A team defined by friendship and fun put away its lacrosse gear for the season. The ISU men’s lacrosse club lost its playoff game to St. Cloud State on April 25, but the club’s mindset remained strong.

“Unfortunately, [the playoff game] didn’t work out how we wanted it to. We ended up losing to St. Cloud State 16-13,” said ISU Men’s Lacrosse Club president Steve Lindner. “We didn’t have a great performance, but we still had fun.”

Having fun is a key approach to the ISU men’s lacrosse club. The club’s vice president J.J. Minnec said the club is a mixture of competitiveness and fun.

“We rather everyone on the team have fun then take it too seriously,” Minnec said.

With its fun nature, the club’s season started in the fall with a few tournaments in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. Lindner said their fall season is a preparation for the spring season and it builds team chemistry.

Sophomore Matt Ackerman said he believes how close everyone on the team was is what made the lacrosse club special and what drove the members to have a successful season.

This spring, Iowa State started off the season beating St. Cloud State, 13-7. From there on it was a roller coaster of a season in the win-loss column. The club lost four straight games to Minnesota-Duluth, Missouri, Minnesota State-Mankato and Wisconsin.

But throughout the year, Iowa State got wins against Kansas State, South Dakota and Nebraska, and finished the regular season with a record of 4-6.

Next on Iowa State’s schedule was a trip to Saint Paul, Minn. for a nighttime playoff game against St. Cloud State.

“We went into [the playoff game] originally expecting to win because we beat St. Cloud State earlier on this year,” Ackerman said. “But they came out and were hungry for a win and we weren’t really. Effort was the reason we lost that game. We were the better overall team skill-wise, but they wanted it more than we did.”

Iowa State lost 16-13, and the club members turned their attention from being down after the loss, to talking about how they saw the season as a success overall.

“It was more of a ‘We were sad it’s over, but we’re happy the season went so well,’” Minnec said.

Despite the up-and-down season on the scoreboard, the season was chalked up as a success because of the improvement from last year to this season. Iowa State only won a scrimmage the previous year, and this season they were one win shy of being 500.

“We were disappointed in the loss, but we were excited with how the season went,” Ackerman said. “We’re especially excited for next season to see the progress of the team.”