2006 - 2007 Chico State Men’s Lacrosse News

Recent Articles

Lacrosse team looks to stick with new attitude               9/26/07

Tournament provides education                                           10/4/06

New lacrosse coach ready to clean shop                           8/30/06

Updates from Coach Rocchio

Oregon Fall Classic—November 3, 2007

 

Hello All,

 

Sorry I did not get something to you after the Alumni Game, but this week was a very short turn around for us.  Alumni Weekend was great, a bit stressful for the OLD coach, but great.  The alumni joined us on Friday at practice and there were many more than last year and they were there from the beginning, nonetheless it was a productive practice for us and fun to see the old guys mixed in with the new.  The game was loud, physical and at times heated, but that is exactly what our rookies needed to get an understanding of just how different college lacrosse can be from high school.  This game is very important to us for that reason, from a preparation standpoint.  These guys really helped us get ready for the Oregon trip.  I finally got a chance to meet Ross Goodfellow, who just stepped down as the alumni representative, and he truly is a good fellow.  David Ashby did a great job for us with all of what went on over the course of the weekend, especially with the alumni dinner and silent auction.  This weekend was great for the program.

 

Now on to Oregon.

 

The main reason for this trip is to give these guys some idea what these trips are like and how to handle them in a manner that will give us the greatest chance for success.  8 ½ hours on a bus (one way) is not easy, and playing all day the next day after such a trip is not easy either, but we have to do this, and then some, from our first regular season game, at Cal Poly, on.

 

The guys did a great job.  They traveled well, they looked good in their suits, or in some cases almost suits, which we will fix. Nobody forgot a cleat; they gave the coach a hard time about the movie selections, after being forced to sit through “Beerfest” last year the coaches and I have taken control of the movies back.  Thomas Hower and Austin Raab played roughly 17 hours of cribbage on the bus there and back.  I think these guys actually had fun with it, which is what needs to happen for us to be successful.  A number of the senior leaders commented on how close a group these guys have become in just 8 weeks together, 5 weeks of fall ball.  We need to continue this trend now.

 

We played our first game at 9:30 in the morning, which for most of our team is about 5 hours earlier than they ever wake up on a Saturday.  We met briefly Friday night when we got there and then they took their share of the 24 pizzas we ordered to their rooms and were asked to settle in and stay off their feet.  Most of the returners did just that, most of the rookies were bouncing off walls because they were so excited.  Again, that is why we make this trip in the fall so they are more ready for it in the spring.

 

We played six games total, playing “split squads” all day.  We lost to the Oregon split team that went to the finals and the SFU split squad that went to the finals, by a total of 3 goals.  The SFU game went down to the final seconds.  Those two teams were undefeated on the day.  Our first round games were the two Simon Fraser teams and the two Oregon teams and with the exception of the last of those four games we very much held our own against some very talented teams.

 

To put this in perspective, last year at this time we played our full team against the Oregon split squad and lost by one.  We have made a great deal of progress this fall as a team and as a program.

 

We ended the day with two wins, one over Gonzaga, and one over Western Oregon.  The coach got a chance to give a couple of “passionate” half time speeches in those games and both the red and white teams played extremely well in the second half of each game.

 

We had a number of players really play well on the day and a number of rookies that were not playing like rookies by days end.  It is far too early to single out players, and especially because you know I don’t like to do this at all, but I will tell you that we have two exceptional goaltenders that showed that all day long.  Everyone enjoyed their play throughout the day.

 

We went to Oregon to get the 37 players that were with us playing time and experience and to get better on the whole, and we did that.  We went to Oregon to see if we could be competitive with Oregon, number 2 in the country, and Simon Fraser, who appears to be back, and we did that.  We went to Oregon to spend some time together as a team and set ourselves up for a great pre-season and a great year and I think we did that as well.

 

Now, we have a great deal of work to do.

 

Hope you are all well and thank you as always for all of the support.

 

See you soon,

 

Coach

 

 

Parent’s Weekend—October 12th and 13th, 2007

 

Just wanted to share my thoughts on this weekend with all of you, most of whom were here, and especially for those who could not join us.  In a word, wow!

 

I can't believe how much all of the parents did for this weekend, led by Diane Weil who said on Saturday at the BBQ "all I do is send out an e-mail and everybody else does the work."  We all know better Mrs. Weil.  The dinner was amazing thanks to all the "super moms and dads."  The fashion show was great thanks to Val and Bre.  The apparel looked great thanks to Val, Bre, Dut, Joey and the artist formerly known as Peter Harris.  The silent auction was actually a success this year because the women's team put it together which meant is was done right, not like last year.  Many thanks as well to Griff Master-G!!

 

The BBQ was fantastic and run like a very well choreographed Broadway play with Mr. Griggs, Mr. Weil, and Mr. Knutson in the "pit" manning the grill for hours while Mrs. Griggs, Mrs. Weil and Mrs. Knutson kept all the fixin's coming.  I know I am leaving a bunch of people out that did a great deal, but I hope you get the idea; this was a great weekend of events because lots of people made it all happen.  Water and ice and Gatorade found its way each sideline, thank you to Mr. McVey for the 40 cases of water.

 

As this lacrosse family grows I continue to be amazed at how much support we have and how much you all do to make this happen.  It is getting easier and easier to just plan and coach, although I still need a lot of coaching myself on how to not worry about it all, it is great to have this support.

 

I also had a great time Saturday WATCHING lacrosse.  With Coaches Flory, Lazaro, McVey and Weil, not to mention Matt Ward, Tyler Knutson and Sam Harper helping run the sidelines, their wasn't much for me to do but watch what our team now has because even with all of this food and all these people in to visit their sons we did play a little bit of lacrosse on Saturday.  Actually, it was 140 minutes of lacrosse to be exact.  It was great to be able to field two teams.  It was great to see everyone get significant playing time.  It was fun to watch some of the guys that haven't played this game much, if at all, get a chance to see what it is like to play college lacrosse at game speed, and it was great to see some of the "old" guys and some of the "new" guys getting used to one another and having fun playing the game.  We are not worrying about where we need to be yet, we are worrying about where we are and getting better every day.  That is all we can worry about.

 

I am very encouraged by what I seen thus far and very pleased with some of the skills that have joined this team and the work that our returnees obviously put in over the summer.  I have been happy with our progress from practice to practice, and more importantly I have been very happy with the effort and the focus to this point, but just as we talk about in every game, "think about the next play, the next ground ball," the same needs to be said of this team and our progress.  We need to keep looking forward to the next time we are on the field and put in the effort each and every time because what we have done thus far is behind us and we have to keep moving.  If the New England Patriots can wear t-shirts with "Humble Pie" on them because they know they can get better every week and they know they have not achieved anything until the last whistle of the season blows and they have achieved the goals they set for themselves then maybe Chico State Men's Lacrosse can just keep working and improving to see that we achieve the goals and standards that we are setting for ourselves.

 

Thanks for listening to the coach babble.  Thank you to all those who were able to join us this weekend.  This was a great way to start and we look forward to seeing you all very soon,

 

 

Coach