The CHIMES

Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: Sports

Morrisville's Eric Stein "left" looks to pass the ball past a SUNY Brockport player during a men's lacrosse game last year.

The men's lacrosse team looks to improve from last season in the SUNYAC conference. With the season opener less than a week away, coach Pat Yannarelli looks to guide his team to victory.

The Mustangs face this season as a young team with a roster holding 26 players, only two players being seniors. "We train six days a week, challenge ourselves each day, and with each day the team makes me proud," said coach Yannarelli.

With a losing record from last year of 1-13, the Mustangs plan to put in more effort and build themselves stronger. Yannarelli, who has been with the team since 2007, said, "We've lost some good players from last year, but we've got a lot of new youth, with the team made up mostly with freshman. Some of our key players include sophomore midfielder Eric Stein, senior Eric Redmann, and new freshman Robert Rob Schieferstein."

This year, there is a new addition to the staff: Jason Longo has joined the team as an assistant coach. "Longo joins us from Cazenovia, and seems to be pointing the team in the right direction," said Yannarelli.

"He's the man, he knows what he's doing and he's only going to make us better," said sophomore mid-fielder Michael Pascuzzi. "He did come from a very winning program at Lemoyne so he is bringing what he knows from there to us."

The team is working on "team chemistry and keeping a positive atmosphere in the locker room," said student assistant coach Jon Brown. "The team captains are to be announced, and we expect our returning players to be team leaders on and off the field this season."

"I can see the team is starting to come together better as a whole, and is improving on their communication skills," said attacker Nelson Boyd. "Coach Yannarelli knows what he's doing, and does his job well."

"The freshmen will be a huge key to this year's success," said Pascuzzi. "And the harder the work and the better the play, the better our team will be.

"We have a big schedule out-of-conference this season but we especially want to win within the SUNYAC conference," said Yannarelli. This season, the Mustangs play their first game March 1, against SUNY Cobleskill at Colgate University.

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