LAX Struggling In NAC

Lyndon State Lacrosse is facing some tough tests over the coming days, games that could perhaps prevent the Hornets from sliding further down in the North Atlantic Conference standings.

Currently in sixth place with a 2-4 conference record, the Hornets are set to host fifth-place Thomas on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., and second-place Castleton on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.

Sophomore goalkeeper Matt Reynolds thinks that injuries might hold the team back in the game against Thomas.

"With Thomas it's going to be a competitive game," Reynolds said. "Last year, we lost to them in overtime and this year we have strong players, but still we are lacking those players due to injuries."

After Thomas, the Hornets must deal with the always-powerful Castleton, which has only lost one conference game all season. Reynolds is perfectly aware of the strength of the Hornet's Wednesday opponent.

"Castleton is a tough opponent in the NAC," Reynolds said. "We just got to communicate more and hold them to a certain amount of goals."

There is not too much positive buzz going on in the Hornet's locker room, as the team has lost four straight conference games by a combined score of 72-8.

"We just lacked the fundamentals in the last couple of weeks, and we haven't got that much time to do it as a team together," Reynolds said. "We just need to communicate more, and that's what we're lacking... Everybody's silent, and with no communication you don't what's going on. It doesn't help the team at all and it doesn't help in the game."

These problems really became apparent in the 30-1 defeat that the Hornets suffered at New England College last Wednesday. To add insult to injury, the team was only able to dress 13 players. Rules state that a lacrosse team must have at least 10 players dressed for each game, so the Hornets barely made the cutoff.

Still, the game was just too easy for New England College.

"They (New England College) would just come down, do a couple of passes, and score," Reynolds said.

Altogether, it has been a troubling past couple weeks for the team, according to Reynolds.

"Mentally we're just going insane, stressed," Reynolds said. "We don't have the same numbers that we did in the beginning of the year, so it's just like slowing down and we're not doing as well as we were in the beginning of the season."