Captains and coaches help Blue Jays on and off the field
|
Four seniors and one junior are ready to lead Hopkins to a long-awaited and well-deserved national championship this spring. With the help of an exceptional coaching staff, the team is "progressing towards the ultimate goal of winning a national championship," said junior Chris Watson.
"Last year we were still a little young, but we had great seniors," he said. "This year we are deeper than we have been; we can be very successful."
Watson is captain this year with seniors Kevin Boland, Conor Ford, Corey Harned and Greg Raymond.
The whole team voted on this year's captains before their first fall ball tournament. "It's based on being hard workers and leaders both on and off the field. We have to set the example for the team, by being gentlemen," said Harned, who will play long-stick defensive middie for the third consecutive season.
"We act in a first-class manner; our actions speak for the team," added Boland. If one word comes to mind in connection with this year's captains its responsibility and all five are ready to set the standard. They realize, however, that there's a lot involved in being a captain of a premier lacrosse program.
Watson mentioned that being a lacrosse player, as well as a captain, involves a big commitment.
"We're up at the AC about 7 hours a day, so we have to be efficient off and on the field," he said.
The whole team as well as the coaching staff supports each other both academically and athletically.
"It's a big responsibility, one that we're willing to take on," said Boland, a Maryland native and Gilman graduate. "It's a big honor in this program with all the elite players that came before you. I've learned to play lacrosse in Baltimore; I understand the tradition of Hopkins lacrosse. Hopkins is awesome. No other place has as much tradition as we do." Boland, who is a two time Third Team STX/USILA All-American, is expected to hold down a spot on the first midfield this year after appearing as a regular on the second team for the past two years.
Head Coach David Pietramala knows this year's captains will have a hard time living up to last year's leadership.
"Our captain's have a tremendous responsibility," he said. "They follow a group that led the team to the national championship game as well as two people who were as dedicated as you can be to Hopkins lacrosse."
Raymond, who was captain of the team last year as well as captain of his high school lacrosse team for two years added, "It is a huge honor to be a captain of the lacrosse team at Hopkins [...] It's nice to know I have the respect of my teammates, who are my first of all my friends."
Raymond is a member of the defense which finished second in the nation in man-down defense and third in the nation in scoring defense in 2003.
Ford, who is also from Maryland, enters the season as Hopkins' leading active scorer with 57 goals and 50 assists for a total of 107 points. He finished third on the team in scoring last season when he played on the first midfield unit.
"It's a nice honor [to be a captain]," said Watson. "My spot on the defense allows me to communicate a lot [with the rest of the team]."
Watson, who has started all 30 games in since his arrival at Homewood in fall 2001, was captain of his high school team for three years. Watson had a major role in helping the Jays hold 14 of their 16 opponents to less than 10 goals last season. This year, as a captain, he has high expectations for both himself and his teammates. "As captains we're responsible for the team coming to practice ready to play hard. We try to keep the guys motivated to play both hard and well so that the coaches can concentrate on coaching."
"We have the job of making sure everyone else does their's," added Boland. "Everyone is pushed to as far as they can go at practice."
Pietramala believes the five captains have a critical role in helping Hopkins into the post-season.
"Our success this year will be a direct result of the leadership of this year's captains," he said. "I'm pleased with our captains this year. They are still learning their roles and finding their way but I'm confident they will assume the appropriate roles in a first-class manner."
Another job of the captains is to motivate the team, both athletically and academically. "We preach doing the right things, both on the field and off," said Raymond. "We push the team to reach our goal of a 3.0 GPA and we've met this goal three semesters in a row."
As far as this season goes "we'd love to be back in the same situation as last year, but we know its not a given," said Harned, who was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team last year after scoring two goals and adding two assists in the semifinal and final games. "We plan to take it one week at a time."
"We have to play as well as we can as many times as we can and we have to be more committed to practice," said Raymond. "It's also part of our responsibility to help the team, as well as ourselves, to balance their college life."
"Balance" in college meaning that academics take a key role, too, in the priorities that the the coaches and captains set for their 40 teammates.
"Coach puts academics first, he's very understanding," said Harned. "He's easy to talk to, not just about lacrosse but about life."
Although practice is all business, everything is left on the field. "If I don't have anything I need to get down, I go into the office to hang out," said Raymond.
It helps of course that the entire coaching staff knows what its like both to play lacrosse for Hopkins and to be a student at such a rigorous academic institution. All four of the members of the coaching staff graduated from Hopkins, so they know exactly what the workload is like here.
"I was doing well in New York with my businesses," said Assistant Coach Seth Tierney, who graduated from Hopkins in '91. "When Coach Pietramala started coaching at Hopkins and asked me to come down, I sold everything and came to Hopkins because it was so good to me during my undergraduate years."
Since Pietramala arrived in 2001 the Jays have been 34-8.
"I came to coach at Hopkins because of the wonderful opportunity they provided me," said Pietramala. "I wanted to be associated with what is in my opinion the premier D-I lacrosse program, and to help Hopkins win its eighth national championship. Also, [I came here] to help our players have an outstanding experience and graduate with an unbelievable degree."