Feb. 22, 2008

Erie, Pa. - They can taste it. A year after advancing to the NCAA Division II National Championship and watching a different team celebrate a national title in the most heart-breaking of ways, the Mercyhurst men's lacrosse team finished just one step shy of the ultimate goal. Ranked No. 2 in Division II in the preseason, the Lakers have the personnel to get back to that point.

When Le Moyne scored with one second remaining in the national championship for a 6-5 victory, it signaled the end of a storied career for much of the Mercyhurst offense. Bryon Lindner, Adam Mulherin and Scott Janssen combined to score 97 goals a year ago, more than half of the team's total for the year. And that's where 2007 USILA Division II Coach of the Year Chris Ryan will have his work cut out for him. The coaching staff will have to find scorers to put around junior playmaker David Osier. Osier led the team with 51 points and broke the school record with 37 assists, but he was dishing off passes to Lindner, Mulherin and Janssen a year ago. As the offense develops this year, so will the team, because most of the rest of the team returns.

Joe Thon, the Division II Defensive Player of the Year in 2007, graduated but the rest of the midfield and defense remains intact. That defense will be led by Matt Spahr and the expected return of Brian Perkins. Spahr was a second team all-conference player a year ago for the second-ranked defense in the country and Perkins was a preseason All-American in 2007 who missed the entire season due to injury.

The Lakers really shine in goal where junior Jason LaShomb is a National Player of the Year candidate. He was named one of Inside Lacrosse's Top 10 Players to Watch for the upcoming season and, according to the magazine, "will be the favorite to take home national Goalie of the Year honors." In his first year as the starting goalie at Mercyhurst, he was named East Coast Conference Goalkeeper of the Week five times last year.

The Laker defense often shines and the attack piled up big stats a year ago, making Mercyhurst's midfield one of the most overshadowed units in the country. Despite that fact, this group carries as much of the load as any. Junior Mike Thon is a preseason All-American and will help this team in the transition game. Thon and junior Mike Bartlett combined for 41 goals and 22 assists in 2007 and they will help provide offense as that inexperienced attack unit develops early.

As a program, Mercyhurst has advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs four times in the last five years, hosting a semifinal game for the first time a year ago. With one of the toughest schedules in the country (the team will play eight of the other nine teams in the preseason Top 10), the Lakers will have a difficult road to travel to get back. But the team remembers last year well and wants a second taste of that national championship game.