Masked players fill the field in pursuit of the single white sphere, which is needed to ensure a successful outcome to the game. The ball flies with a single flick of the wrist. The white sphere flashes through the sunlight. To an observer, the only knowledge of its movement is the puff of the white twine at the back of the net behind the goalie.-á
This is the picture of lacrosse.
It is a fast-paced game with hitting and checking, much like ice hockey, junior Matt Nicholas said.
Last year Ball State's men's lacrosse club team lost more games than it won, but this year with more experience the team hopes are higher for more wins.-áEight of the 10 starters are back this season, giving the Cardinals a stronger team overall.
"Last year we only had four guys returning," Nicholas said.-á "This year we are going to have a lot more people with experience.-áA lot of our freshmen have experience this year.-áLast year pretty much all our freshmen had never played lacrosse."
Despite the level of improvement between this year and the last, the team has no chance of postseason play because it will not compete in the Central Colligate Lacrosse Association this season.
"That is one of the problems with not being in a league," sophomore Nik Barge said.-á "It's too expensive.-áWe couldn't continue to pay the fees that it cost to be in the league unless we charged an exorbitant amount of money to our players."
The lacrosse team started this year with a 12-6 loss at Taylor last Saturday.-áThe quickness and tactics of the Taylor team created disadvantages for the Ball State defense.
"They fastbreaked us," junior Dan Silverman said. "It was more of positioning.-áWe would go for the ball and they would beat us to it, and then have a six on three break."
The physical nature of the game and Taylor's large players added to the difficulty.
"They had some big guys that put a pounding on us," Barge said.-á "A lot of our guys came out bruised and sore."
Although Taylor was able to push the Cardinals around, they will not abandon the finesse area of the game.
"We're working on our ability to hit harder," Barge said.-á "There is a lot of skill involved, but hitting is a large part of it.-á If you have real good skills, but you don't have guys who can lay a hit down it will cost you.-á But if you're just a bunch of thugs who like to hit people your game is not going to be successful."
Despite the seemingly lop-sided loss, the players remain optimistic, attributing the loss to missed opportunities on offense.
"What happened was nine of the goals scored against us was when our goalie's face was to the sun," sophomore Skyler Fort said.-á "Taylor realized that and exploited it.-á Our guys were shooting low all game even when the sun was in the goalie's face."
The club lacrosse team will get its next shot at picking up a win this Saturday at home against DePauw at noon.
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