The ISU men’s lacrosse club will try to continue their winning ways this Sunday as they head to Iowa City to take on their rivals, the Iowa Hawkeyes.

“We should win easily,” said a confident Nick Swaggert, the club’s president.

The Cyclones played the Hawkeyes twice last fall, losing the first and winning the second.

“The first game was a scrimmage with no refs,” Swaggert said. “It was kind of a joke.”

Iowa State beat the Hawkeyes handily later in the year in tournament in St. Louis.

Swaggert describes the rivalry is an even one and can become heated.

“At the scrimmage there was a little scuffle,” Swaggert said. “One guy even refused to shake hands afterwards.”

The Cyclones are led by senior midfielder Brent Lamm and senior attackmen Josh Frandsen and Jason Hubanks.

“Brent is by far the best player on our team,” Swaggert said.

The team is heading into the match having won the St. Cloud Classic last month. They won it all despite a roster only half as large as a majority of the tournament’s teams.

“The St. Cloud tourney was optional,” said Mike Merth, who is secretary of the club.

“It wasn’t very appealing to some of the players because it was played on a gym floor rather than turf.”

Swaggert credits much of the team’s success to strong on-the-field leadership by the seniors.

“Recruiting and developing new players has also helped get us to where we are,” he said.

The coachless Cyclones compete in the Upper Midwest Lacrosse League (UMLL), playing teams such as Minnesota and Marquette. Merth said the club travels all over the upper Midwest.

The team plays most of its games on the road and doesn’t play any home games until March 28-30.

Their games are played at the lacrosse field just east of the Maple-Willow-Larch residence halls.

“We’ll be excited to finally have some home support,” Swaggert said.

As for the Iowa game, the Cyclones plan on heading into their upcoming UMLL season with a big win.

“This game should give a lot of our new players some game experience before the season starts,” Merth said. “We are really going to kill them this time.”