Cortland Men’s Lacrosse finished the 2022-2023 season with an impressive 19-6 record, which is hard to accomplish for many teams.
These kinds of achievements take hard work and dedication, and our team is extremely eager to make this upcoming season even better. This 2024 season is almost upon us and here is a little insight into what our team has been up to since we last played.
Owen Folkwein is a current junior goalie on the team and has expressed how he has been training for this over winter break to make it an even more successful season. “I worked out every day, conditioned six days a week,” Folkwein stated. “I played in two different college/ men’s indoor leagues.” Folkwein has taken this break to his full advantage to improve every day not only in the gym, but also playing lots of lacrosse to strengthen his skills.
This is also the first season under the reigns of head coach Lelan Rogers after coach Steve Beville announced his retirement after a dedicated 17 years with the Red Dragons. This is a drastic change for our team, as Beville has led us to many championships, but our coaching staff will recover quickly and guide us to many more championships in the future. Our team is extremely grateful for everything he has done for Cortland and will continue to use his advice in the upcoming years.
Many players have been working on their weaknesses but also their strengths over the break to improve themselves to be the best that they can be. Zach Perlett is also a junior on the lacrosse team and has discussed their team’s weekly schedule to prepare for this upcoming season. “We have practice Monday through Saturday for two hours every day,” Perlett said. “Then we have lifts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before practice.” These methods will help build chemistry with the team and see what will work the best. This consistency is key for the players to get into a routine for an easy transition back into this spring season.
Not only has our staff been working on improving our current team, but they also have been working on seeing potential future players that could benefit our team for upcoming years. They are doing this by hosting a prospect camp for possible additions to the team on February 25th, before their first home game on February 28th at St. John Fisher. This could have younger athletes see what playing with college coaches around them could feel like and see what it is like to play on Cortland’s field.
The season is coming up very soon and everyone is very happy to begin practicing and training to conquer our conference. Our lacrosse team is putting in a lot of hard work and dedication to do so and it will show throughout the games. Good luck to our players and staff and everyone is very excited to see what this season holds! Go Red Dragons!