The End of the World For all 2020 NCAA Spring Sports

As all of you know by now, the NCAA as well as most colleges in the country have decided to close their campus' down for the remainder of the spring semester (this includes Stevenson and the Mustangs athletics teams).  This is a harsh and prejudice decision, despite being somewhat reasonable.  Even though COVID-19 is definitely a threat, and completely warrants a suspension of athletic seasons and college semesters, a cancellation of these seasons and semesters is pretty extraordinary.

The goal of this whole situation is for COVID-19 to have as little effect on global population and economy as possible.  This is the rationale for the sports seasons being cancelled and spring semesters being switched to online; however, is the COVID-19 really that immense of an issue?  Clearly, social distancing is necessary, and the seasons and semesters needed to be suspended; personally, as a college athlete, I believe that both the semesters and seasons should not have been cancelled, but postponed/suspended.  Obviously, the greater good of the people is what is more important, and is what is in the thoughts of government and NCAA orchestrators.

Now, the message here is not that COVID-19 isn't a threat; the message is that we as a society need to react more appropriately to situations similar to these.  With social media growing ever so rapidly, people are driving each other insane from all the COVID-19 pandemonium.  People need to learn to look at the REAL facts (on cdc.gov), and stop spreading panic in times of a pandemic like this.  This would greatly decrease the panic, and because of the decreased panic would make it easier for the world to get out of this pandemic.  

The COVID-19 outbreak has seriously put a halt to everything in the country, especially when it comes to being a college student/athlete.  Especially as a student athlete, life has been flipped upside down by this outbreak, and there is absolutely nothing any college aged kid can do about it.

The hopes for college athletics in the near future is that all athletes band together and continue to bond even with the discontinuation of the NCAA season.  My wish to all is that everyone stay safe from the COVID-19 outbreak, and that everyone continues to stay mentally healthy in these crazy times in order to get through the pandemic unified together.

#16 Stevenson Mens Mustangs fall to the #18 Mens Lacrosse team of Christopher Newport

This weeks game for the Stevenson Mens Lacrosse team was in Newport News, VA and was against the Christopher Newport University Captains.  This game was yet another gritty one goal game that was battled out by the Mustangs.  Even though the Mustangs had the lead early, the Captains came back in the 4th to win the game by 1.  Heres a deeper look into the game:

Quarter I

• The Captains came out hot, scoring 2 minutes into the contest, with an unassisted goal by Alex Brendes.
• Stevenson sophomore Ryan Coleman got things moving for the Mustangs, scoring two quick goals, one unassisted, the other assisted by junior Jacob Tatum.
• The Mustangs added to their one goal lead with an unassisted goal by junior John Harrington
• The Mustang momentum was put to a halt when the Captains scored 3 goals in under 3 minutes to make the score 4-3 Christopher Newport.
• Ryan Coleman again starting the momentum for the Mustangs with an assist to junior Will Smith for his first goal of the game to tie it up before the 2nd quarter.

Quarter II

• Will Smith's stick stayed on fire, as he scored the first goal of the quarter, with an assist from senior Captain Ethan Christensen.
• Most of the quarter was fought at and around the midline, with both teams scrapping to be able to clear the ball to their offense.
• Christopher Newport finally answered back with 3 minutes left to go with a goal from Dylan Rice.
• The Mustangs came right back with a goal from sophomore Cam Leydig, assisted from Christensen, to take the lead before halftime.

Quarter III

• Stevenson came out in the 2nd half super hot, the Mustangs scored 3 goals in the first 5 minutes of the half; goals scored by Jacob Tatum, Cam Leydig and Will Smith for his 3rd of the game.
• The captains responded to their 4 goal deficit by netting 2 more goals to make the score 9-7 Mustangs.
• Senior Collin Tucker, someone who will definitely be seeing the field more, answered back right away with the 10th goal for the Mustangs and his first of the season.
• The Captains were not done fighting yet, as they drew 2 penalties in the last 3 minutes and capitalized for 2 goals on these man up opportunities; goals scored by Alex Brendes and Brady Altobello.

