Taylor men’s lacrosse is beginning to slow down after their blistering start to a record-setting season.
The Trojans have lost six of their last nine contests after starting the year 5-1. The purple and gray have played an absolute gauntlet of a schedule, with five of their matchups being against ranked opponents.
The Trojans dropped two in a row to No. 10 Indiana Tech and No. 3 Aquinas by a combined score of 43-20. Taylor later put another one in the win column against Siena Heights with a 23-11 victory. Junior attackman Jackson Dale stole the show with five goals and seven assists, leading the team in both.
Taylor then took on Michigan-Dearborn in a close finish that saw the Trojans losing 19-15. Dearborn opened up the game with eight points while only allowing four to Taylor. The Trojans cut one off the four point lead in the second quarter, outscoring the Wolverines 5-4.
Dearborn, however, shut down any hopes of a comeback with an impressive six point third quarter while Taylor only scored three. The purple and gray tried mounting a comeback but it was too little, too late as the Wolverines emerged victorious.
Despite some team struggles, Dale has been pleased with the improvement he’s seen from Taylor lacrosse as the season has progressed.
“Our mindset has changed and improved a lot,” Dale said. “I think we’ve moved away from a kind of cocky mindset and more into a confident one. We’ve improved a lot from last season and I think that has a lot to do with us realizing and believing that we can compete with anybody.”
Taylor opened the season with a thrilling double-overtime victory over No. 4 Webber International, a team they lost 22-7 to in the previous season.
After their matchup with Dearborn, Taylor hosted the No. 1 team in the country, Madonna. The Crusaders defeated the Trojans 27-10. Taylor bounced back with an 18-10 win over Lawrence Tech before losing to No. 8 Indiana tech and No. 3 Aquinas, both on the road.
Junior attackman Will Saxby said many injuries have held back the Trojans’ potential.
“We have several games where we have not been at full strength,” Saxby said. “It can be frustrating at times, but that’s part of the season sometimes and you still have to go out and compete. We have a really deep team and they’ve been impactful.”
For senior day, the Trojans played Siena Heights and it was a record-setting day. Senior defenseman Lucas Pacer became the all-time program leader in games played with 58 and games started with 51. He also set the single-game program records for ground balls with 16 and caused turnovers with eight.
As a program, Taylor collected their eighth win which is the first time in program history that they have reached that mark.
With all the records and ups and downs that come with a lacrosse season, Dale and Saxby said what they are most proud of is the culture that Taylor has been able to build within the program.
“We (Dale and Saxby) live in the apartments and we wanted to make sure that our door was always open,” he said. “We even ordered wings and soda and had a lot of the team over for the Super Bowl which was really cool and fun.”
Taylor will be able to continue building that culture as only two players, Pacer and senior defenseman Xander Bateman, are graduating. Continuity will be a strength for the Trojans moving forward.
Taylor will have an opportunity to host a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament game for the first time in program history if they are able to defeat one of their last two opponents: Michigan-Dearborn or No. 1 Madonna, played on April 21 and April 25 respectively.
