The Mercer County Community College Men’s Lacrosse team is preparing to pick up where it left off last season. In its first year the Vikings were Region IX champions. They had a season record of 10-6, good enough to earn entrance to the NJCAA Lacrosse Tournament where they finally fell 32-3.
Head coach, Rob Siris, a chairman of the U.S. Lacrosse Central New Jersey stated, “The success is attainable again. The previous season had a lot of success so, [we’re] handling teams who want to beat us and rising to that level.”
With 20 returning sophomore players and 20 freshmen, Siris says, “We have acclimated players, which helps [this season].”
In preparation for their second season, the team has already played five exhibition games and scrimmages.
Mercer Athletic Director John Simone said, “Hopefully the team will do as well as they did last year and win the regional championship and advance to the national tournament like they did last year.” Sophomore defensive player Evan Janiec says, “The same mistakes weren’t made from last year, Coach has really preached on moving the ball faster. Even with freshman on the college field for the first time, the coaching staff did a great job implementing all the new rules.”
Sophomore midfielder, Jake Filor says now that finding out how to win was figured out last year, it is all about perfecting the way the team plays.
The option of establishing a women’s lacrosse team at Mercer has been considered, but right now the focus is on women’s tennis and cross country, according to Simone.
