February 11, 2011

Let's Get It Started: Men's Lacrosse Makes Debut Saturday at Ohio State!

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – For Mercer University men’s lacrosse coach Jason Childs, Saturday afternoon is going to have the same feel as a kid waking up on Christmas morning. But “Santa” has made Childs wait nearly two years for this day.

 

The Bears will field an NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse team for the first time in its history when they face-off versus the Ohio State University at 1 p.m. in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

 

Those first steps onto the turf on Saturday by the Orange and Black will be the culmination of Childs’ efforts to bring a program to MU, a task he was first hired to do beginning in 2009. It will also vault Mercer’s athletics program into to elite position of fielding the state of Georgia’s first-ever NCAA I men’s lacrosse team.

 

Win, lose or draw, Childs is well-aware of the historical significance of the game. It is a fact he has tried to have his team embrace and enjoy as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

 

“I think our guys have done a good job of understanding what is before them as Mercer University’s first team,” Childs said. “There comes with that some responsibilities and pressures other teams may not face, but they all understand that is a part of their role with this team as much as the actual competition.

 

It’s not too often you get to write your name in the history books, so to speak. Twenty, thirty, fifty years from now someone will be looking back at the beginnings of Mercer lacrosse and this team will forever have that connection that no other team after it can claim.”

 

But after peeling back all the layers of extra-curricular events that go along with starting a sport – pictures, interviews, mementos, etc. – Childs knows there is still the matter at hand of taking on the Buckeyes Saturday.

 

Ohio State is coming off of a 7-8 season in 2010 and was picked fourth in the East Coast Athletic Conference Lacrosse League pre-season Poll (behind Denver, Loyola and Fairfield). The Buckeyes return 32 letterwinners and six starters from last season’s squad.

 

That’s a stark contrast to Mercer’s inaugural roster which is composed of 32 freshmen, two juniors and one sophomore. The Bears have a sum total of one year of intercollegiate lacrosse experience for its entire roster.

 

“That’s going to pretty much be the situation we face all season,” Childs said of the experience gap with MU’s opponents. “But I don’t see it as a disadvantage at all. In many ways, it’s a good thing. Our guys are too young to be scared or intimidated.

 

“They just want to go out and play lacrosse the Mercer way.”

 

Just call it “Childs’ Play.”

 

“Our style is going to be to stay within ourselves and do what we do best: which is to use our quickness to our advantage. We don’t want to let Ohio State dictate the pace and we want to make certain that we don’t waste opportunities forcing things that are not our forte.”

 

GAME NOTES:

*The game is being played indoors at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center – rather than OSU Stadium – due to the chilly temperatures in the Columbus area.

 

*OSU is 7-0 when playing games in the WHAC facility.

 

*The tentative first-ever starting lineup for the Bears – comprised entirely of freshmen - will be as follows: Goal- Justin Bateman (Memphis, Tenn.); Defense- Luke Rutledge (Marietta, Ga.), Alex Goldsberry (Marietta, Ga.), Jake Beyer (Amagansett, N.Y.); Midfield- Keoni Rausch (Hampstead, Md.), Sam Grayson (Peachtree City, Ga.), Wilton McKown (Spartanburg, S.C.); Attack- John Avent (Newnan, Ga.), Cole Branch (Marietta, Ga.), Alex Baird (Brentwood, Tenn.). Rausch will have the honor of taking the first-ever face-off for the Bears. Jake Polo (Peachtree City, Ga.) will be in the box to sub for Rausch should MU win the face-off.