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BY LAUREN WALKER

In print | March 20, 2008

The Swarthmore men’s lacrosse team continued its success this spring break and had some fun at the same time, coming home from their trip to Florida with a still flawless record of 4-0.

Before their departure, the Garnet took on the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday, March 8, overcoming the harsh weather conditions to defeat the Mariners 9-8.

On Monday they flew south to Sanford, Florida, where they trained and played through Sunday, March 16. The weather in the south welcomed the team pleasantly, a stark contrast to the cold winds and rain that they had previously fought at home. “It was sunny, and it stayed in the 70s pretty much all week,” Alex Hahn ’08 said.

This allowed the team to enjoy their down time outdoors, spending time together without the academic stresses of the usual Swat environment. “We hung out by the pool, and some guys played some intense whiffle ball in the parking lot,” Hahn said. “We get along pretty well as a team so it was fun goofing around with the guys on top of playing lacrosse.”

The players also enjoyed the company of some of their parents, a cookout at a family friend’s house and watching college basketball.

The week brought with it a fairly normal amount of training time and competition, with a total of five practices and two games.

The only abnormal scheduling for the week was the two-a-day practices on Tuesday. The team underwent some minor adjustments to play on grass instead of turf, but they didn’t let the conditions affect their level of play. “The training went well and everyone on the team had a great work ethic; they all treated our practice situations seriously, and as if it were a game situation,” Gavin Musynske ’10.

This focused training helped the Garnet to notch two more victories. On Wednesday they faced the Seahawks of St. Mary’s College, defeating them 9-6, and on Saturday afternoon they wrapped up their trip with a win against New England College, outscoring the Pilgrims 13-4.

In the game against St. Mary’s, the Seahawks were the first to strike, and although the Garnet tied it up soon after with a goal from Stelios Wilson ’09, the Seahawks had netted three more by the beginning of the second quarter, making it 4-1. Swarthmore answered with a vengeance, tallying five unanswered goals, regaining the lead, and taking the score to 6-4 by halftime. During the run, Musynske contributed three goals and an assist, while Todd Friedman ’09 scored his second goal of the season and Anthony Phalen ’10 converted one of his own off the pass from Musynske.

The second half was more of a defensive battle. Both teams were held to one goal each in the third quarter. Phalen finished a pass from Tyler Bradshaw ‘10 for the Garnet, maintaining the lead for Swarthmore, and in the fourth quarter Musynske put yet another past the Seahawks’ goalie, his eighth of the season. With only a minute remaining in the game, Ivano Ventresca ’08 put the game on ice with one more goal bringing the final score to 9-6 in favor of the Garnet.

On Saturday, Swarthmore continued its perfect season, finishing spring break with another win against the Pilgrims of New England College. It was a decisive victory, and 11 players recorded points for Swarthmore in the match-up. Will Predun ’09 netted a goal and notched two assists, while Wilson and Brian Baum ’11 each tallied a goal and an assist. Bradshaw, Dave DeSimone ’09, Friedman, Hahn and Ventresca each put one past the Pilgrim goaltender. Phalen recorded his first ever hat trick and Musynske continued his scoring streak with two goals of his own.

The win against New England College brings the Garnet to a flawless 4-0, the best season start for the program since 2000, when the team began the season 5-0 and eventually competed in the ECAC tournament. “It’s really nice to come out of spring break with such a strong record so we can go into our conference games with confidence,” Ben Young ‘09 said. The team is also aware, however, that the upcoming games will be challenging. "We’re proud of what we’ve done so far," said Hahn, “but as a team we understand that we need to get better with each game and take it up a level for conference games, because the opponents in conference are generally much tougher than most of the teams we’ve played so far.”

The Garnet opens up conference action on Wednesday in Collegeville, PA, where they will take on the Ursinus College Bears at 7:00 p.m.

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