By Regina Yeh
Daily Bruin Contributor
The season, for the UCLA men’s lacrosse team, in all of its
struggles, has culminated in a state of confident anticipation
leading into its final league game of the season. Having recently
overtaken Arizona State and Loyola Marymount, winning five out of
their last six games, the Bruins now prepare to face the UC Santa
Barbara Gauchos, Saturday at the North Athletic Field.
It has been a rough year for the Bruins, as the term "adversity"
defined much of the setbacks that conflicted with ideal practice
and play. Suffering injuries early on in the year, losing games
against top-ranked teams by just one or two goals and even just
practicing inconsistently on different fields each day has
contributed to some of the up and downs of the team.
Yet this adversity has had the reverse effect on the team, and
their difficulties only leave the team more determined to do well
on the field; for this Saturday, the Bruins intend on capturing a
victory.
"We’ve had a lot of issues going on, and it’s giving our team an
incentive toward playing," senior co-captain Alan Kurpiewski said.
"There are a lot of emotions on the team, and we just want to play
as well as we can, and show how much we have accomplished
especially in the last few weeks."
The team hopes to continue on to the playoffs if they can
overtake the Gauchos, and fiinally getting a full roster of players
will also raise the team’s own set standards.
"We haven’t really had a full game of intensity, and there
hasn’t really been an opportunity for us to have a completely full
focus for the full game," assistant coach Zack Krevor said.
With all the intensity of sport itself, coupled with the
definitive aggression, speed and coordination of lacrosse, the team
nevertheless prepares with calm confidence for the coming game.
Over the course of the season there has been a tremendous
improvement in teamwork, ball control and offense.
"Our biggest improvement is overall team play and passing
quickly and effectively," senior co-captain Mike Montgomery said.
"It’s the perfect time for us to show what we’ve got, and we can
have a good win against UCSB. It’s going to be a great game to play
and to watch, and if you’ve never seen one of our games, it’s going
to be one of the best."