Quarter IV

• Christopher Newport continued rolling into the 4th quarter, tying the game up not even a minute into the quarter with a goal from Will Stockhausen.
• Mustang Captain Ethan Christensen was able to find Connor Nelson for the Mustangs 11th goal of the game, and to get back up by 1 on the Captains.
• The Captains, however, were still on their roll from the end of the 3rd quarter, and netted 4 more goals before the Mustangs even had the ball on offense; goals scored by Dylan Rice, Drew Miller, and Brady Altobello.
• In the final 4 minutes of the contest, it seemed as if the Mustangs would make a comeback, as Will Smith got the momentum back with a fast break goal from sophomore Luke Ensor.
• The Mustangs final effort was a 13th goal at the 21 second mark; this marked the final score (14-13 CNU), as the mustangs were not able to tie it up before the end of regulation.

Goalkeeper stats

• Mustang Goalkeeper Marc Poust had 13 saves for 27 shots on goal; Captain goalkeeper Scott McAneny had 19 saves for 32 shots on goal.

The Mustangs schedule for this upcoming weekend at the Mustang Classic is to be determined.  Post will be updated as soon as the new schedule is released.  Stay Tuned!!!

#16 Stevenson Mustangs fall to #12 Gettysburg Bullets at Mustang Stadium

This past Saturday, February 29th, the #16 Stevenson Mens Lacrosse team took on the #12 ranked Gettysburg Bullets.  This game was a well fought battle by both teams in the first half, yet as the second half came around it seemed as though both teams were thawing out from the 27 degree weather along with the 18 mph winds racing through Mustang Stadium.  The Bullets outscored the Mustangs with a final score of 10-5.

Quarter 1

• The first 10 minutes of the game was a gritty transitional battle.  Both teams could not break each others defense and capitalize, and it started to seem like it was going to be a low scoring game.  
• Sophomore Ryan Coleman got the Mustangs on the board with an assist from fellow sophomore Shane Ford to get some momentum flowing.

Quarter 2

• Only a minute in to the quarter, sophomore Josh Brannan netted his first goal of the game, with a crafty assist by Junior Will Smith.
• The Bullets got their offense together and scored 3 goals within 6 minutes; goals scored by Michael Mccormick, Nick Cooper, and Jack Fletcher.
• The Mustangs could not figure their man up offense out, as they went 0 for 4 on man up possessions in the second quarter alone.
• To take the momentum from the Mustangs, the Bullets scored their 4th of the quarter in the last minute of the half.

Quarter 3

• The Bullets started the scoring for the half to make it 5-2 Gettysburg, with a goal by Griffin Gallagher.
• The Mustangs finally got themselves back on the board with a goal by sophomore Cam Leydig, assisted by senior Captain Ethan Christensen.
• The Mustangs' momentum didn't last long, as in the last 3:30 of the 3rd quarter, the Bullets scored two more goals to increase their lead to 4.

Quarter 4

• Mustang Captain Ethan Christensen knew he had to get something going for Stevenson, and started off the 4th quarter with an unassisted goal.
• The Mustangs still needed 3 more goals to even tie the game up, but their momentum was diminished by the Bullets, as they increased the score to 8-4 Gettysburg.
• The Mustangs scored their one and only man up goal with 7 minutes left in the game; scored by junior Jacob Tatum, assisted by Cam Leydig.
• The score was now 8-5 and the Mustangs pulled their goalie Marc Poust out of the crease to have an extra man on defense.
• This was done with 2 minutes left in the game, and the Bullets took advantage of the open net and scored 2 more goals to make the final score 10-5.

The Mustang Goalkeeper, Marc Poust had 7 saves (keep in mind 2 goals were scored with an open net).  The Mustang man up squad was only 1 for 8, which could have changed the game entirely.  The Mustangs were also on 6 for 19 at the Face-off X, which hurt the Mustangs time of possession.

Stay tuned, as this weekend the Stevenson Men's Lacrosse team will Travel down to #20 Christopher Newport University for a 1 o'clock game on Saturday March 7th.