On Saturday, April 2nd, and after a long almost month hiatus from lacrosse, the SU lacrosse team hosted arch rival Trinity in a match-up that could be a prelude to a meeting in the playoffs.

Trinity, playing in Div. B for the first time this year, had already secured the top seed in the South Division of LSA Div. B, and was looking to make a statement against the Bucs like so many of their other teams habitually do when it comes to SU.

In fact, over the past eight year, SU has only toppled Trinity once. All the rest, Trinity has managed to beat SU handily.

The game started on a beautiful day with two goals by the Tigers in the first, before Jr. Jay Gupta got the scoring started off a rebound putback in front of the crease with a little over 5 minutes left in the first. The scored stayed notched at 2-1 Trinity until Jeffcoat was able to slip a defender, beat the slide and hit the back of the net for SU to tie the game with just over twelve to go in the second.

Trinity proceeded to get another goal off a man up shortly after to take a 3-2 lead. It would be their last of the day.

With the Bucs again trailing by one, Gainey scored on a fast break by long pole Gette that was allowed because as all the middies continued over the mid line, Frank literally dove over to keep us from being offsides. The heads up play was indicative of his play all day, maintaining possession and continually winning ground balls to keep the ball on our offensive side of the field. It was also a momentum shifter.

With the game still up in the air, that fast break was followed by a quick face-off by Daulton and score, only 11 seconds later to give the Bucs their first lead of the day. The Bucs added one more goal to take a tenuous 5-3 lead into half-time.

The Bucs were determined to maintain the lead and did so in the third. Pritchett, after feeling a call should have been made decided he would take matters into his own hands and literally barreled through no less than four Tigers before scoring on a point blank shot to give the Bucs a 6-3 lead. Less than a minute later, Kerr got on the board off a great feed from Jeffcoat to up the lead to 7-3, before Trinity added their final two goals of the day, the final one coming on the second goal by a Trinity defender who ran the entire field unassisted.

With the score at 7-5, SU was able to two quick goals in the last 20 seconds of the third, the second of the day by Kerr, and a quick shot by Weldon off an assist by Gainey, to once again pull away with a 9-5 lead.

The fourth saw the Buc defense totally control the game, while SU added two more goals of its own. The first on a shot on crease by Wersonske and the second off the first goal of Arrington's career with just under a minute remaining in the game.

Nine different Bucs scored on the day, and 7 of the goals were assisted, giving ten different Bucs a point in the score-book. Many players made great contributions in the game, including Gette, who received the game ball. In one year, he has become a natural at long pole, playing both D and LSM. Pm also showed a presence on the field we had not seen in quite a while, picking up every loose ball in site and running in transition. An entire team effort was the reason for the success, and the hard work these guys are putting into the season is starting to pay off.

After such a long break, the Bucs came back ready for a very tough Trinity team and were up to the challenge. With hard practices and conditioning over the past couple of weeks, SU has managed to inch closer to the ultimate goal of becoming LSA Div. B Champions and serving as the LSA representative in the National Championships in May. There is still work to be done, however, as SU still has the other two playoff teams (St. Ed's and UTA) in the LSA on its schedule, and a date with UT-Dallas on Sunday, the 3rd for a spot in the playoffs.

Bill Bowman

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