The Albion College men’s lacrosse team is looking to head back to the MIAA Finals this upcoming spring season. This time, they won’t accept anything less than a championship trophy. Last year, the Britons (record,conference record) fell short to Adrian College (record, conference record) in the MIAA Championship game by a score of 12-10.
Yesterday the MIAA Coaches Poll voted that the Adrian Bulldogs are favored again to repeat as champions of the MIAA. Joe Braley, Davison junior, had something to say about that.
“This gives us motivation because it now gives us an opportunity to prove the standings wrong,” Braley said.
Last season, Adrian and Albion stood out as the best two teams in the MIAA, including two tough battles and an exciting final to remember.
“The rivalry is really alive because of our improvement from last year compared to my first season when we lost 12-0,” Braley said. “These polls show that we can be just as good as Adrian, if not better.”
Albion has been working extremely hard to get to back the championship game with a rigorous mini-camp while working to fix their mistakes from last year.
“We have definitely put in a lot of work in this fall segment and early on in the spring season to stress the fundamentals of our offense, where I feel that we were a few bad turnovers away from a championship,” said head coach Jake DeCola.
The Britons were a very young team last season, only having rostered five seniors and they have definitely matured in their play.
“The returners this year have really started to come into their own as college players, where last year we were trying to find our identity,” said captain Ian Monkman, Pleasant Ridge senior.
Albion’s first game is this upcoming Monday, Feb. 3, in Pontiac, Mich. They are playing against Division I opponent, The University of Detroit Mercy, who went to the NCAA Tournament last year.
“Most of our guys watched Detroit’s NCAA Tournament game last year so they already know a lot of the players from that team and to play them in a game,” DeCola said. “I think its really asking a lot from our guys but we to show up at a high level.”
The game will be a good first test for the Britons and a great game to prepare early for Adrian later on in the season.
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