Defense was key in the Greyhound’s 9-4 upset over Lindenwood University on April 1.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Lions claimed the first goal in the second. The Hounds answered back with sophomore Tyler Johnston scoring his first goal of the season and freshman Parker Johnson snagging another 20 seconds later. Johnston finished the match with three goals while Johnson led the team with four. Sophomore attackers Parker Kump and Matthew Johnson also claimed goals for the Greyhounds.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jarod Kemp led the team defensively with seven in-goal saves.
After outscoring their opponents in the fourth quarter, the team was able to add another win to the schedule after defeating the Lake Erie College Storm 10-7 on March 25.
UIndy was first on the scoreboard after an early goal by Kump, who was assisted by sophomore attacker Shawn Kimble. A minute later, sophomore midfielder Luke Allen added another goal to put the Greyhounds up 2-0. The Storm then scored their first goal of the match with about seven minutes left on the clock. The first quarter finished tied, with three goals for each team. After outscoring Lake Erie in the second quarter, making the score 6-4, the Storm was able to come back and tie up the game 7-7.
The Greyhounds were able to net three goals and keep the Storm scoreless in the final quarter. The final goal of the match came from Matthew finishing off the match 10-7.
According to Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Greg Stocks, the team did what it needed to do to win but there is a lot more that can be improved on to get the same results later in the season.
“Our transition defense needs to improve a little,” Stocks said. “We’ve got to get the right personnel on the field a little faster than we did against Lake Erie and just kind of clean up some of the little mistakes that we had on the defensive end. On offensive, we took much better care of the ball that game than we have pretty much all year. We definitely have to shoot a little bit more this Saturday than we did and try to find that extra pass because their defense is a lot stronger.”
According to sophomore defender Adam Dobis, if the team drops a game, they cannot dwell on that for too long and have to move forward, stay positive and stick together for the rest of the year.
“Moving forward coming into the main stretch of our schedule, we’re playing four top ten teams, and I think all of them are on the road. So we are definitely going to be battle tested these next couple of weeks,” Dobis said. “We just have to stick together and get after it in practice all week. Moving forward, we need to stick together.”
As the season progresses, the team is getting more used to each other and is starting to do the work that is needed for them to be successful, according to Stocks.
“We are definitely getting stronger as a team,” Stocks said. “We started very slow. We had some new people playing new spots, and I think we struggled a little bit with it and as we are getting further into the season, they [the players] are getting a little bit more comfortable with what’s asked of them and they’re starting to perform a little bit better.
In the program’s second year, the team has learned a lot about playing at the college level.
“I think it’s been an eye-opening season for these guys,” Stocks said. “We’re now seeing what college level lacrosse is and the work that’s being put in, and we now know that the successful teams are the ones that do all the extra stuff. Now that we’re starting to do it a little bit, we’re getting better but for us to take that next step we got to do a lot more on our own whether it’s film, or weightlifting, or running, or stickwork or anything like that. The really good teams, their players just do it on their own, and I think that now we are starting to realize that as a program.”
The men will host Walsh University on April 8 in Key Stadium. The game is set to start at 1 p.m.
