By Desmond Ford
Jambar Contributor
The Youngstown State University men’s lacrosse team began their 2019 season and took on Edinboro University.
This year’s team will be playing more games this season than any other lacrosse team has ever played in the school’s history.
Bryce Zwagerman, a senior communications major and member of the team, said lacrosse is its “own sport,” even though many people compare it other sports. With things just getting started, he said there’s not much temptation coming into the season as the Penguins try to start off on the winning side.
Zwagerman said the strengths in the team, despite little experience coming into the sport, gives them an opportunity for great potential.
“A lot of the players that we have here have never picked up a stick before they came here, so most of our guys been able to teach them to play the game within a month, and they’re some of the best players on the team,” he said.
The team played a few scrimmage games prior to the season starting in the spring. With missing players, the Penguins fell to The Ohio State University 8-0, but tied 5-5 against Bowling Green University.
YSU lacrosse coach Kevin Schuller sees a financial challenge within the team.
“Some of the challenges in being a club sport, we don’t have all the funding necessary that we could really use. It’s difficult when you get about 15 to 20 guys, and we’re not funded by the school all that much,” he said.
Despite funding from YSU’s Student Government Association, the players must pay for their own equipment and other things needed to be a part of the sport.
Schuller feels very optimistic about this team and thinks they can do something special.
“The sky’s the limit for this team. This team is unlike and other YSU lacrosse teams that I’ve been around and I used to play here. Now, I’m coaching here, and I haven’t seen a group of players with the kind of talent we have. Now, it’s just a matter of putting it all together,” he said.
At the first game, many of the players got there first real action on the field and will be looking to approve each time they hit the field.
Mark Mckenzie, a junior physics and astronomy major, said he is looking forward to the upcoming season and wants to see what this team is made of.
McKenzie said he feels that there were some issues when the team was trying to practice.
“We did have some issues with other teams not getting off the field for practice, but we don’t want to hurt them it just kind of puts us on hold with practice,” he said.
The lacrosse team looks to start off the season on a good start with the first two games being on the road. Visit the YSU men’s lacrosse team Twitter page for updates for the upcoming season.