2008 Woodie Awards
Club lacrosse team gets up and running
Joseph Murphy
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Sports
UNCG's club lacrosse team fell to Appalachian State 6-5 in the team's inaugural match Friday night. The team's inception is thanks in large part to the efforts of junior Noah Downs.
"Lacrosse isn't really big down south. It's huge up north. I'm from Cambridge, Mass. and I transferred down here, saw there was no team and decided to start one up myself," said Downs. Although he is currently injured, Downs coaches and plays defense for the team.
For the first game in the team's history, the turnout at the UNCG Rec field was excellent. The four sets of bleachers set up in preparation for the game could not accommodate the fans in attendance and many were forced to stand.
Those who came out were treated to this school's first exhibition of lacrosse, a sport of Native American origin dating back to the 15th century, involving extremely physical play and violent collisions, big sticks, and a tiny ball.
"I'm glad people came out," said Downs. "Lots of people had never seen lacrosse before, so I'm trying to get the name out there on campus. As you can see it's a real fun and exciting sport."
In the game itself the Spartans struck first with a goal from Stuart Bell, but Appalachian State struck back with two goals to end the first quarter with a 2-1 lead. The Spartans' Clayton White evened the tally at two, but the Mountaineers then surged ahead for a 4-2 lead. Brain Jobe scored for the Spartans to cut the deficit to 4-3 only to have the Mountaineers score once more to take a 5-3 fourth quarter lead. A goal from Ryan Burke and another from Jobe tied the score at five and set the stage for a climactic finish. However, in the closing moments Appalachian State controlled possession and scored once more to defeat the Spartans.
Despite the loss, the evening was fulfilling for Downs. Prior to the game the team presented him with a polo shirt with "UNCG Club Lacrosse Coach" embroidered across the chest, bearing his name on the sleeve.
"It was very exciting. I wasn't expecting it at all," Downs said. "I showed up and they had a backpack and they said, 'Listen, you put a lot of work into this,' and they decided to present me with this."
Downs said he put more work into forming the team than he initially expected. "I expected people to come up, sign a piece of paper and we'd go out there and play some lacrosse. You have to go through club sports to get affiliated with the school, fill out a whole bunch of paper work, a whole bunch of meetings and things like that. We wrote a constitution and did a bunch of promoting." Downs also credited Lisa Piscatteli from Campus Recreation for her assistance in getting the team started.
The Club Lacrosse team will be in action again next weekend in Boone at a tournament hosted by Appalachian State and will play host to the Mountaineers once more Saturday, Nov. 3 at 8:00 p.m. at the UNCG Rec field.
"Lacrosse isn't really big down south. It's huge up north. I'm from Cambridge, Mass. and I transferred down here, saw there was no team and decided to start one up myself," said Downs. Although he is currently injured, Downs coaches and plays defense for the team.
For the first game in the team's history, the turnout at the UNCG Rec field was excellent. The four sets of bleachers set up in preparation for the game could not accommodate the fans in attendance and many were forced to stand.
Those who came out were treated to this school's first exhibition of lacrosse, a sport of Native American origin dating back to the 15th century, involving extremely physical play and violent collisions, big sticks, and a tiny ball.
"I'm glad people came out," said Downs. "Lots of people had never seen lacrosse before, so I'm trying to get the name out there on campus. As you can see it's a real fun and exciting sport."
In the game itself the Spartans struck first with a goal from Stuart Bell, but Appalachian State struck back with two goals to end the first quarter with a 2-1 lead. The Spartans' Clayton White evened the tally at two, but the Mountaineers then surged ahead for a 4-2 lead. Brain Jobe scored for the Spartans to cut the deficit to 4-3 only to have the Mountaineers score once more to take a 5-3 fourth quarter lead. A goal from Ryan Burke and another from Jobe tied the score at five and set the stage for a climactic finish. However, in the closing moments Appalachian State controlled possession and scored once more to defeat the Spartans.
Despite the loss, the evening was fulfilling for Downs. Prior to the game the team presented him with a polo shirt with "UNCG Club Lacrosse Coach" embroidered across the chest, bearing his name on the sleeve.
"It was very exciting. I wasn't expecting it at all," Downs said. "I showed up and they had a backpack and they said, 'Listen, you put a lot of work into this,' and they decided to present me with this."
Downs said he put more work into forming the team than he initially expected. "I expected people to come up, sign a piece of paper and we'd go out there and play some lacrosse. You have to go through club sports to get affiliated with the school, fill out a whole bunch of paper work, a whole bunch of meetings and things like that. We wrote a constitution and did a bunch of promoting." Downs also credited Lisa Piscatteli from Campus Recreation for her assistance in getting the team started.
The Club Lacrosse team will be in action again next weekend in Boone at a tournament hosted by Appalachian State and will play host to the Mountaineers once more Saturday, Nov. 3 at 8:00 p.m. at the UNCG Rec field.
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