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Husky lacrosse team beat up by Alumni in championship game
By Kory Ellingson/Contributing Writer
The men’s lacrosse team started their season by hosting their 10th annual Cloud Classic last weekend. This preseason tournament is featuring 10 teams from around the Midwest. Minnesota State University, Moorhead; St. John’s University; Minnesota State University, Mankato; University of Minnesota, Duluth; Bethel College; University of Northern Michigan; SCSU Alumni; SCSU Varsity; and SCSU Rookies.
After going 4-0 in their first four games, the Varsity squad played for the championship against a talented St. Cloud Alumni team. Despite a 14-4 rout by the Alumni, the Varsity Huskies looked impressive throughout the tournament.
The Varsity squad was looking forward to the challenge of capturing the championship for the third time in four years. They managed back-to-back tournament championships in 1999 and 2000, but lost to UMD, ranked 23rd in the nation at the time, in the final game.
They started strong behind sophomore attack Nick Van Pelt’s three goals in taking care of St. John’s 8-2 in the tournaments opening game. The Varsity squad then upset Duluth 7-4 as freshman mid-fielder Ryan Thorson scored twice.
St. Cloud Varsity continued playing well against Moorhead as junior mid-fielder Brian Lenzmeier recorded a hat trick in leading the Huskies to a 7-5 victory.
High expectations are filling the minds of this young ball club as they gain confidence every game.
“We want to take the championship on our own floor and let the league know that we are for real,” said Bill Johnson, senior captain for the St. Cloud Huskies, before the game started.
Van Pelt led the Varsity team with seven goals entering Sunday’s championship game. Senior goalie Scott Shatek also had a strong tournament going into Sunday’s last game by only allowing 12 goals through the first four games.
For the past 10 years, this tournament has been held in the Halenbeck Hall Fieldhouse during the last weekend in February.
Games start at 7 p.m. Friday night and run until 10 p.m. The tournament then continues Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. with the final playoff games being held sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This has not only been a fundraiser for the team, but also a great chance to play against other teams. Tournament referee Jeff Dolan has worked these games each of the past three seasons. He complements St. Cloud for running a good tournament.
“This is a nice facility and great sportsmanship every time we come here,” Dolan said.
The Huskies will open their regular season play Feb. 8 against St. Olaf with their eyes set on winning the league championship and going to St. Louis for a chance to play in the National Championship.
The league tournament is taking place in Hastings and will feature all of the best teams from around the Upper Midwest Lacrosse League (UMLL).
The Varsity lacrosse team finished a disappointing fourth place in last year’s league tournament when they lost to eventual champions UMD.
The loss of key players, including Craig Fuller, Nick Thorson, Nick Lukovsky and Brendan Dwyer, who combined for 100 goals and 62 assists the year before, will be hard to replace.
The Varsity Huskies are turning to a full squad of returning defense, goalie and a young offense that will have a lot of pressure on them to put points on the board.
That is not keeping Senior Captain Mike Tucker’s attitude down.
“Sure we lost a lot of stars, but my outlook on the season hasn’t changed,” he said. “We have the potential to have a bunch of superstars on the team and shock the league. We’ll be a hell of a team to compete with.”
Key games for the Varsity team will be April 7 against the U of M at Iowa State and April 17 when they travel to Duluth to take on the defending league champions, UMD.
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