Seldom does a school have the opportunity to celebrate the birth of a brand-new program. Thus a rare excitement surrounds the brand-new John Carroll University men's lacrosse team, as the squad's debut is imminent.

Before the Blue Streaks officially kick off in February, they are scheduled to scrimmage Defiance College at 6:00 pm on Saturday, October 12.

Led by first-year head coach Brian Small, the Blue Streaks have been hard at work. The team has practiced extensively, even holding an intrasquad scrimmage on September 28, in preparation for the difficult challenge of transitioning from a club team into an NCAA Division III squad.



In addition to working hard in practice, the Blue Streaks have put in a ton of time in the film room. Though lacrosse is not typically a sport known for extensive film study, Small believes strongly in the exercise.

"Film is huge for us. We watch film every day of all our practices and we watch it of our opponents during the season to prepare," he said.

The film and practice sessions are readying the Blue Streaks for a quickly-approaching scrimmage with Defiance on Saturday, October 12. Playing against a young Yellow Jackets squad that had a 0-17 record last season, the Blue and Gold will be looking to gain some confidence heading into the offseason.

"I thought it would be a good test to see where we are. They're a very young program," Small said. "There's a lot of things we can do and we'll be able to execute."

After a brief offseason that lasts only until the beginning of February, the Blue Streaks kick off the season with a home scrimmage against LaRoche College on February 8, before the team plays its first official game against Concordia University (Wis.) a week later.

The first official JCU men's NCAA lacrosse game will be played at Don Shula Stadium on Saturday, February 15 at 1 p.m. The contest will not only be an exciting event for the team, but a chance to see where the squad stands in building a winning lacrosse program at John Carroll.

"Concordia has been around for about five years. They've got a lot of Canadians, and I felt like playing defense against Canadians is a lot different than playing against American players," Small said. "So being able to prepare for them in the beginning of the season, and maybe having to change out style after that defensively would be a lot easier than having to teach the guys one way and then switching in the middle of the season. They're cold weather guys and it's going to be cold out."

Playing six home games at Shula Stadium before the beginning of April, the Blue Streaks will certainly have to endure some cold weather. Though athletes might cringe at the thought of playing in freezing conditions with snow on the ground, Small isn't too concerned with playing in the middle of the winter.

"From a stamina perspective, it's tougher to breathe outside when it's cold," Small admitted. "We just try to get them in that practice environment as much as possible in the cold weather. I think that lacrosse is really a winter sport because snow doesn't really affect it. The only thing we don't play in is lightning."

After the team's opener, the Blue Streaks host Trine University on February 22 at home. The Thunder have a solid program in place, but experienced mixed results last year, finishing with a 8-8 record.

"Trine's got a very veteran coach in Vinny Lang, he coached in the NCAC for Wittenburg when I was a player," Small said. "For us going against him, he's a veteran coach, so he's going to know how to scout us, he'll have his team ready to play."

Moving forward, the Blue Streaks will travel to Wooster, Ohio four days later for a match with the College of Wooster Fighting Scots.

"With Wooster, they're a team that's been in the NCAA Tournament, they're in the same conference as Ohio Wesleyan and Denison. For us at John Carroll, those are the guys we want to beat. At that point, I think Wooster will tell us where we are, three weeks into the season, and what we need to do."

The Blue and Gold will continue to play non-conference opponents throughout all of March, facing off with teams such as Washington and Jefferson College and Franciscan University. Small's goal at the start of the season and beyond is to help his players adjust to a new level of competition and ready his troops for Ohio Athletic Conference play.

"At the beginning part of our schedule, we want to see where we are, and we want to obviously improve every week." Small said. "To be honest, with a younger team, and with guys who haven't played college rules, we've gotta get used to that stuff. The game's a lot faster, the rules are different.

"Playing some of these teams, it will be sort of a measuring stick to see where we are because a few of these teams are within the past five years of starting their program," he continued. "As we start moving forward here, we want to be in a position where we get into league play, we know our strengths and weaknesses are."

The Blue Streaks will open OAC play on April 12 against Otterbein University. The Blue and Gold will then take on the other four teams in the conference with lacrosse teams (the University of Mount Union, Baldwin Wallace University, Capital University and Wilmington College).

"Otterbein's an NCAA tournament team. Baldwin Wallace has got Jason Tarnow, he used to be the coach at Wooster: he took Wooster to the NCAA tournament," Small said of JCU's OAC foes. "You've got Capital and Wilmington, who both have good staffs there."

Small has high hopes for his team in the OAC, as he wants his team to compete from the get-go.

"I want to make a statement right away. I want to make a statement to the OAC and everyone else who's watching that we're here to play, we're here to ball with the big boys," Small said. The goal is that I want to win this league right away."

Should all go well for the Blue Streaks during the regular season, the team has a shot at reaching the NCAA tournament. Though the OAC does not have the required number of teams (six) to warrant an automatic bid to the postseason tournament, the Blue and Gold could secure a spot with a good season.

"We can still get into the NCAA tournament if we handle our business in the regular season," Small said. "But we've got to take it one game at a time."

Even though the JCU men's lacrosse team is only now taking its first steps, Small has high expectations for both his players and the program as a whole. The first-year head coach wants his team to start competing immediately: he doesn't believe that you have to lose before you can win.

"I'm all about developing and teaching, but you play to win," Small said. "I think sometimes people say you learn a lot more from losses than you do wins. But I'm a teacher first and foremost. I think you learn a lot from your wins also."