is we want to compete and do well, but how do we compete against those good (UE) teams? How do we close the gap with the teams that beat us last year? We might not beat them, but how do we get that little bit closer?”

Helping Williams bring all of that together are assistant coaches Thomas Connors and Aaron Brooke, along with volunteer assistants Austin Thompson, Spencer Cavanaugh and Zach Taylor.

“We have a big (52-player) roster, but we have the coaching staff where guys get different perspectives, different thoughts,” Williams said.

He added, “The areas that need work are finding composure under pressure, connecting the defensive end to the offensive end, connecting the whole game, playing four quarters. As we continue to grow as a program, we’re going to find those opportunities to improve on that.

“If we can mentally stay focused and refocus when adversity hits; if we can be great teammates, we can do all of the right things on and off the field, we’re going to put ourselves in a really good position to compete for a conference championship. It comes down to a lot of little things that add up to big things.”

As a result of last summer’s merger between the United East and Colonial States Athletic Conference, St. Mary’s (Md.) College, the two-time defending UE champ, is the only returning conference opponent the Wildcats will face. UE newcomers are defending CSAC champ Rosemont College, Cairn University, Bryn Athyn College and Keystone College.

The top four teams in the standings will clash in the conference semifinals on April 30, with the championship set for May 4 and the winner receiving an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Schedule/Series History
Saturday, Feb. 17 — at Misericordia University, 1 p.m. (first-time opponent)
Wednesday, Feb. 24 — host Westminster College, 4 p.m. (Westminster leads 2-0)

For more about the United East, visit the conference website.
For additional information, visit the Wildcats Athletics website.