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Regis Rangers Prepared for Colossal 2012
(Denver, CO) – “Stay hungry”. These are the words head coach Dave Leach concluded the 2011 spring lacrosse season with. Every returning player this fall no doubt was fueled by this, as the team embarked on a much more grueling and intense fall-ball season than anything planned for the lacrosse team since its inception. Typically fall-ball seasons are designed to “weed out the weak”, Coach Leach’s plans were to only have the resilient left by the end of it. This was especially the case as the team’s numbers grew exponentially. Deductive reasoning meant the path to four new captains was underway.
Brandon Do, Jeron Fleming, T.J Nixon, and Sam Bishop have been honored as elected team captains, alongside injured, but highly-dedicated, returning captain Ted Emery. These five individuals have so-far proven they have what it takes and will lead the Rangers through a 2012 Spring-season which, in one word, will be; revolutionary.
The Rangers are back to classes on the 17th of January, and immediately we will see these committed individuals come together and rise to the challenge of 6am workouts, Olympic athlete diets, and study-hall sessions.
32 players strong, the Rangers will first meet Denver University (club) on Sunday, February 12th under the lights at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, in a scrimmage game to prepare for the greater part of the season. Following a 10-17 loss last time these two teams met, the Rangers will be reluctant to just let this game go. The following weekend will see the last of the scrimmages with the University of Wyoming taking on the Rangers Saturday, February 18th at North High school. They call these matches ‘friendly’ but it is difficult to gauge the Cowboys’ approach to the game, after eight total matchups in recent years in which they have not won a single one. With a total aggregate of goals at 82-34, will Wyoming look to mimic the approach the Rangers will take in their Denver University scrimmage?
Three games into the season something monumental will happen. For the first time ever in the team’s history, the Rangers will fly, out of state, in style, to Los Angeles, California where they will spend spring break and play four lacrosse games. Opponents include Occidental College, California State-Fullerton, Biola University, and California State-Long beach. The spring break trip is not only mammoth in the team’s ambition, but the Rangers also understand that business is business and although the focus is around lacrosse and representing Regis in a professional and courteous manner; swimsuits, flip-flops, and sun glasses will be a requirement. Strength and conditioning coach Rob Odom, and ironman assistant coach Tyler Hardy both declined comment however when asked if the team would eat at In-n-Out Burger.
Immediately following the Rangers return to Denver, the playing field will evolve into a proving ground. As the gears shift into overdrive, these subsequent two games against divisional opponents will largely determine the post-season fate of the team. First on Sunday March 18th versus Metro State College and the following Saturday March 24th against the Colorado School of Mines, these two games may just make or break the season. Give these games away, and the rest of the season might be an uphill struggle.
The Rangers then will travel in luxury again, as the away games versus Fort Lewis College, Western State College, and Montana state college will be traveled-to in a 55-passenger coach charter bus. The team will look to close the regular season with a final division game against the University of Northern Colorado on Saturday April 28th, at home. In the fall, the Rangers fell to the Bears 7-6, which is significant in terms of the Rangers’ defeat last spring.
Creighton University and St. Mary’s College are two other notables on the schedule this Spring, along with Central Washington University, and CSU-Pueblo; Regis Lacrosse will compete with opponents from five of the ten conferences within the MCLA. A chance to be noticed by Top-25 voters, or the stage for a dose of high profile humility… at 16 games, this is undoubtedly the most challenging season Regis lacrosse has ever scheduled, and how successful it is, will be at the mercy of the players.
Sacrifice is something all successful athletes understand. Giving up sleep to go work out, or missing out on seeing a movie to work on their shooting, or that which might take the most discipline, skipping that cheese pizza for a tasteless chicken breast all while acting as if the dessert buffet doesn’t even exist. The 2012 Rangers, are extraordinarily focused. These fine gentlemen don’t only live and breathe a synergetic lacrosse lifestyle; they’re hungry for the sweeter-side of life.
REGIS MEN’S LACROSSE SPRING SCHEDULE 2012
