The Taylor men’s lacrosse season is off and running, splitting their opening games to go 1-1 on the young season.
Last season, the Trojans started the year 0-2 and lost two more before collecting their first win against Missouri Baptist 17-4. The Trojans would finish 5-10 and miss the WHAC (Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference) Tournament.
Taylor lost some key graduating seniors, one of them being the 2024 Taylor Male Athlete of the Year, attackman Aidan Craig. With his departure the Trojans will have to find a way to replace 9 goals and 71 assists from Craig’s final year. Another key piece was attackman Caleb ‘C-Willy’ Williams. He accounted for 14 goals during his senior campaign in only 10 games, due to a knee injury.
This year’s incoming class welcomes 10 freshmen. One standout from the class is Mason, OH native, attackman Henry Cooper.
“Over the summer I trained with these two twins that went to North Carolina to play lacrosse,” Cooper said. “They taught me how to dodge and how to get my hands free.”
His refining over the summer paid off with a fantastic start to his collegiate career. Cooper shined in his collegiate debut with seven unassisted goals on 15 shots. Cooper was the only Trojan to find the back of the net in a 20-7 loss to Webber International.
Cooper followed up his seven goal performance with a hat trick in the Trojans’ next game against Missouri Baptist. Taylor took the victory with a score of 16-9.
Sophomore midfielder Jackson Dale led the team in scoring by notching seven goals on 17 shots and tallied one assist, while sophomore attackman Will Saxby got in on the action by putting five goals in the back of the net on nine shots.
“The first game was definitely a reality check,” junior long stick midfielder Lucas Pacer said. “But when you have a schedule like we have you can’t get caught up in focusing on winning and losing streaks. You just got to take it one game at a time.”
The road to the postseason will be a tough one for Taylor as the WHAC sports some of the top-ranked teams in the NAIA. No. 4 Indiana Tech, No. 6 Madonna, No. 8 Aquinas, No. 9 Lawrence Tech and No. 10 Concordia are all ranked conference matchups that await the Trojans. Only two of the five Top 10 conference games will be at home.
While most sports use a Top 25 ranking system, NAIA Lacrosse uses a Top 10 due to the smaller number of teams. Rivals Siena Heights and Michigan-Dearborn sit just outside the Top 10, receiving votes and have a chance to enter the rankings before their duels with Taylor later in the season.
A Red Banner is up for grabs for the first time in NAIA lacrosse history. In past years, the men’s lacrosse season has ended with an invitational tournament. In the sport's ninth year of existence at the NAIA level, they finally have 30 schools declaring lacrosse as a varsity sport. This makes it eligible for a national championship.
Taylor’s journey to the inaugural lacrosse Red Banner continues on March 3rd at 1 p.m. against Midland University on Wheeler Field.
