The Samford Men’s Club Lacrosse team is just getting its feet off the ground, having played their first game in almost four years this past Sunday. After a hard-fought contest, Samford fell short to Iron City by a score of 2-7.
After being dormant for several year after the graduation of some of its players, Samford sophomore Mitch Cheatham had an idea last fall to revitalize the club and start it back up.
“Originally, the school had a team a couple of years ago,” Cheatham said. “It was dormant for about four years, and that’s when I came in and picked it back up last fall. We really started putting things together in the spring.”
Cheatham commented how the school has been very helpful in assisting the team in rebuilding and completing all the logistical aspects of starting back up.
“The school has been really helpful, especially with talking to me about where to go, who to talk to. We have the budget all laid out.”
The team is made up of about 15-20 Samford students, some of whom have played lacrosse for many years, and even some who are new to the game. Cheatham talked about the wide interest that the club received when people first started hearing about it.
“As we started advertising, we had a lot of guys that were interested in playing,” he said. “There are guys from a lot of different areas on campus.”
As for their first game this past Sunday, Cheatham saw what talent he had within the team and liked the chemistry that he started to see from the players after only a few practices together.
“Just going off of what we have done in a couple weeks of practice, especially starting from nothing, I think that the game went really well,” he said. “I was a little bit nervous about how we would act in a real-time situation. I think the team picked it up well and handled it well. Obviously there are things to improve on but that was a very good start for us.”
The team is in the works to play several more contests in the near future, as they have already been in contact with multiple schools and even a few high schools.
Cheatham thanked his fellow club officers for their hard work in restarting the club as well.
“I’m the president. Jack Henry is the vice-president. Ashton Roetto is the treasurer, and Blake VanWingerden is our secretary,” he said. “Those guys have been vital in the formation and early stages of the team.”
For many of the guys on the team, it is such a great feeling to get back out on the field and play the sport again that some thought might have ended with their high school career.
“I was so excited to get back out there,” Cheatham said. “Being in practice was fun, but logistics wise, it became pretty tiring. So to actually get on the field and play a real game against a different team was super fun, especially because most of the guys on the team hadn’t done that since high school.” Be sure to come out and catch the next Samford Club Lacrosse game which will be announced at a later date.
[Photo courtesy of Ashton Roetto]
