ALAMOSA
. Colo
. – The Adam's State Men's Lacrosse team will kick off their 2020 season and conference play this weekend as they travel to Grand Junction to face off against Colorado Mesa University on Friday and then to Salt Lake City to compete against Westminster College for a Sunday afternoon match-up.
The Grizzlies will hit the field under the direction of
Jerome Austin who will be starting his second season as the Men's Lacrosse head coach. Austin led the team to the 2019 RMAC Tournament and will look to repeat and continue further in the tournament this year. Joining Austin is Garret Chitwood and
Kale Wilson as assistant coaches.
The RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll has the Grizzlies selected to finish fourth this season in the conference. Adams earned a total of three points which was only two points behind that of CSU-Pueblo.
On the Offensive Side
Many of the core and key players on the team from the 2019 season return for the 2020 season. Unfortunately, some of their top goal-scorers graduated last year, but the Grizzlies had a well-balanced offense with goals spread relatively evenly among their attackers and midfielders.
Retuning this year on the offensive end is
Johnny Rosas,
Jacob Austin,
Kyle Butler, and quite a few other players that helped create a successful offensive unit last season. Rosas, now a senior attackman, tallied 14 goals and 6 assists for a total of 20 points last season. Junior midfielder Austin scored 11 goals and had 11 assists for a total of 22 points. And sophomore attackman Butler scored 9 goals and tacked on 3 assists last year as a freshman. The three will look to lead the offense this year in place of the graduated seniors, hoping to contribute as best they can to lead their team to quite a few wins.
Outside of the returning unit of Grizzlies, Austin recruited quite a few freshman offensive players that will look to make an impact. The offensive unit that Austin has built will look to continue their success from last year and play to the best of their ability.
On the Defensive End
Seniors
Terry Trudgian and
Donnie Simon, both named to All-RMAC teams in the 2019 season, return to help anchor the defense this year. Trudgian earned First Team All-RMAC accolades while Simon was Honorable Mention All-RMAC. Trudgian was second on the team last year in groundballs with 32, led the team in caused turnovers with 14, and tacked on 1 assist to help the offense. Simon had 11 groundballs, 5 caused turnovers, and tacked on 3 assists.
Also returning on the defensive end is
Kevin Chitwood and
Brennan Grass, the younger Grizzlies that help make up the solid defensive unit for Adams. The two accounted for quite a few caused turnovers and groundballs, landing in top 6 in both categories last season.
Standing in cage will be
Brendan Williams,
Kyler Welch, or
Michael Navarro. Williams was second between all goalkeepers on the team last year with minutes played, saves, and save percentage. Williams secured a .468 save percentage last season and will look to build off that, hoping to put his team in the best position to win games.
2019 Season in Review
The Grizzlies had an overall record of 3-10 last year with a conference record of 0-6. The offense combined for a total of 124 goals and 76 assists, putting nearly 250 shots on goal. Defensively, the Grizzlies held their opponents to 165 goals and only 80 assists, making for quite a few close score games. As a collective, the team had a total of 363 groundballs and 107 caused turnovers, not making it easy on their opponents to clear the ball.
Scouting Colorado Mesa
The Mavericks kicked off their 2020 season earlier this month against Embry-Riddle University. Since then, Mesa's Men's team has played in three games and won all of them. They sit at an overall record of 3-0 and will play their first conference game against the Grizzlies. James Booth was recently named RMAC offensive player of the week. Booth has already tallied 6 goals and 11 assists in the current season. Also leading the Mavericks offense is Carson Schwark, Kegan Hufford, and AJ Switzer. Schwark and Hufford both have 6 goals under their belt as well as 1 assist each. Switzer has 5 goals under his belt and 5 assists as well. Colin Seedorf was named the RMAC Defensive Player of the week, and has led his team in groundballs and has won a majority of the face-offs he's contended in.
Scouting Westminster College
The Griffins have also already kicked off their 2020 season and currently sit at an overall record of 0-4 with none of the games being conference play and some of their opponents being nationally ranked. Their conference play will begin with a match-up against CSU-Pueblo this Friday afternoon on their home turf. Leading the Griffins offense is Nick Marcy, Merritt McMahon, Spencer Whinery, and Jake Auger. Marcy leads the team with 8 goals on the season already. Marcy is also tied with Auger and Whinery for the lead in assists on the team with 3. Westminster's face off men have seemed to struggle, all their face off percentages under .300. Going into this weekend, the Griffins are going to be hungry for some wins.
Adams State Men's Lacrosse will look to start off their 2020 season on a high note, looking to defeat some of their toughest conference competitors. They will look to build off the success of their 2019 campaign and add on to it, creating a new tradition under their head coach. The Grizzlies will face off against the Mavericks first at 6 p.m. on Walker field before they travel to Utah to face off against Westminster.
