After defeating Georgia State University 13-7 in a scrimmage match, the KSU men’s lacrosse team opened their season at home with a loss against Georgia Tech on Saturday by a score of 15-6. While KSU handled the Panthers with relative ease, their cross-city counterparts clad in gold and white were in no way intimidated.
“Overall as a team we came out a little flat and played timid,” said KSU attacker Bradley Jones. “Georgia Tech took advantage of that.”
Last season, the Owls defeated the Yellow Jackets handedly by a score of 9-2, only to have their victory disqualified for not submitting their team roster by the league deadline. While the Owls remembered the disqualification, Georgia Tech remembered the loss.
“They have a really good team this year,” Jones said. “They came back this year and definitely were looking to make up for what happened last year.”
At the start of the game, play between the two club teams was close, with KSU tying the Jackets at 3 to end the first quarter. However, the younger Georgia Tech squad pulled away after some undisciplined play from the Owls.
“They went on a run in the third quarter,” Jones said. “Once that happened we basically dropped our heads and fell apart as a team. We didn’t pick each other up.”
Junior attacker Alexander Roe and sophomore midfielder Mick Stapleton led the way for the Yellow Jackets, registering a combined six goals. Behind their play, the Jackets were able to bury the Owls with a prolific offensive attack and strong physicality.
“We weren’t as physical with them as they were with us,” Jones said. “It was completely different than what we did to them last year. We came out hard, went after everything, went after them, and they were playing timid last year. The roles were reversed.”
Jones was the highlight for the Owls, scoring four goals and registering six points in his first contest of the season. His performance was an outstanding return to form after the senior suffered an injury during last season. Jones feels his team is capable of playing well this season, despite their youth and inexperience.
“Our goal as a team is to win our division, to go undefeated in our division, and to win the SELC tournament,” he said. “I really do think we can make a run and make a shoot for nationals.”
Jones has high expectations for himself as well, both as a player and as a leader. He hopes his play will fuel his teammates and provide inspiration for their season as they move forward. “Whatever is going to make the team better is what I am willing to do,” he said. “I am going to push myself and shoot for All-American honors as well.”
The team will look to refocus in practice this week, using the loss against Georgia Tech to prepare for their first road game of the season against Auburn University on Saturday, Feb. 2.
