DULUTH, MINNESOTA - The Minnesota-Duluth men’s lacrosse team has announced their upcoming schedule for the 2013 campaign. The Bulldogs have assembled one of the most difficult schedules in program history, facing five separate conference champions from the 2012 season and three of the four MCLA Final Four Participants.
The Bulldogs will open their season against Minnesota State University, Mankato on February 9 in Minneapolis, MN. This will be the MCLA debut for two first-year Head Coaches, UMD Head Coach Sam Litman and MSU Head Coach Tom Korrie. Coach Litman is a former All-American goalie for UMD and was recently promoted from Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator. Coach Korrie comes to the Mavericks with 25 years of experience that includes a playing career at Syracuse and coaching stint with Cornell University.
“Fall ball has shown the character this team has, which is a huge compliment to our new head coach Sam Litman. I couldn’t have asked for anything more with how Sam stepped into the head coach role. He did it with excitement, passion and love, which all of the players responded to with such high energy,” Offensive Coordinator Brian Hochman said. “It makes me even more excited for our season which is right around the corner." Defensive Coordinator Matt Kruse felt the same way, saying “Sam as a coach is nothing but a great thing for our program. He is a perfect example of a Duluth Lacrosse Player.”
The following weekend Western Michigan and Iowa State travel to Faribault, MN for a weekend of games with Minnesota-Duluth.
Duluth’s next challenge will arrive from out of state on February 22 and 24, as Cal Poly San Louis Obispo and Arizona State University come to the Twin Cities. Cal Poly is the MCLA National Championship Runner up. While Arizona State is coming off a season in which they reached the MCLA Final Four.
On March 9, University of Wisconsin-Madison comes to Minneapolis, MN for the first regular season matchup between these two programs. “We are pleased to start scheduling UW-Madison and hope this can be a yearly rivalry. Madison will once again be a threat to win the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference,” stated Litman.
Spring break will feature contests with tournament quarter finalist Michigan State University on March 15, defending National Champion Colorado State University on March 19 and closing with GRLC Champion and National Tournament qualifier University of Illinois on March 22. This is an ever-important road trip for the Bulldogs in their quest to earn a bid back to Greenville, South Carolina for the 2013 National Championship. “Chicago will also be a very challenging week, it will be exciting to challenge last year’s National Champion, Colorado State,” mentioned Captain Stan Drutowski. The University of Missouri will be waiting for them in Minneapolis, MN on March 24 to close out their out-of-conference schedule.
UMD will play their only “true” home games of the season at Minnesota-Duluth against St. Cloud State and the University of Minnesota on April 7 and April 20 respectively.
Minnesota-Duluth has had a number of close games with teams on this year’s schedule in recent years making senior defenseman Kevin Soderholm more motivated then ever. “We have some unfinished business this season, especially for the seniors,” Soderholm said. “We look forward to the opportunity to have a second chance with Cal Poly after the outcome of our game at Nationals last year. We know they are going to be prepared, and so are we.”
With the loss of our automatic qualifier, every game is a tournament game for us this year. We cannot take a night off. We must perform to the top of our abilities as a team every time we step onto the field. This group is up to the challenge this schedule holds,” added Coach Litman
“A big part of what we pride ourselves on as Bulldogs is that we are a family and not just a bunch of individuals,” added Coach Kruse. “This year I see everyone is buying into that mentality. It seems to me the guys all have a blast when they play. When that happens, you allow your natural abilities to combine with everything you have learned and your game seems to hit that next level, no over-thinking.”