One month has passed since the opening of the 2013 Georgetown men’s lacrosse season and the Hoyas have put together a meager record, despite dynamic play in most of their matches. In their first season under Head Coach Kevin Warne, Georgetown (2-3, 0-0 Big East) has played five exhilarating contests. The Hoyas have come out on top in two of the five—prevailing 9-8 in overtime against Navy (3-3) and beating Dartmouth (2-2) 10-9—and fell in the other three against Lafayette (2-5), Harvard (2-2), and Mount St. Mary’s (4-4).
For Warne, what has been most impressive about his players’ performance thus far is their ability to thrive in the midst of obvious change.
“I like how our guys are coming to practice with good energy every day, willing to learn, because when you have a change of systems… there’s gonna be some struggles or those points where certain concepts need to be reinforced over and over and then you’ll have that ‘a-ha’ moment,” Warne said before their loss on Tuesday. “We understand that this is a growing process, but we also understand that we’re four games in, and we should be able to comprehend and build on as we start going into the latter part of the season.”
Last season the team also saw the departure of 16 seniors. For Warne, repeated excellent performances from senior standout Brian Casey, the team’s top point scorer, and junior faceoff specialist Tyler Knarr, who earned Big East Weekly Honorable Mention honors this past week, have served as motivators for the team’s underclassmen. Knarr, in particular, has caught Warne’s eye.
“Tyler [Knarr], his uniqueness of faceoff with a long stick presents a challenge to other teams, but he works at his craft unbelievably,” Warne said. “I think Coach [Tim] O’Branski does a great job with our faceoff personnel. But Tyler does a really good job of honing his craft and being able to decipher or dictate to where he wants to put the ball to allow us to have possession. He’s done a great job with it.”
Despite naturally high expectations for the rest of the season, Warne also pointed out the importance of not looking too far ahead, and honing in on what the team can do on a day-to-day basis instead.
“One of our goals every day is just to come out and play with discipline and just worry about one practice at a time. I think it’s important that this group understands that they’re getting better even if they may not see it.”
Next up for the Hoyas is a home matchup against Providence (4-0) this Saturday at noon on the Multi-Sport Field.
