Despite making it to the finals of the SELC Division II tournament last year, Palm Beach Atlantic missed out on a chance for a second straight trip to the MCLA National Tournament powered by Under Armour. Despite the hiccup, the Sailfish have serious ambitions for their penultimate season in the MCLA.

MCLA.us caught up with Jayson Schmidt, the Director of Operations and assistant coach for PBA, for a “5 Questions” cage match.

MCLA: In terms of quality depth, the Southeast Division of the SELC appears to be the strongest on a year-to-year basis. Does the PBA staff players enjoy that kind of grind or would it be nice to have a smoother route to the SELC playoffs?

JS: We love the grind. For the past five years or so, we've known that it was a slug fest just to get out of our own division and we embraced it. The level of competition has helped us to become more battle-tested. As always, we want to be fully prepared and playing our best lacrosse in late April.

Things will look a little differently this year, with SCAD moving to the SELC Northeast, but overall the tide continues to rise. Florida Gulf Coast is a known quantity and we expect Georgia Southern and Florida Atlantic to be very good.

MCLA: The Sailfish’s attack took a hit with graduation, but the midfield brings back guys like junior Greg Swanson (99 points) and classmate Camden Baggs (30 points). Should we expect PBA to create mostly out of the midfield this year or are there some guys ready to step on attack?

JS: I think we'll be a very balanced team given what's returning and who we have coming in. Our athletes have a natural way of finding the right areas on the field to score, no matter their position.

I am looking forward to seeing our attack at full strength this year. Last year, Rob Aycock was our only mainstay on attack. Outside of him, we saw injuries throughout the year that forced us to shift things around and as a result, it was tough to get into a rhythm. If we can stay healthy in 2016 and continue to build chemistry with one another, we will be in great shape.

MCLA: Palm Beach Atlantic ran 21 guys last year. Do you anticipate keeping another tight roster this year or will the personnel be a little deeper?

JS: We're fortunate to enter the spring having doubled our roster size from last season. We felt like last year's team gave every ounce of effort they had in our run to the SELC Championship game and our goal is to build on that. We've had no problems grafting in this group of new athletes into our culture. There's a correlation between their love for the game, each other, and their willingness to compete and get better.

MCLA: PBA is another year closer to 2018, when it is scheduled to join NCAA Division II. Has there been any aspects of the program that have started transitioning to that reality? If so, what are they?

JS: I think you can definitely say that we've gotten more attention than we're used to. Lots of future Sailfish are looking to make their mark as we continue to move toward the Sunshine State Conference and Division II. We've always been very fortunate to receive lots of institutional support from the university. That has only increased and will continue to do so.

MCLA: Just four seniors are gone from last year’s squad. Is this year’s squad going to have some of the same qualities of the 2013 squad that qualified for nationals?

JS: That 2013 team had one of the best attack units in the history of the MCLA. If we could take one thing from that team, it would be their confidence. We stepped into every situation with the mindset that things would go our way, despite any deficiencies.

I think we're a better team than that 2013 squad. We are really strong defensively and we'll field the most balanced team in PBA history, led by a really talented group of upperclassmen. They're the engine of this team, but we also believe in a special group of freshmen and sophomores that will help us win our league and beyond.