Lacrosse coach Matt Johnson strives for national title

Skylar Blankenship
Staff Writer

How have you prepared for the season?

“We are very excited for the 2018 lacrosse season. We have spent a lot of time in the fall and spring making our team both mentally and physically tougher. We focus a lot on the training of the U.S. Navy Seals as their mental toughness is second to none,” said Johnson.

Johnson is confident in the team’s abilities because of the displayed strength of returning players.

Johnson said, “We have the benefit of having fantastic Sophomore leadership in Aaron Thorpe (Attack), Luke Abbot (LSM), Mark Calicchia (Midfield), Trae Dussault (Midfield), and Kyle Quinn (Defense).”

Johnson said that he and the coaching staff worked the past few months to prepare the players for the season.

“This team is more advanced than teams we have had in the past because every player on the team not only knows their role but embraces it,” said Johnson.

Johnson highlighted the importance of the high-intensity regimens the players practice to remain ready for field performance.

“One of the toughest challenges we face as a coaching staff is elevating the intensity of these short practice segments as the energy needs to come primarily from our players. All of our players, both freshman and sophomore, have really exceeded our expectations in this respect and we couldn’t be more happy with our preseason,” said Johnson.

What are your goals for the season?

Johnson said the teams ultimate goal for the season is to win at the National Championships.

“We try to play a style of lacrosse that is similar to the Iroquois Native Americans. On the world stage there are really only three teams that are competitive at the highest level: USA, Canada and Iroquois,” Johnson said.

Johnson continued, “The population of the US is about 331 million, Canada is about 36 million and the Iroquois Nation proudly has 125,000. Obviously, the Haudenosaunee People are doing something different than the other nations otherwise they wouldn’t be competitive with only an eight millionth of the population of our country.”

Johnson said the style of play comes from both their tradition of lacrosse (as the originators of the game) and their modern day focus on box lacrosse which is a much more physical style of lacrosse played on a hockey rink with turf.

“This is something the coaches have been slowly implementing more of over the last four years, and with the hockey team at Hudson Valley gone we are really hoping the ice rink might be converted to turf. That would be a huge benefit for all of the athletic programs and student rec groups as well,” said Johnson.

Johnson said that many old school lacrosse coaches discourage the use of Native American style lacrosse.

“To them, it appears to contradict the fundamentals of lacrosse as they learned them, but I believe that backhands, behind the backs, twisties and highlight reel moves can be taught with the same fundamental techniques other coaches are still clinging to,” said Johnson.

Johnson played box lacrosse for the Akwesasne Indians on the Akwesasne Indian Reservation and learned the style from some of best current lacrosse players in the world.

Johnson said, “I think that playing this creative, fast, and free flowing style of lacrosse has been a huge draw for the tremendous talent we have been able to recruit to the program.” Johnson continued, “Although the team has an ultimate goal, we still take the season one practice at a time, one game at a time, never overlooking a single opponent.”