With the lacrosse season now in full swing, the ISU men’s lacrosse club will attempt to get into a winning groove this weekend when it opens up the season with a pair of games in Minnesota.

After a sub-par 2014 campaign, the club will try to turn things around, but first it will have to play its way through a very talented conference. The club is a member of the Men’s College Lacrosse Association in the Upper Midwest Lacrosse Conference. The conference consists of four other teams: Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State-Mankato and St. Cloud State.

“We lost a good senior class, so this year we are looking to rebuild the program,” said sophomore Ted Ramert. “We have a ton of freshman who will fill important roles and become key players.”

One of those seniors was captain Steve Lindner. Lindner was second in scoring on the team behind Ramert. Ramert, a standout player on the field, earned 1st Team All-Conference honors, Rookie of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and earned the MCLA scholar award during the 2014 season.

Last year, the club finished 4-7 but easily could have been closer to .500 if it weren’t for a few games that they let slip away. One game the team would like to have back is a late February 9-8 loss against Missouri. Then the second was the contest against in-state rival Iowa. In that game, the club fell by a score of 13-6.

“The game against Missouri was a heart-breaker just because it was so close and how well we played,” said junior Jonathon Minnec. “Against Iowa, our emotions were running high and we couldn’t capitalize.”

Minnec, who is the president of the club, believes that this year’s squad could put up good numbers despite it being a so-called “rebuilding year.” The team is bringing in a large freshman class and the practice atmosphere has been more upbeat, Minnec said.

Because lacrosse is a club sport, Minnec has no control over whether or not team members show up to practice. In order to keep things running, which Minnec says is the hardest part, the team has inserted several policies.

“We have a rule that if you don’t show up to practice, you can’t play the next game,” Minnec said. “We have to hold them to higher standards and have trust in them that they want to be there.”

Sophomore Jason Parnell views this not as a rebuilding year, but as a year the club can achieve higher goals than previous years and have a successful season.

“We have a tough schedule, but with a lot of returning players and new players adding depth, we have a good chance for a good season,” Parnell said. 

The schedule, which has the club opening the season up against Minnesota and St. Johns, will be the biggest obstacle that the team must overcome.

St. Johns is also in the UMLC, but play in the DII conference. Despite being a division lower, they could be the toughest team the club faces all year. St. Johns is coming off of a 2014 campaign that saw them end up with a second place finish at the MCLA DII Championships. They have also appeared in 10 straight MCLA DII championship tournaments.

“St. Johns will be tough and a lot of fun to play just because of their storied past,” Minnec said. “It’s going to be hard to go up there and beat them.”

Tough game or not, the club will have to go into every contest with a winning mindset if it wants to achieve its goals. Ramert said the goal is to go at least .500, which once reached will provide the platform for loftier goals.

Due to mixed ideas about the so-called rebuilding year, the club will have to play at a level it has not yet attained in its history. Prone to average seasons, the team wants to see its name etched into the ISU lacrosse record books.

In order to accomplish that, the club will have to weave its way through a tough conference schedule and win games that it couldn’t in the past.