MAC Bites - #6

Senior captain Jason McDonald will part of a number of collegiate laxers to blog all season for LacrossePlayground.com. Here is his sixth blog.


Jason McDonald - Sr. - #33 - Defense

Lacrosse Blog #6

And we’re rolling…

It has been an exciting last three weeks. It began with the win over Quinnipiac, which propelled us into the first game of conference play at Canisius. The one aspect of NCAA athletics that has stood out to me the most is momentum, which happens to currently be on our side and unless the world ends tomorrow, I don’t see it leaving the Detroit Titans.

We arrived in Connecticut that Friday morning before the game for our practice time on their field, which happens to be Astro-Turf. This is a crucial element to the game because it changes the style of play entirely. Every ground ball roles that much faster and further making ground balls rather difficult to those who are not ready. Even with the notable advantage, we exploded in the first half scoring ten goals and allowing four. Unfortunately we faltered in the second half and allowed Quinnipiac to try and get back in the game. With that said, we outworked them in almost every statistical category and were really confident throughout the entire sixty minutes winning 13-10.

The following week, the emphasis was put on our play in the second half. Entering the MAAC schedule, we could not afford to stumble or let the foot off the pedal in the second half if we want to be successful. Consistency was another key aspect of our game, which we relentlessly drill into practice each day. We left Friday morning and crossed the border to Canada, which cut off several hours of the trip due to the proximity of Detroit and Canisius College to the border in upstate New York.

The short drive was nice, but following our ride it was all business and we all knew what was at stake and what we must do. From the start of the week, I mentioned I wanted to send a message to the conference and show everyone that receiving the preseason vote was no hoax. Turns out, we really followed up on that message netting 17 goals and exploding in the fourth quarter for five goals. It seems as though our second half troubles and consistency issues had been erased considering we scored four goals in every quarter except the fourth.

As mentioned before, we received a huge momentum swing after beating a non-conference opponent and an even bigger one handling Canisius and starting our conference play 1-0. Last week however was of utmost importance. We couldn’t waiver and our hunger grew even stronger. The 1-0 start was nothing and we faced our biggest opponent yet in Marist, which is always a chippy game because of how heated the rivalry has become.

We split games with Marist last year, losing in the regular season, but winning in the playoffs to send them home and propel us to the MAAC Championship. The stakes were high coming into Saturday. We knew they would be looking for redemption after their season had ended in the MAAC semifinals. The entire game was a battle and the offense came up big when we needed them and the same went for the defense. The intensity of the game was unlike anything I’ve been a part of. It felt like a playoff battle and we came out on top once again in the end in an overtime thriller.

We are extremely excited as we head into our Saturday game at Manhattan. We are 2-0 and back on top in the conference and we have no time to look back. The boys are at an all-time high and we have no plans of stopping. If the MAAC has proven anything, it’s that each game will be a dogfight. Not one game is guaranteed and we fully understand this. Every week, we work even harder. The title may not be ours, but we fight like it will be.

DetroitTitans.com