Calvin College Men's Lacrosse

     The Knights finished 3rd in the CCLA, a conference whose top two teams made the trip to Texas to compete in the national championship tournament and both finished in the top four out of 97 teams in the league. Returning to championship glory proved just out of reach. Let's take a look back at this quick and demanding 2008 season.

     After snows kept the first few scheduled games from happening, our season started with a conference game. The University of Michigan - Dearborn came to town in mid March and thankfully we had lined up Eagles Stadium, a brand new turf field on the campus of GR Christian HS, to host this chilly match. Our first day outdoors went better than feared with Calvin's defense holding a potent pair of UMD offensive threats in check for a 14-5 win.

     The 2nd Annual Holy War, which we hosted in 2007, took place in Chicago during the last weekend in March. Our first OOC game was against Dordt, a team that later surprised some GRLC fellows with the quality of team they've become. This Friday night game was not one that stood out as remarkable, but we did come away with a 9-4 win. The game was followed with a bit of fellowship over pizza with the other teams, a nice touch. After a night at the hotel in which some tested coach's limits we faced the host Wheaton Thunder team and many of the younger players stepped up in this game to show a bit of what's to come as they notched an impressive 20-12 win. After a stop at Chipotle we cruised home that night aboard the cushy charter bus, our only chartered trip of the year.

     Our first conference road trip got postponed a week due to blizzard conditions and when the game vs. Saginaw Valley was played the conditions were just a hint better than a blizzard. We hit a bump early with an unexpected bridge closure which got us to the game with only a few minutes to spare. The term warm-up did not apply to our short pre-game routine as we decided to just play. The game was a close low scoring battle through the frozen puddles until the Knights' offense clicked late in the 4th to secure a 9-4 victory.

     For our second home game we once again brought our game to the turf stadium of GR Christian HS to meet up with Northern Michigan, a team that took us to an overtime nail biter last spring. The weather was beautiful, but this was a game that stuck out like a sore thumb, not for particularly poor play, but for the amount of time our teams spent in the penalty box. All total our teams spent more than half of the game without all of our players on the field. Obviously, it was a test of each of our man-up and man-down units and thankfully we managed to survive the punishment in this notable 11-6 win.

     The last time we drove up to Big Rapids we suffered a disappointing loss on a very cold and wet night and this year the conditions were set to be not much different. The rain came and we stashed all our gear below the press box and got down to business. Ferris State had the unlucky fate of losing a good number of their best players for different reasons and the Knights were glad for it, otherwise the conditions could have made this 16-5 game much more difficult. Everyone who made the trip got into this game and we even unleashed our goalie, a middie of yesteryear, enough to crank a well deserved moment of offensive pleasure.

      With a week to scout, prepare, and heal we were headed into what we knew would be a key game of the 2008 season against Grand Valley the following Tuesday at our on-campus field. Since last year's match went into overtime in our favor, the Lakers too had this game clearly marked on their schedules with revenge on their minds. For all but the first quarter their desire and sheer talent left the Knights staring at the ground. Our first quarter lead turned into a sound 5-19 defeat as the Lakers rode their victory streak all the way to the national championship game.

     On the following Saturday we headed west to play in the showcase game of a day long LaxFest at Holland Christian HS against Calvin's top MIAA rival Hope. While Hope has been in a re-building phase for a few years, some of us knew this could be their year. Bringing in a very talented set of additions and a new focus the Flying Dutchmen proved to be a tough team to beat as the game stayed close well into the second half before we eventually pulled away with a 20-13 victory.

      Our regular season 4 win and 1 loss record earned us the #2 North seed for the CCLA conference championship tournament. GVSU had earned the #1 North seed which matched them up against the #2 South team of Grove City. In a rematch of last year's CCLA championship game we faced the University of Dayton, the #1 South seed in the early semi-final.

     Calvin and Dayton had met in the semi-finals with the same seeds two years ago, a game in which the Knights won the game defensively in a hard fought 6-4 victory. In last year's 8-19 loss in the championship game defense was a point of weakness, so what was in store for this year? The 2008 match-up would best be characterized by the hard fought style of a couple years back. Our offense held their own, while our defense kept their potent offense in check. Thanks to our goalie the Flyers stayed within reach, but a second quarter flurry kept them ahead for what turned out to be a respectable 10-13 loss. The Flyers would lose to Grand Valley in the CCLA championship match as Calvin defeated Grove City 11-4 in the consolation game.

     The two MCLA teams Calvin lost to in 2008 proved to be tough opponents as both earned the right to represent the CCLA at nationals in Dallas, Texas. Dayton pulled an upset of the perennial powerhouse St. John's team in the quarter finals, while Grand Valley defeated St. Thomas a second time to make it to the championship game, a first for a CCLA team, only to fall to a very well supported and pre-season #1 team of Westminster from Utah that had defeated Dayton in the other semi-final.

	2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Division II Champions

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