Men’s lacrosse took strides in the right direction this season with a relatively young squad.
After going 4-12 in the 2013 season, Biola brought in some fresh talent to help increase the attack leading into 2014. This season, they finished 10-6, with a 3-2 conference record and qualifying for the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference playoffs.
“I guess you could call it a building year in the sense that we’re building towards something that will come,” freshman Bryce Hummel said. “Going from a 4-12 record to a 10-6 season is a huge improvement and we can only go up from here.”
Though losing the first round to UC Irvine, the players had a fairly positive response to the end of the season.
“Our mindset after that game was that we had a good season, we did a lot more than everyone expected from us, and more than we expected from ourselves,” sophomore attacker and captain David Shaum said.
Shaum was a dominate force for the Eagles this season, finishing tied for third in the nation in goals scored with 64 and second in the nation in points at 89.
With the season coming to a close, Biola will focus on cleaning up fundamentals during the off-season and beginning to prep for next spring.
“We had a meeting with our coach and talked about stuff we did well and what we need to work on during the off season,” freshman attacker Jon Prichard said. “A lot of off-season stuff is conditioning and stick work.”
Prichard, Hummel and freshman goalkeeper Jon Harzan, were voted to the SLC All-Freshman team. The three, along with senior defender Justin Ahn, also made second-team, All-Conference, as Shaum snagged first-team, All Conference honors.
Despite a progressive season last year, the women’s lacrosse team struggled to finish games with wins in 2014. The Eagles won two games in their 10-game season, with one of those wins being a forfeit by Cal State Long Beach. After winning three games in 2013 and securing a conference win, the women failed to record a conference win.
The sole win for Biola came against Humboldt State University during the Santa Barbara shootout in mid-February. The Eagles blew out the Lumberjacks 17-4 but would lose four of the other five games during the weekend event.
Despite a productively rough season, junior captain Addie Wadley believes there are things internally that can be gleaned from the season.
“We were really able to see our team grow as a unit throughout the year,” Wadley said. “It was great seeing girls gain trust and respect for their teammates both on and off the field.”
Like the men’s team, the women have a tremendous amount of underclassmen players. The team has just four upperclassmen, with eight sophomores and three freshman.
While the team has plenty of youth, much of the offensive production this season came from its upperclassmen. Wadley led the team with 2.45 goals per game average, as seniors Lindsey Welch and Chelsea Skinner averaged 1.36 and 1.40, respectively.
Going forward, both teams look to take advantage of youth and the improvements made this season.
The men have six confirmed recruits for 2015 and will look to build on an already young team.
Women’s lacrosse will feature a large returning crew with at least a year’s experience under their belt.
“We are so excited going into next year. Every girl on our team showed tremendous improvement throughout the season, so we have some real talent going into this next season,” Wadley said. “Plus, I am so excited to see who God adds to our team next year, as it is always such a joy to teach new players about lacrosse.”
