Fall Check-In: Montana Grizzlies

For our next Fall Check-In we head to Missoula, Montana to check in with the Montana Grizzlies and Head Coach Tucker Sargent.

 To read the prior installments of our Fall Check-in Series click here: Virginia Tech (DI), Florida Atlantic, Chapman

 You guys have been regulars at nationals lately, but after making the semi-finals in 2022 have lost in the first round three straight years, are you guys doing anything different to get over that first round hump again?

Tucker Sargent: That has been the focus and talk all fall.  We aren't afraid of talking about postseason aspirations.  We are proud of what we have done but every player on the team this year hasn't made it past the first round at nationals.  I think the desire is there from the group to start working even harder this fall with making another deep run the goal this year.  I don't think there is any magic key you can use right now to make something like that happen months from now, but players are focused on a goal and working hard to attain it.

 You guys always play an ambitious schedule what are the highlights for this year? 

TS: You have to travel in the MCLA to play a tough schedule and set yourself up for the postseason.  Being in the far northwest that travel is even tougher, but we embrace the experience and have a lot of fun on the road.  This year we have trips to Denver for the Rocky Mountain Rumble in February and heading to Minnesota over spring break to play some of the best teams from the UMLC.

 Montana is not a state known for its lacrosse infrastructure,  you only had seven in-state players last year, what are some of the challenges of building a program with so many out of state players and how have you all overcome those challenges?

TS: The biggest challenge is just having enough quality players to compete at a high level when your school is majority instate students and as you said, Montana is not a lacrosse hotbed.  We do have some really talented instate players and I think those guys kind of lead the culture representing their state and the pride that comes from that.  But we do rely on a lot of out of state guys to fill our roster and keep it competitive.  We focus on bringing guys in that want to play high level college lacrosse a big part of their experience, but also love all the things that make Montana special like our world class access to outdoors, the natural beauty, being part of a real college town. 

There were only three seniors on your roster last year.  How do you expect this year’s team to be different with all those young players having another year under their belts? 

TS: We did lose some big time players from last season, but we had a lot of young guys in big roles last year.  I think that experience will pay big dividends this year, being a little more experienced.  We also added some very talented freshman.  I expect us to be hungrier and ready to compete with anyone.

Your top three scorers from last season along with a goalie who saved 67.6% of the shots he faced last season all return. That’s a good foundation; do you expect this year’s team to have a similar identity?

TS: We are very fortunate to have incredible goaltending and it's a fantastic foundation.  The goal for this year is to help our goalie out more and have him face less shots and our goal scorers score more.  I think that is a good formula for more success.

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

Coaches, if you'd like your program to be featured in our Fall Check-In series, please email info@mcla.us to receive your questions.