By Aidan McNeely
It’s a Wednesday afternoon at William Peace University and the men’s lacrosse team would have their last meeting for the season, where heartbreaking news would be shared. The team would have to suspend the remainder of their season due to health and safety concerns as a result of a low roster size. It was officially announced by WPU Athletic Communications on Apr. 11, 2024.
In addition, during the middle of the summer of 2024, the head coach at the time left the Pacers to pursue a better opportunity.
But the 7-year-old program now has hopes for a bright future. New head men’s lacrosse coach Troy Humphrey was hired at the end of this past summer, and during the pre-season the program has had practices twice a week to lay the groundwork for the spring.
“Gritty, hungry, and ambitious,” are the three words Head Coach Humphrey used to describe his players on the men’s lacrosse team at WPU as they prepare for the upcoming spring season.
He has many expectations and high standards, seeking a fresh start for the team in terms of both competition performance and involvement on campus.
“Our areas of focus in this fall has been raising the compete level, trying to be competitive, while realizing our teammates are all at different levels of skill, so it’s a little bit difficult,” said Humphrey. “I think we’ve done a great job of raising compete level and understanding the differences on the team, and it’s a good foundation for the spring, and I’m excited for it.”
Currently the team has 16 players; five of them are freshmen and the rest are returners with six transfer students incoming in the spring semester, bringing the roster to a potential size of 22. Humphrey said the roster includes quite a few standouts.
“Keep an eye on Jamar Bell, our leading goal scorer last year, and I think there’s a couple different options on offense, and it’s really going to be a team contribution,” said Humphrey. “There’s probably five or six guys that can contribute thirty plus points collectively.”
Humphrey emphasized many positive goals for the future of the program, but as it relates to this upcoming season he wants to “make the conference tournament.”
“Which is totally achievable, obviously, with hard work,” said Humphrey.
Tanner Brown, a WPU alum, current WPU Chaplain, and volunteer assistant WPU lacrosse coach, believes one of many strengths the team has is leadership.
“I think we have great leadership all across the board, whether that’s our captains or whether it’s just guys who have been at this school,” said Brown. “We have guys who are great at leading on the lacrosse field, and we have guys that are great at leading and helping academically, we have great spiritual leaders, and we just have all our leaders bought in trying to, you know, help the first-year students continue to grow and be the best version of themselves that they can be.”
In retrospect during the fall offseason Brown emphasizes the growth of the team’s chemistry.
“Flowers don’t grow on the mountaintop, they grow in the valley,” said Brown. “Spending time in the valley and being able to come out stronger and closer together is what we’ve got over the fall, so excited to see our team continue to grow, even in the offseason.”
The program has been through much strife, but Brown describes the team as “diligent, passionate, and a family.”
“That diligent word really comes in where, as you know, juniors and seniors have seen a lot of different coaches come through the doors, so we’ve had our steps back, for sure,” said Brown. “I think Coach Humphrey brings us a giant leap forward, just what he’s brought already, and the buy-in from the guys who have, you know, seen so many different leadership changes.”
William English, returning attackman, junior, and double major in business analytics and business administration, has goals he wants the team to accomplish this year.
“To make the USA South tournament, finish the season this year and potentially put up a fight in the first round,” said English.
The team is majority made up of underclassmen with only a select number of upperclassmen. English understands this to be a positive for the team.
“Our team’s always been young, always is young,” said English. “It’s always a good thing, starting just having a lot of your team as young players be able to go up the next couple of years.”
Lacrosse is a fast paced sport with most of the game being played in transition between opposite sides of the field. As it relates to this team possessing the ball, English emphasized an advantageous characteristic.
“We have a very aggressive team this year,” said English. “Especially on ground balls it looks like so I’ve had a feeling that that’s going to really play a role this year and help us win some games.”
The team plays and practices primarily at WakeMed soccer park in Cary, North Carolina on field five, about 15 minutes from WPU’s campus. Although it’s a drive from campus, support from students, and other athletes on campus will play a large part in this upcoming season.
“Some of us don’t always have the ability to see other other sports, but we do like to see other sports, be able to come to our games and actually support us, because it makes us feel better and play better,” said English. “More fans are out there, the better we feel in our games, the better, honestly, the better we do.”
Noah Belote, a senior captain, business analytics major, and defensive player, has a competitive spirit to play with determination in his last season on the field.
“I think there’s always kind of that the chip on the shoulder here to prove people wrong and upset some people, and kind of that underdog mentality of doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re going to fight and do everything we can to get the win,” said Belote. “I see that there’s a lot of heart on the team.”
Dylan Sullivan, currently a sophomore lacrosse player, picked up the goalie position last spring after switching from playing defense. Belote highlights the improvements he’s made and his courage to step into the net.
“Dylan, I think he’s number one, he’s gonna explode after his experience last year,” said Belote. “I think he’s a lot more comfortable in his role as goalie, and that he’s just going to keep going, I mean, he improved a crazy amount last year, and I think he’s just continuing to keep getting better and better and more and more confident in himself.”
After experiencing the hardship of ups and downs, last season was a low for the senior. Belote asserted his hope for the future of the WPU men’s lacrosse program.
“When you hit rock bottom, the only place to go is up,” said Belote. “I think we’re just going to keep growing and keep getting better and better, and, you know, kind of eventually take over that top spot in the conference and be the team that other teams in the conference don’t want to play against.”
Caleb Trahan, a senior, offensive midfielder, and a simulation and game design major, is taking full advantage in his last year as an upperclassman on the field, being a senior captain, and setting an example for younger teammates.
“When I look back on what I’ve done with this season after our last game, I just like, I want to be proud of the season we put together like, there’s no win total I can put on that,” said Trahan. “But if I know, like, you know, every guy on the field gave it their all, and that I, you know, that I care about the people around me, and know that they were trying their hardest while I was too, that’s a success for me.”
Looking forward to the spring, Coach Humphrey acknowledged the past hardship as something that has pulled the team together.
“I think them being so tight was a result of what they’ve gone through the past couple seasons,” said Humphrey.
Trahan in his final season has endured through all of the difficulty with the program and remains hopeful to see it through to the end.
“I hope for a lot of the things that this team will be,” said Trahan. “I just hope for confidence, like I hope our team is just confident in who they are, because I know how good they could be, and I think coach knows how good they could be, but I hope they start to see it soon, because I think that’ll be a big part of our season.”
(Photo by: Carly Vadinsky) The William Peace men’s lacrosse team unites and chants “B.O.O.M.,” an acronym that stands for “Brothers on One Mission,” after a lift led by strength and conditioning Coach Rebecca Fraser in the Pacer Performance Center.