Most know that growing up playing sports, a day will come when they play their last competitive game. It doesn’t make it any easier when the time comes.
The Texas A&M Men’s Lacrosse team seniors’ final season is coming to a close. As playoffs continue, they hope to look back at their last season as national champions. To make the national tournament, they first need to win their conference tournament.
The team president said the maroon and white look forward to taking on LSU on the way to a title, and feels confident since they have beat every team in the playoffs during the regular season.
Senior Josh Fox, club president and attackman, has played lacrosse since he was in kindergarten and said it’s a sport his family knows well.
“My dad coached, and my whole family played lacrosse,” Fox said. “This year’s been a lot of work. We’ve done well so far in our conference, and we’ve had a good team. It’s a good year to go out on.”
Sophomore attackman William Harwood said seniors like Fox have helped him feel at home at A&M.
“[Lacrosse] is my social thing,” Harwood said. “Josh [Fox] would always help get things going and get everyone to have fun. He helped me loosen up at social events.”
After playing for 16 years, Fox said he will miss playing competitive lacrosse because he’s made many memories.
“I’ll miss having a physical outlet like this to get some energy out,” Fox said. “We’ve also had a lot of good trips, and one time in practice, we had somebody run full speed into the rugby pipe and break their stick. That’s a memory that’ll stay with me for a while.”
Senior defenseman and team coordinator Austin Gedeon said he knows his last collegiate game will be bittersweet.
“I’m really excited because it’s [the] playoffs, and we get to compete there, but also it’s kind of sad,” Gedeon said. “Unless we win the championship, for these last couple games, if we lose, we go home and we’re done. I remember the seniors a couple of years ago being pretty emotional after their last game.”
Gedeon said he’s feeling confident about this season’s playoff games.
“We’ve already beat the teams we’re playing [in the conference tournament], so I’m feeling pretty good,” Gedeon said. “We had some tough games, mid-season and some tough losses. If we can win out these playoffs and go to the national tournament, we’ll get to play some of those teams again.”
Senior defensive midfielder Connor Morrison has played lacrosse since third grade and said he’s excited about his final season’s playoff games.
“One of my favorite memories was freshman year when we went into the national tournament, and we haven’t been back there since,” Morrison said. “We’ve already beaten the guys in our conference tournament, and I think we have a pretty good shot at making it back to the national tournament again this year.”
After playing for 15 years, Morrison said he knows life will be different after the season ends.
“It feels a little bittersweet after playing for so long,” Morrison said. “There’s so much that’s come through this program for me. It’s going to be strange not playing at a competitive level after this.”
Junior defensive midfielder Joseph Miller said the team will be losing some essential players.
“Just about every position will be missing somebody, but we have a chance to step up and fill those roles as upcoming seniors,” Miller said. “It’s going to suck losing a lot of good players, but I’m excited to get to meet new people next year.”
Recruitment is year-round, Miller said, but for those interested, the team will be at Rec-A-Palooza next semester.
“We have an Instagram, and people see it, but recruitment is more through word of mouth than anything,” Miller said. “We mostly just try to find people to come out and want to try throughout the year.”
After receiving a bye week for the quarterfinals, the DI division will play LSU in the semifinals 4 p.m., Saturday, April 30 at Southern Methodist University. If the team wins, it plays on Sunday for the Lonestar Alliance Conference Championship. If A&M wins that Sunday, the team would move on to the national tournament.