The Thomas More University men's lacrosse team has had a historic season this spring, to say the least.
This season, the team has posted its best record in program history, currently standing at 7-8 overall and 5-5 in conference, earning its first-ever Great Midwest Athletic Conference tournament appearance.
The team, led mainly by upperclassmen, has seen the team grow immensely from their first year as a program in the NAIA era, to the ups and downs of getting acclimated to the G-MAC, and now.
Senior attacks,
Graham Houser and
Spencer Lethbridge, are two of those seniors who have created and established the brotherhood throughout their four years at Thomas More. From their freshmen year in a first-year program to now, Houser says that in a way, they needed that NAIA year and those two G-MAC years to grow in order to get to where they are now.
"We understand that we have to be bigger and stronger every year," said Houser. "We have to prepare for games differently, and that's kind of how it goes in college when you go from year one to year four. But I think we've quickly influenced the younger guys too".
Like Houser, Lethbridge is the glue guy the team's offense needs. Lethbridge will leave a legacy at Thomas More like no one ever has before in the program. He will leave the Saints as the program's top scorer in goals and points, as the attackman currently stands at 94 goals and 160 points and counting in his career.
As he prepares for what could be his last couple of games in a Thomas More uniform, he knows that he accomplished everything he wanted to for himself and his program. "I would say that one of my goals, kind of coming in, was trying to be a leader on the field," said Lethbridge. "When I was recruited here, [Head Coach]
Sean McGinnis was like, 'hey, you could be the top, you could be the all-time leading scorer,' and just trying to set goals for myself individually and as a team and then just trying to, you know, achieve those goals and then be growing as a person…. And like me and other teammates, we always say, 'Leave it, leave it better than you found it'."
With the upperclassmen's presence on both the offensive and defensive sides, the few underclassmen who have made a name for themselves this season include sophomore defensive midfielder
Colin Scalise.
Scalise, with four goals and nine caused turnovers on the season, says that he has been mentored well by the juniors and seniors of this team. He believes they have taught him how to play through adversity and to learn how to bounce back from a mistake quickly.
"I think it all stems from their brotherhood of not starting with a lot of guys," said Scalise. "When we came in, they really set the standard for us and how we should act, as students, as teammates, and essentially brothers. They've been really good role models with just leading us and [with] little things, whether it's, like, stuff about homework, who to go to, where to find, and overall just great leaders…. And we talk a lot about the goldfish mindset."
Knowing that the heavy senior class will be leaving soon, Scalise knows that he will have to step up next year, taking what he has learned from them, and be in a new leadership role. However, he will not be alone.
Redshirt sophomore midfielder
Bryce Collins has been a star for the Saints this season. On the season, Collins has 31 goals along with 40 points. He leads the Saints in goals and points on the season, just after
Spencer Lethbridge. Collins has learned this year that if they want to continue their brotherhood and take the program to the next level, they will have to be comfortable doing the uncomfortable on and off the field.
".... On the field, I would say, creating a slide and hitting the one more or [is] something I'm trying to work on. Not forcing shots, obviously, goals are nice, but hockey assists are always
gonna be more valuable to me…. We've been switching up the offense a lot, and so we've had to learn at a fast pace," said Collins. "I think another thing, off the field, I've learned to build new relationships with people that I'm not comfortable talking to all the time."
As the Saints prepare to take on the Davenport University Panthers this weekend, it is important to note that the Saints faced the Panthers earlier this season. The Saints lost in late March to the Panthers, 20-6.
Though that score might show alarm in some fans' eyes, the team believes that score does not reflect their season and how their game on Saturday will go.
When asked, Lethbridge says that the Saints will look like a whole different team. "To start off, we were missing 3 starters. We were missing 2 of our close defenders as well as one of our starting attackmen," says Lethbridge. "We just need to do better on faceoffs…. So just trying to control the possessions is going to be something that's very huge …. And then obviously just putting, putting the ball in the back of the net is the last thing."
The Saints will head into the G-MAC Tournament as a #6 seed, as Davenport is a #3 seed. The Saints will look to keep their G-MAC Championship hopes alive and make it to Midland to face the Northwood University Timberwolves next Wednesday.
