Huskies Open With Win Over Western Washington, 15-10

SEATTLE- Under the Friday night lights and of course, the cold rain the University of Washington Husky Men’s lacrosse team began their 2011 season with a Washington state match-up with Western Washington University. The Dawgs, in their new Brine black uniforms, a la Duke Lacrosse, defeated the Vikings 15-10 in a high scoring shootout.  “It’s nice to finally see what we have been working on for the past month come to fruition.  I’m pleased with getting the win.  There were points of excellence that were great to see. It’s good to see what we’re doing well and what we need to improve,” said assistant coach Jack Cerchiara.

The Dawgs came out firing, taking a quick 5-0 lead in the first quarter.  Sophomore attackman Josh Redhair led the team with five goals and one assist.  With this year’s Husky team come many new faces, as the team is stacked with young freshmen who made their collegiate debut last night.  “In their first game, the freshmen played well and they were calm with their first start.  We had good movement with the ball, getting it around. We just need to be more disciplined with playing a full game,” said Husky captain Steven Frankel.

In the forth quarter, the Dawgs gave up a sizeable lead allowing the Vikings to make a comeback run.  “We broke down fundamentally, you know the guys get excited for the lights and the first game.  We definitely need to work on better execution.  You know lacrosse is a game of runs, but we’re happy with the win,” said Cerchiara. Some of Cerchiara’s points of excellence were the play of the defense, which lost much of their power from last year.  Senior Goalie Ben Yamaguchi made his first start with a new defensive squad led by Alex Candoo.  On offense, the team’s athleticism played to their advantage as the often outran the Vikings in transition and on the dodges.  Forrest Gardenr made an impression with his shifty moves and go-to-goal attitude.  In a team full of fresh faces, the leadership of the captains like Frankel, Scott Gilson and Chris Brown was very strong and a boon to this 2011 team. While Western Washington heads to play Portland State this weekend, the Huskies look to next week to recoup, refocus and fine tune their game and head down south to play Portland State on February 12.