Part 2 of Season Preview Feature in the New England Lacrosse Blog

Defense-Defense-Defense

One of the biggest surprises of fall ball, according to Coach Scordato, is how deep the defense is. Though UConn lost Peter Gabriele to graduation (now the Huskies Defensive Coordinator), UConn's back-up goalie from last year has taken over and has performed quite well. "John Sherman (Wilton HS, CT) has really stepped up this past fall ball season between the pipes. He knows the weight is on his shoulders and he is up for the task," Coach Gabriele says. "I am hoping I can pass down to him some of my experiences being the starting goalie for the past two years."

This year the hope is the Huskies can continue to keep their opposition's scoring down. Last year the Huskies held opponents to an average of 7.7 goals per game. "I am hoping this year we maintain our 7-8 goals against average. I think that is reasonable and can be accomplished. If the defense does their part then the offense can run without too much pressure," says Scordato.

Full Article: http://nelaxblog.com/blog/2012/02/24/uconn-huskies-striving-to-be-top-do-in-pcll-partii/

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John O'Leary Named Assistant Coach

 Storrs CT - John O'Leary has joined the UConn Men's Lacrosse team for 2011-12 after two seasons as offensive coordinator at Bacon Academy. O'Leary was a three-year starter on attack at Saint Anselm College, compiling 92 goals and 127 points in his career placing him fifth all-time.

A standout player, O'Leary led Saint Anselm to their best season on record his junior year when the team went 11-3. The Hawks advanced to their first ever NE-10 Conference Final Four appearance that same season. He was a two-time NE-10 All-Conference selection and earned a Bachelor's degree in Business from Saint Anselm along with an MBA in International Business Development from the University of Hartford.

Upon graduation, O'Leary founded Silver Sound lacrosse along with his brother. Their team has competed in the Glastonbury Lacrosse tournament as well as the Lake Placid tournament in recent years. Silver Sounds has won three Glastonbury tournament championships (2005, 2008 and 2009).

He has also served as head coach for the north squad twice in the Nutmeg State Games leading players from Glastonbury, Newington and West Hartford to the Silver and Bronze medals. In the summer O'Leary is still active, playing in summer leagues and various tournaments. In 2004 he won the PVLL with the Glastonbury Whalers and still plays with the team every summer.

O'Leary comes from a strong family of lacrosse: his younger brother, Brian, was also a two-time NE-10 All-Conference selection on attack at Saint Anselm College who remains the all-time leader in assists with 152 and is second in career points with 210.

O'Leary is an adjunct faculty member at Goodwin College and currently resides in Glastonbury with his wife Sarah.

Link: http://uconnmenslacrosse.blogspot.com/2012/02/oleary-hired-as-uconn-mens-lacrosse.html

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UConn Men's Lacrosse Season Preview Featured on the N.E. Lacrosse Blog

The New England Lacrosse Blog (http://nelaxblog.com) is featuring a multi-part series previewing the upcoming season for UConn.  At this link you can find Part 1:

http://nelaxblog.com/blog/2012/02/14/uconn-huskies-striving-to-be-top-dog-in-pcll/

In PCLL news you may have already heard that Boston University has announced that they will elevate their Men's Lacrosse team to Division 1 status:

http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/new-sports-field-coming-to-west-campus/

I am sure many of us have fond memories of playing BU over the years.  My personal favorite was the 4 overtime game in 2005 under the lights on spring weekend.  The obviously rowdy crowd grew restless the longer the game went on, I can remember vividly one fan constantly screaming "Hurry up and win I want to go drink!".  As the game went on one reality hit me, the lights were on a timer set by the athletic department to go off at 9:30pm, and I had no way to extend them.  I recall speaking to the referees between the 3rd and 4th overtime explaining to them that the lights were going to go off in 8 minutes and there was nothing I could do about it.  They looked at me dumbfounded, the BU coach overheard our conversation and jumped on the situation "They will have to forfeit right?" he asked the refs, the ref just shrugged and blew his whistle and the 4th OT began.  I swear that for the first half of that 4th OT BU played stall ball hoping the lights would go out. Finally we got  that ball on a breakaway and Scott Copertino split several defenders and took a bounce shot that went into the goal.  Probably not 5 seconds after the goal was scored, as the team jumped on Scott, the lights went out.

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UConn Lacrosse Apparel Orders

Just an update if you purchased team apparel last fall...orders are in and the team has shipped them today.  If you don't receive them in the near future please email patrick.cooper@uconn.edu.

First game is exactly a month away.  2012 Schedule is below.

http://mcla.us/teams/connecticut/2012/schedule.html

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