What do 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 have in common?
They are all years in which the Cortland men’s club lacrosse team won the NCLL Empire East Division I.
Men’s club lacrosse president is Noah Rojas from Rocky Point, New York. He is a defensive long stick senior now and has been a member of the club since his freshman year and grew up around the sport. Started to play the game at the age of nine.
“My dad and his whole family played lacrosse, my dad coached me nonstop and was always outside playing with me whenever we could” Rojas said. “Lacrosse wasn’t just a sport in my house it was a part of life, its just part of who I am”
Rojas took his experience to the club team. Rojas has seen what it takes to win their division, being part of the team all his four years at Cortland.
“I’ve seen all different versions, whats worked, what hasnt and how its grown,” Rojas said. “I felt like I understood and structure better than anyone, and I wanted to take ownership in helping elevate it. Making it more organized, competitive and accountable while still keeping the team culture strong,”
“A big part of our success is organization and discipline, even though we are a club we hold ourselves to a high standard,” Rojas stated. “We try and keep things as structured as possible because we want to win and we want to be competitive,”
“One mindset the team lives by is “your success is determined by your level of perseverance, everyone is expected to buy into that,” said Rojas.
Louis Seales, a junior defensive midfielder who is also the secretary of the team. Has been on the club team since his freshman year and has been playing lacrosse for five years prior to joining.
“I love this club because of the experience we get to have playing at Division I schools, being able to travel, and play these competitive games,” Seales said. “As long as I have been a part of this team I have always wanted to win out and go as far as we are able too.”
The men’s lacrosse club team announced their roster on February 12. There is a total of 58 players on the roster, yet there is a travel roster of only 45 players. The team is selected by the officers which Rojas and Seales are. The players who do not make the travel roster can still go to games. However, they cannot participate or suit up for the game.
“It’s based on effort, consistency, and attendance. No matter how good you are, if you’re not showing up to practice, you’re not guaranteed a jersey or playing time,” Rojas said. “We would rather have guys who show up every day and work as hard as they can, than someone whose super talented but only when they feel like it,”
“I think this season we have a lot of potential,” Seales said. “This might be the best group since my freshman year, I see a bright future ahead of us,”
When the team travels anywhere for under three hours, they usually take their own vehicles. However, any longer the club will rent minivans from Enterprise in Cortland.
Their first practice of this semester was on February 2. As long as the snow keeps falling, the team is practicing inside of the Lusk Field House. Once the snow on the ground clears enough, the team will look to practice on the main turf outside on campus.
Chris Macaluso serves as the teams coach while playing and is a former varsity player. Through unfortunate events, he had to step away from lacrosse during his sophomore year.
“The club allowed me another opportunity at lacrosse while leaning more into the coaching side of things, which is an area I intend to pursue after completing my degree,” Macaluso said. “This club is very fortunate to not only have great athletes but great people. We are all very close and spend a lot of time together outside of practice and games,”
Last fall the club team won all their games expect only one loss in overtime against Binghamton.
The first game of the spring season for the club is scheduled for March 1 at Binghamton, who were the only ones to best the club last fall season.
“After a very successful fall, I am optomistic that this club will be able to carry over that success into spring,” Macaluso stated.
The club will play a total of eight games throughout the spring season. Two of their six scheduled game times this season have two games scheduled for that day.