{"id":544,"date":"2014-02-20T18:04:07","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T18:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=544"},"modified":"2014-02-20T18:04:07","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T18:04:07","slug":"lacrosse-develops-a-winning-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2014\/02\/20\/lacrosse-develops-a-winning-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Lacrosse develops a winning tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charlie Grigsby<\/strong> – Cento Writer<\/em><\/p>\n

Legacy is often a difficult thing to talk about after three years. It\u2019s easy to have a vision or an expectation, but building a reputation takes time. When Centre Men\u2019s Lacrosse plays next Sun., Feb. 23 against Carthage, the program will be entering its fourth year since its inaugural season in 2011.
\nThe senior class will take the field as the first group to play on the team all four years. They will be playing for the program they established and, with the juniors, sophomores, and alumni, molded into the NCAA tournament team it is now.
\nIn three short years, the lacrosse team has gone from nonexistent to having eleven players named to all-SAA conference teams in 2013 and from a 3-10 regular season record in 2011 to a 10-2 record in 2013.<\/p>\n

\"Lacrosse\"<\/a>
Courtesy of Centre.edu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Legacy means something that is handed down, and, certainly, Coach Bert Severns has led this group of upperclassmen to create a program worthy of inheritance. Heading into the 2014 season, the legacy has been constructed; the focus now becomes shaping the team\u2019s identity one game at a time.
\nWhen Coach Severns took over as head coach in 2010, he did so with first-years making up 18 of the 23 players on the roster. The team only won three games that season, which was frustrating for players coming from well-established high school programs around the country.
\n\u201cI wasn\u2019t used to losing,\u201d senior midfielder Corey Krill said. \u201cYou have to manage your expectations and know what you\u2019re capable of, but keep pushing yourself at the same time. The first year is about doing everything you can to get better.\u201d
\nDespite the disappointing first season, talent kept flowing in. The infant program offered ample playing time as well as the freedom to build a team culture from the ground up. Players came for the opportunity to contribute right away, but many will tell you that the biggest draw to Centre is Coach Severns.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s like a father figure to a lot of us. He understands how 20-year-olds are, how we are,\u201d sophomore long-stick midfielder Phil Havira said.
\nThe talent influx vaulted the Colonels to a 12-4 record in 2012. The atmosphere of the team began to shape around the competitive nature of its players. Practices adopted a heightened intensity, with players fighting each other, oftentimes literally, for starting spots and playing time.
\nOff the field, everyone\u2019s close, but on the field, the tension between position players sometimes boils over.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think you could print what I could tell you about the locker room,\u201d Krill said jokingly. \u201cEverybody loves each other, but we\u2019re all so competitive. That\u2019s what you want in a locker room. Guys don\u2019t need to be complacent and \u2018buddy-buddy\u2019 all the time; you need to be pushing each other.\u201d
\nLast season, 33 players played in at least nine games, meaning 75% of the team participated in over half of the season. Eleven of those players earned spots on all-conference teams, and unlike its SAA opponents, with the exception of Berry, Centre returns every single all-conference player for its upcoming season.
\nExpectations have been raised every off-season, and this year is no different. After making a surprise run to the NCAA tournament last season, the Colonels will not be satisfied with just tournament participation; this team is talented and deep enough to compete for an outright SAA conference championship. This season could mark a transition from upstart to recognition, which is why Coach Severns\u2019 message this year has been \u201call in.\u201d
\n\u201cI want to win a tournament game. Next year, I want them to make a run to the Sweet 16, the Final Four. I want to be the team that keeps getting better until schools don\u2019t want to play us in the tournament,\u201d Krill said. \u201cI want people to think of us when they think of DIII lacrosse in the South. We\u2019re an upstart team, and honestly, we\u2019re getting enough attention. The program is not [a national power yet] but maybe one day…\u201d
\nEventually, the Colonels will no longer play with the chip on their shoulder. This season, they\u2019ll be playing with a target on their backs, a fact which they are perfectly fine with. Centre is listed as one of the favorites to win the conference, and with continued success on a national scale, they\u2019ll have little left to prove in terms of legitimacy. But the upperclassmen still want to finish what they started and, alongside the sophomores and first-years, establish what Centre lacrosse will be known for years after they graduate.
\nThey\u2019ve already made something out of nothing, so all that\u2019s left is sculpting what that something is.
\nSo yes, three years is short time to throw around words like legacy. Then again, three years was enough for Coach Severns and this senior class to build their own culture. Ask the coaches or the players and they\u2019ll say the success doesn\u2019t come as much of a surprise.
\nSuch a rapid progression seems remarkable to anyone outside the Colonel\u2019s locker room, but to the coaches and players, the ascension of the Centre Lacrosse was and is inevitable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charlie Grigsby – Cento Writer Legacy is often a difficult thing to talk about after three years. It\u2019s easy to have a vision or an expectation, but building a reputation takes time. When Centre Men\u2019s Lacrosse plays next Sun., Feb. 23 against Carthage, the program will be entering its fourth year since its inaugural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}