Matt Coates is a junior goalie at Misericordia University in Pennsylvania. He is chronicling the season with a first-person perspective of The D3 Lax Experience.
March 18, 2024 - Every college athlete has to sacrifice some free time. Football players lose a majority of their summer, basketball players only get to make a pitstop home for the holidays, and baseball players can finish their season months after school ends! For lacrosse, spring break falls right in the middle of our season. Now if you want to kick your feet up and get rowdy in Fort Lauderdale, then losing spring break sucks. But for my program and many others out there in college lacrosse, spring break becomes a great opportunity to focus on lacrosse and hang out with your teammates. In this article I’ll give you a day-by-day breakdown of what Spring Break 2024 looked like for Misericordia Men’s Lacrosse.
Saturday March 2:
With all other sports teams and students off campus for spring break, the men’s lacrosse team got up and on the bus and traveled to New York, off to face the Saxons of Alfred University. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to come out with a win, falling 18-14 against a good team from the Empire 8. After the game, a few guys from the team traveled home with their parents, getting a jump start on their shortened spring break.
Sunday March 3-Tuesday March 5:
Our days off! I woke up Sunday morning and traveled home with fellow Cranford, New Jersey resident and teammate, Will Troiano (#22 freshman midfielder). After getting home, I used those days as a chance to spend time with friends and family I don’t get to see at school, and rest my legs on rare off days.
Of course, I couldn’t put my stick down for good in the middle of the season. I also spent some quality time with an old friend, the wall.
Wednesday March 6:
After a few days of relaxing and watching far too much TV, it was time to return to campus. I left home at about 9:00 a.m., making it back to school before our noon report time. We got back to business with an afternoon practice, getting ready for a game against Western Connecticut State University, more well known as West Conn, on Saturday.
After practice we had time to shower and go off to our first team meal at CK’s Cantina & Grill in Dallas. After a great meal, we went back to the facility for a little team bonding. We recruited guys on the team to grab the Xbox’s, Wii’s, remotes and monitors for a LAN gaming tournament. I had a great performance in a Mario Super Sluggers game, making the night a big personal victory.
Thursday March 7:
First full day of break on campus! Nothing beats the feeling of driving to campus and having absolutely no one else there to take parking spots, a feeling I miss dearly. I reported to campus bright and early for 9:00 a.m. breakfast. All week we got breakfast from Bagel Art Bakery, right here in Dallas, a pregame morning stable.
We were then off until lunch at noon, which we got from Chick-Fil-A. Finally, we hit the field at 2 p.m. for another practice. The night wrapped up with dinner at the Royal House Buffet in the Wyoming Valley Mall, and a bowling excursion at Chacko’s bowling alley in Wilkes-Barre.
Friday March 9:
The day before the day! The 9th started off with more Bagel Art, and then lunch from Jersey Mike’s. I killed some time before practice by practicing my hockey skills in the locker room, before locking in for a pregame practice. We finished the day with dinner from Pork U BBQ, a new, veteran owned barbeque spot right in Dallas. Everyone was off for the night after this, no team bonding so guys could rest up and get ready for a game the following day.
A HUGE shoutout to our Graduate Assistant Coach, Joe Pedisich, who was in charge of ordering and picking up all the food for us over spring break. We appreciate not starving 🙂.
Saturday March 10:
Game day! We hit the road bright and early so we could travel to Danbury, Connecticut to take on the West Conn Wolves. Unfortunately, it was another tough game for us against a really good team. Luckily for me, the whole trip wasn’t a wash. It was a Cranford reunion for Will and myself, as three of our high school teammates played for West Conn.
March 18, 2024 - Every college athlete has to sacrifice some free time. Football players lose a majority of their summer, basketball players only get to make a pitstop home for the holidays, and baseball players can finish their season months after school ends! For lacrosse, spring break falls right in the middle of our season. Now if you want to kick your feet up and get rowdy in Fort Lauderdale, then losing spring break sucks. But for my program and many others out there in college lacrosse, spring break becomes a great opportunity to focus on lacrosse and hang out with your teammates. In this article I’ll give you a day-by-day breakdown of what Spring Break 2024 looked like for Misericordia Men’s Lacrosse.
Saturday March 2:
With all other sports teams and students off campus for spring break, the men’s lacrosse team got up and on the bus and traveled to New York, off to face the Saxons of Alfred University. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to come out with a win, falling 18-14 against a good team from the Empire 8. After the game, a few guys from the team traveled home with their parents, getting a jump start on their shortened spring break.
Sunday March 3-Tuesday March 5:
Our days off! I woke up Sunday morning and traveled home with fellow Cranford, New Jersey resident and teammate, Will Troiano (#22 freshman midfielder). After getting home, I used those days as a chance to spend time with friends and family I don’t get to see at school, and rest my legs on rare off days.
Of course, I couldn’t put my stick down for good in the middle of the season. I also spent some quality time with an old friend, the wall.
Wednesday March 6:
After a few days of relaxing and watching far too much TV, it was time to return to campus. I left home at about 9:00 a.m., making it back to school before our noon report time. We got back to business with an afternoon practice, getting ready for a game against Western Connecticut State University, more well known as West Conn, on Saturday.
After practice we had time to shower and go off to our first team meal at CK’s Cantina & Grill in Dallas. After a great meal, we went back to the facility for a little team bonding. We recruited guys on the team to grab the Xbox’s, Wii’s, remotes and monitors for a LAN gaming tournament. I had a great performance in a Mario Super Sluggers game, making the night a big personal victory.
Thursday March 7:
First full day of break on campus! Nothing beats the feeling of driving to campus and having absolutely no one else there to take parking spots, a feeling I miss dearly. I reported to campus bright and early for 9:00 a.m. breakfast. All week we got breakfast from Bagel Art Bakery, right here in Dallas, a pregame morning stable.
We were then off until lunch at noon, which we got from Chick-Fil-A. Finally, we hit the field at 2 p.m. for another practice. The night wrapped up with dinner at the Royal House Buffet in the Wyoming Valley Mall, and a bowling excursion at Chacko’s bowling alley in Wilkes-Barre.
Friday March 9:
The day before the day! The 9th started off with more Bagel Art, and then lunch from Jersey Mike’s. I killed some time before practice by practicing my hockey skills in the locker room, before locking in for a pregame practice. We finished the day with dinner from Pork U BBQ, a new, veteran owned barbeque spot right in Dallas. Everyone was off for the night after this, no team bonding so guys could rest up and get ready for a game the following day.
A HUGE shoutout to our Graduate Assistant Coach, Joe Pedisich, who was in charge of ordering and picking up all the food for us over spring break. We appreciate not starving 🙂.
Saturday March 10:
Game day! We hit the road bright and early so we could travel to Danbury, Connecticut to take on the West Conn Wolves. Unfortunately, it was another tough game for us against a really good team. Luckily for me, the whole trip wasn’t a wash. It was a Cranford reunion for Will and myself, as three of our high school teammates played for West Conn.