Concordia University went 14-1 last spring and 20-1 in 2015. In both seasons, the Eagles won the Southwest Lacrosse Conference Division II championship but lost in the MCLA national tournament.
Despite losing three All-Americans from last year’s squad, coach Ryan Brent (41-10 in three seasons) says the team is focused on getting stronger in every way and competing this spring for its fifth consecutive SLC D-II title.
Brent provided five things to know about Concordia University lacrosse:
Key returning players
We return 18 players and five starters from our SLC Championship team of last season. Key returners will be Max Satossky (San Clemente), attack, third-team All-American; Brandon Mayo (Tesoro), attack, second-team all-SLC); Marc Hughes (Dana Hills), middie, first-team All-American; Jake Pense (De La Salle-Concord, pictured above), defense, second-team All-American; Winston Robinson (St. Margaret’s), defense, third-team All-American; Cade Christensen (Salem Academy, Ore.), defense, SLC All-Freshman. Returning midfielders Logan Perry (Dana Hills) and Roman Smith (Palos Verdes) have also taken big strides and look to make an even bigger impact this season.
Key graduated players and newcomers
Despite graduating key contributors from last season’s squad — Dillon Bernad (Great Oak), attack, second-team All-American; Chase Matranga Dana Hills), middie, first-team All-American; Robert Romero (Mission Viejo), middie, honorable mention All-American; and Ronnie Fernando (El Toro), goalie, second-team all-SLC — this year’s Concordia team looks to reload as we seek our fifth consecutive SLC title.
We will offset the incredible production of three graduated All-Americans with a bevy of incoming talented offensive weapons such as Jonah Rinaldi (Aliso Niguel/Colorado Mesa), Jacob Aho (Esperanza), Sean Goodell (Lake Oswego/Missouri Valley College), and Andrew Blume (Trabuco Hills). The defense returns all three close defensemen — Pense, Robinson and Christensen — each of whom earned postseason awards for their play, while adding transfer LSM Connor Reed (Aliso Niguel/North Greenville).
Next year’s schedule
Seeking to build a stronger out of conference schedule, we will be taking trips up to Sierra Nevada College, where we will play Montana State and Sierra Nevada, the defending RMLC & WCLL champs, respectively, in consecutive days. We also will host out-of-conference opponents Fort Lewis, Montana (Grizzlies) and Metro State. As always, an SLC inter-conference rivalry game against Cal State Fullerton also will be on the schedule.
Best nickname on the team?
Best nickname on the team goes to sophomore midfielder Layne Preasmyer (San Juan Hills). He is known around campus as “Big Baby,” because he is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds. He speaks softly but carries a big stick.
Fall-ball plans
Fall is a time that we use to increase our continuity as a team and improve individually, with strength and conditioning as well as team practices. We will be competing in our annual scrimmages with local teams and will finish out fall at the UCSB Face-Off vs. Leukemia tournament on Nov. 12 and the UCI Freeway Six-Way tournament on Nov. 19.
