The Gonzaga Lacrosse team is ending the fall season just right. After being together for almost three months, the team is winding down and getting ready for finals and a new semester. With the loss of only two seniors and the addition of a strong freshmen class, the whole team is looking foreword to the spring season and an opening contest against the Santa Clara University Bronco's.

photo courtesy of GU Lacrosse

This year's freshmen class have made a strong impression with the returning players. All incoming players, including those who have already played and those who are new to the game, practiced hard and sacrificed a lot of free time to make this years team the best in Gonzaga history. Many of the freshmen expressed a desire to play midfield, which will benefit the team immensely, providing a much deeper bench and adding desire to this year's team. The Gonzaga lacrosse team was also fortunate enough to acquire some new defensive players in Zach Wolfel and Sean Mchugh, formerly of Seattle Prep in Seattle, helping our team's defensive effort. With the guidelines of our future performance set at the first team meeting, our coach Rick Kladis has clearly defined his expectations for the season ahead.

But no team can be competitive without a tough training program. The team trained for twelve weeks in the fall to get ready for the upcoming season, with full team sessions on Tuesday nights and individual workouts two more times per week. With the help of employees and trainers at the Rudolf Fitness Center our twelve week stint in the gym proved quite successful as player mile times were cut by more than 40 seconds on average. The routine included an intense cardiovascular routines coupled with a brutal plyometric workout. And with a strong weightlifting program to supplement the endurance training, there are no doubts that come February 19th the Gonzaga lacrosse team will not be worried about failing to compete in all four quarters.

With expectations and training taken care of, they look forward to the future. And if the fall season is any indication of how the regular season will go, it looks like Gonzaga lacrosse is ready to keep making an impression in the PNCLL and other conferences.
 

This year, the team is led on and off the field by player-coach Rick Kladis.  His accolades include all-american honors in both high school in Utah and at Gonzaga.  He holds team records, and will  be coaching the Zags as well as playing attack. Check out the Zags Team Roster for 2005

article contributed by Brian Young