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WSU Defeats Idaho: Rebuilding from the Ground Up
Submitted by walax on Wed, 2006-11-01 06:59.
It was a sunny day on the Palouse and the Cougars were excited to play in their first game of the fall. It wasn’t long after the whistle blew that the Cougars struck first with a goal from freshman John Engel. The Cougars dominated the first half with a disciplined offense, stingy defense, successful clears and lots of ground balls. Missed shots and opportunities by Idaho ended the half with the Cougs up 6 to 2.
As the 2nd half rolled on, Washington State continued to score with great ball movement. They were able to dominate the ground ball game and keep possession for most of the 2nd half. Idaho’s scores came off of unsettled situations and late slides. Washington State was able to run off the clock ending the game with a score of 12-6.
Interview with WSU Lacrosse President - Jake Randolph
Walax:How many guys do you have playing?
Lacrosse got started this year in Pullman in early September. Since then the club has accumulated close to 40 guys with interest. As time progressed, WSU now has a roster of about 28 guys with a consistent 15-20 showing up for practice. We practice three times a week, Tues/Thurs and Sunday. We will be moving our practices to the football practice field this winter with some practices enclosed in our field house. We also have the ability to play our games in Martin Stadium.
Walax: What have you done as president this fall to get a turn out?
As president I have developed and maintained a very solid relationship with our Sport Club Federation. With the help of them we have been able to advertise across the entire campus. We have also been able to gain a fair amount of interest just from the word of mouth of our players. The biggest difficulty in running a club program is consistency and involvement of players at practice and funding. With the small amount of funding we were granted, we have made it stretch very fall. This season we will have refurbished goals, new nets and plenty of balls. As far as apparel goes, we’ve recently purchased brand new Brine uniforms that will match our maroon and silver CPX helmets and Superstar II gloves. Players are also given the option of buying Nike jackets and Dri-Fit athletic shirts.
Walax: What caliber of players are attending and playing?
Since we’ve just recently started we did not have luxury of maintaining very many players from the previous squad. We do though have a lot of high school players that learned the game in the greater-Seattle area. Our team is closely split 50-50 with new and returning players.
Attack:
Tom Gibbon (Standout at Curtis, Transferred from Air Force)
Matt Kushin (Had 5 goals against Idaho, transfer from Miami)
Kevin Weitz (Former star at Nathan Hale)
Middie:
Nick Lyon (Club Vice President, Gonzaga Prep in Spokane)
Dash Shearer (Roosevelt)
John Engel (Skyline)
Defense:
Jake Randolph (Eastside/Issaquah/Starz)
Mike Ringstad (DII All State Defensemen from Snohomish)
Matt Wittmeir (New to the game, attended Skyline)
Goalie:
Dustin Gelderman (Loyola Academy in Chicago)
We also have other players from Roosevelt, Maple Valley, Gonzaga Prep, Port Angeles, and Stanwood.
Walax: What help do you need to keep the program going?
To keep the program going we need to recruit high school players while also developing skills within our new players. We need to maintain a high level of competition so we can draw in high quality athletes. In order to survive as a club we need to roll up our sleeves and continue to fundraise efficiently. We are currently working with Ryan Hannavan (Idaho’s head coach) to raise community involvement in the sport of lacrosse in the greater Pullman-Moscow area. We are working on a couple of clinics that could help expose the game to the younger generations. We are also working on hosting a pre-season jamboree for lacrosse teams in both Idaho and Washington. In order to keep the game growing over here, we need to collect donations for old sticks and equipment.