At 10:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night, most students are thinking about going to sleep or finishing up some last minute homework. That wasn’t the case for the Idaho men’s club lacrosse team on Wednesday, as it was practicing under the lights on the SprinTurf in preparation for its home game against Oregon on Saturday.
“It’d be much nicer to be able to practice earlier. But football gets priority over us and intramurals get priority over us so we’re kind of at the bottom of the barrel in that sense, but honestly were not complaining,” Idaho coach Sammy Seidenberg said. “We’re just lucky to be out here under the lights and the guys, they’ll have the energy and know that no matter what time of day we’re going to have to work.”
Seidenberg’s squad heads into its game against Oregon after a 14-9 win over Gonzaga on Sunday. The Vandals have won two straight games after dropping three straight. Idaho is 5-3 on the season, but two of its losses have come to MCLA top 25 teams Simon Fraser and Westminster.
“I think definitely for us, Westminster was a big wake up call,” Seidenberg said. “They’re a really good team and we came into that game a little too scared.”
Since that game, Seidenberg said his team has taken a more relaxed approach and things have started clicking for his players.
“We finally started playing the game that we should have been playing all season against Gonzaga last weekend,” said junior Craig Patrick, one of four captains on Idaho’s team. “We passed and caught pretty well, we really played very good defense, we shut them down pretty much the entire second half and our offense came through with a couple really clutch goals in the end to kind of seal it for us.”
The Vandals play Oregon at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Kibbie Dome. It will be the first time Idaho has played in the Dome in five years.
Idaho has never beaten Oregon, but Seidenberg said the Ducks are having a down year and the Vandals head into the game with momentum from two straight wins.
He said Oregon is usually No. 1 in the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League (PNCLL) but this year they are 4-4 and have lost to some teams they normally beat. Still, Seidenberg said Idaho can’t underestimate the Ducks.
“Oregon’s a huge game for us. We’ve never beat them, we’re 0-6 against them and if we beat Oregon, that’s huge,” he said. “I don’t see us losing another game if we win this one.”
The Ducks are a fast break team, so Idaho will have to focus on its ride and slowing the fast break, Seidenberg said. Idaho’s goal is always to score at least 10 goals and hold its opponent in single figures.
“We just really need to make sure our attitude stays up,” senior Ryan Erstad said. “We have to keep it positive — there are things that are going to go wrong every game and this is one of the teams that we just can’t let ourselves get down.”
The game is also a charity game. Optional fundraising and halftime activities will take place with half of the funds going to the club team and half going to Support Our Troops. The Vandals will wear camo gear during the game in honor of Support Our Troops.
“It’s a big opportunity for us to play on Moms’ Weekend and play in the Dome,” Seidenberg said. “It should be a lot of fun.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]