By Carmine Vetrano
The CCSU men’s club lacrosse team cannot wait to start playing in the spring after losing to their rival, the United States Coast Guard, 9-2 in last season’s playoff quarterfinal.
The club lacrosse team is starting to warm up for their spring season in the Pioneer College Lacrosse League, with fall semester practices and games.
James Arpaio is coming on as head coach this season for the Blue Devils. He is a recent graduate of Central and has now called on coaching to come back to his alma mater. However, coaching is not a strange new world for Arpaio, as he has been the team’s player-coach since his sophomore year at Central. Arpaio was a three time 1st team all conference player during his career at CCSU.
Arpaio is taking over a team that was embarrassed by the United States Coast Guard 9-2 in the first round of last year’s playoffs.
“I’m going to miss leading the team out onto the field and the contact, but am excited to take over.” Arpaio said.
“We got blown out,” Arpaio said about Centrals last game in the playoffs. “For fall ball we are going to be practicing three times a week for a couple of fall tournaments along with a strict running program and the Russian circuit workouts.”
The club lacrosse team, which is similar to the men’s club rugby and ice hockey teams, plays their competitive spring season in the Pioneer College lacrosse League, which is a part of the Men’s College Lacrosse Association which harbors 213 universities.
Last season, the team finished with a record of 4-5 while going 2-2 in the division. The division hosts two more schools in the University of New Haven and Briarcliffe College
Coming back to the team is senior attack man Matt Harter who was second on the team in points with 15 while playing in six games. Arpaio is also looking for big things out of sophomore defensive midfielder Josh Frobel.
Frobel is excited about the upcoming fall workouts. “We had about 40 new guy’s register and I’m just excited to see what talent comes on the field,” he said.
Arpaio likes his team’s chances with these two coming back and is looking ahead to the fall warm-ups. “We have a good team, probably the most talented team Central has ever had. The offense really gelled well and we also have Greg Lokitis coming back on D which is huge.”
The men’s club lacrosse team, who won the league title back in 2008, is looking for the fall as a tune-up for the spring. Arpaio likes the games and practices the team is going to induce in preparation for the spring season.
