Men’s Lacrosse Does Their Best Against Benedictine

BY JEREMY du RIVAGE

Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about lacrosse and that my editors thought this would be a funny idea. If you are a diehard lacrosse fan or lacrosse player who gets offended by this article, I am sorry.

On Saturday, the Beloit Buccaneers played against the Benedictine University Eagles. Now, because of the subject I’m reporting on, I got our dear readers an interview with one of Beloit’s own men’s lacrosse players: Parker Davis. Jersey Number 19, Davis is a freshman defensive player, majoring in computer science here at Beloit.

I started by asking the question on probably not everyone’s mind, but definitely mine: “How does lacrosse even work?”

“Well, it’s a game. It’s like hockey with sticks and balls, and you’re on a field. Kinda weird, but you throw the balls around and try to score goals,” Davis commented in his post-game interview — and according to a quick Google search, he’s spot on. Two teams of ten players compete to carry the ball down the field and shoot it into the opponent’s net. Games are divided into four quarters, with quarter length varying by age and skill level.

The history of lacrosse as a sport dates all the way back to the 12th century, where it was believed to be a ritual used by the Indigenous peoples of North America to prepare warriors for battle. Today, lacrosse is still a popular sport, despite having no national league for its players to compete in.

As for how the game itself actually went? We lost. The final score was 13–7. But there is some good news, according to Parker: “Yeah, it was a tough loss, but it’s the closest we’ve come to beating this team in like a couple years.”

Upon realizing this school was an ongoing challenge for the Buccaneers, I decided to dive deeper. When I asked if we’ve ever beaten Benedictine, Parker said, “Well, they’re in a slump, but yes. Last year we lost by 20. This year we lost by 6. We’re slowly improving every year. So yeah.”

If we’ve never beaten this team before, I wondered what we could attribute their winning streak to. Parker attributes it to Benedictine having a better history with recruitment.

To wrap up, I decided to ask what Davis thought would bring more attention to his sport on campus.

“Honestly, if people see the sport, it’s a pretty interesting and weird sport. It’s not like many other sports…you’ve got people running around whacking each other with metal sticks, so it’s pretty cool.”

As someone who knew nothing about lacrosse going into this, I can confidently say Parker is right, and I will definitely be attending the next home game. I’d encourage anyone curious about the sport or just looking to kill some time on a slow day to go to the next home game, which, according to the schedule, will be on Wednesday, April 9th against Cornell College.

This game was also the last game for defender Zachary Sochacki, and it was an emotional farewell for the men’s lacrosse team.

Go BUCCS! Until next time, readers.

Featured image: @tsyrk_films