Growing up in Ellicott City, Md., finding a place to play lacrosse was easy for LSU senior Nick Joslyn.
Lacrosse is widely popular in Maryland and most of the Northeast. But when Joslyn departed his lacrosse-infested home state before middle school and moved to Louisiana, it was eight years before he found a place to play his childhood sport again.
He found that place in Baton Rouge on the LSU lacrosse club team.
Now a fourth-year member of the club, Joslyn is the team president. He even fills in for coach Winston McKenna some nights at practice, shedding his stick and pads for a clipboard and whistle.
Joslyn said the choice to play lacrosse at LSU was simple.
“I wanted to join a club here to give me something to do instead of drinking beer,” Joslyn said.
Lacrosse is less than intoxicating here in the South according to Joslyn — the state only boasts two high school teams and no girls’ teams.
“It’s pretty sad,” Joslyn said.
Because of the lack of popularity in Louisiana, Joslyn said most of the team’s talent comes from outside the state — particularly Texas, which has a strong lacrosse presence in Houston and Dallas.
Joslyn said the club team plans to travel to Houston this spring for a tournament to spread its name to the younger contingency of lacrosse players.
Despite the sport’s lack of popularity in Louisiana, Joslyn said the state is making strides to encourage the sport among younger generations.
“I’m sure in 10 years all the high schools [in Louisiana] will have it,” Joslyn said.
The game
There are four positions on the lacrosse field — defense, midfield, attack and goalie. Three players play at each the defensive, attack and midfield positions, and one player occupies the goal for a total of 10 players on the field at a time per team.
Joslyn said the club currently boasts a roster of about 20 guys who show up regularly.
He compared the sport to hockey and basketball.
“It’s pretty much exactly like basketball in how you run your offense and your defense,” Joslyn said.
And like in hockey, there are penalties of varying degrees — 30 seconds, one minute or two minutes — called during a game and a face-off to begin the contest.
Games consist of four 15-minute quarters.
Joslyn is a big guy, standing at 6-foot-1-inch and weighing 210 pounds. But he said lacrosse is not seen as a sport of big, macho guys.
“A lot of people say up North that it’s for people who don’t want to play baseball and are too small for football,” Joslyn said.
In fact, LSU’s best player last season, Matt Shearer, can easily fit in Joslyn’s shadow. Joslyn said the best player in college last season was not a big guy.
“The best guy in the NCAA last year was 5-foot-6, 170 [pounds],” Joslyn said. “They’re not big, they’re just quick.”
Shearer still hangs around the team, coaching on Thursday nights and trying to impart his knowledge of the game on some of the younger players.
“There are no stand-out players, so it’s all about team right now,” Shearer said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a rebuilding year; I’d say it is a team of younger players that need to come together.”
Shearer was the captain of LSU’s team last season. He said he thinks Joslyn is doing an “amazing job” as team captain this season.
“Guys are showing up for practices, things are in order, the organizational aspects are all taken care of,” Shearer said. “That’s pretty much all you can ask for out of that position.”
As for being a leader, Joslyn — a graduating senior majoring in human resources management — said he hopes his experience as the LSU lacrosse club captain and president will translate into success in the work force one day.
This season
The LSU lacrosse club plays in the Lone Star Alliance Conference in which they finished in last place a season ago.
When asked about last season, Joslyn said “no comment.” But he pointed to several factors such as cancelled games and bad weather as the team’s downfall. Joslyn said the players eventually stopped showing up for practice.
LSU failed to win a game last season.
“We weren’t that hot,” Joslyn said. “Last year was a disappointment. A lot of guys got disheartened.”
But Joslyn said he expects great things this season. The team is young, but he said most of that youth has lacrosse experience from high school.
As for team goals this season, sophomore defensive player Rob Krieger said they just want to win a couple games.
“We want to go out there and work like we do in practice and have fun,” Krieger said.
Joslyn said the number one goal of the team is to make the playoffs. To do that, the club needs to finish in the top three of the South division in their conference.
And if they do that, Joslyn said anything else could happen — even a trip to Duluth, Minn., at the end of the season for the National Championship.
“I’m pretty stoked about [this season],” Joslyn said. “We should turn some heads.”
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