Fall Check-In: Arkansas Razorbacks

Our next Fall Check-in is with the Arkansas Razorbacks.  The Hogs  are looking to build off a 2025 season built on a prolific offense.

To read the previous installments click here: You can read the earlier installments of the Fall Check-in series here: To read the prior installments of our Fall Check-in Series click here: Virginia Tech (DI), Florida Atlantic, Chapman, Montana, Washington,  Long Beach, Moorpark, Liberty

In 2025, your team averaged over 16 goals per game and assisted on 70% of your goals, both very impressive numbers, do you expect this year’s team to be similarly high scoring?

Gill Trainor: Last year we had an extremely high-powered offense, and although we are retooling after graduating some of our leading scorers we are extremely excited about the new group of offensive players joining the team.  There are a lot of extremely talented lacrosse players at the University of Arkansas, and like many club programs we have a limited practice schedule.  This means we emphasize building chemistry and allowing freedom within our offensive sets vs. having extremely rigid structure.  We found success with this last year, and we expect to build on that as our guys continue to gain confidence and chemistry on the field.

Your roster for last year only had five players listed as seniors, have you noticed any changes within the team with so many young players (20 listed as in their first year of eligibility last year) now a year older and more experienced?

GT: 2025 was a year of rebuilding for the program.  We only had 6 returning players, so it was a completely fresh start.  Like many programs, the COVID years really hurt our numbers and the team went without a coach for several years.  For the guys to rally around each other like they did and find success in "Year One" of our clubs rebuild speaks volumes to the work they put in, the trust they had in each other and the belief that they could accomplish what they set out to do, which was win the LSA playoffs.

What are the schedule highlights?  Any big trips or visitors to Fayetteville?

GT: As far as scheduling, there have been some big shifts in the LSA so a bulk of our schedule is now in-conference play.  One of our main priorities right now is sustainable growth as a program, so we are focusing our scheduling around LSA D1 and D2 teams and not over-reaching on travel.  That being said, we are extremely excited for our trip to Nashville to play UNC Wilmington and St. John's.  It should be a weekend of great competition and a good challenge for our guys as we prep for postseason play.

 You guys recently won the Kansas City Shootout for Soldiers event, how was the event?  Any standout individual performances?

GT: Shootout for Soldiers Kansas City was extremely well put together, and overall a great success.  The program organizers brought together great competition, and did an outstanding job honoring past and present veterans.  I think this is going to be a tournament that gets bigger and better every year, and I highly encourage more MCLA programs to consider it as part of their fall scheduling.

 Our coaching staff was extremely impressed with how the team performed considering it had been 5 months since they stepped on the field in a game together.  A few individual performances that stood out were from Deacon Ivey (D-Middie), and Eric Baines (Face-Off).  Deacon was our go-to D-Middie last year, and he proved that once again this year, locking down scorers on a very talented Kansas University team.  And Eric has not lost a step coming off an extremely dominant season of faceoffs.

Have there been any standout newcomers this Fall?

GT: The coaches are extremely excited about this year's newcomers.  Just to name a few, at Attack Colin Brown from The Woodlands has immediately stepped up and made an impact.  We see him being a huge part of our offense moving forward.  The University of Arkansas seems to attract an abundance of extremely talented D-Poles/LSMs, and two stand-out names are Mason Pafk (Round Rock Westwood) and Adler Hunton (Lake Travis). At Middie we are extremely excited about a few of our local Arkansas players from Bentonville High School, Sebastian McDaniel and Connor Bolena.  Growing the game of lacrosse in the state of Arkansas is extremely important to the coaches, so we are really happy to see more guys coming out from the local area and they will make an immediate mark on the program.

Thank you to Coach Trainor for taking the time to answer some questions.

Coaches, if you’re interested in participating in our Fall Check-In series, please email info@mcla.us.