A year removed from streaking to the national semifinals ? a shocking finish for a team that hosted the first-ever NCAA tournament game west of the Mississippi ? the University of Denver men's lacrosse team has a tall task for its encore.
"Teams are going to come after us," Pioneers sophomore goalkeeper Jamie Faus said Tuesday, "because we're one of the big boys now."
DU, ranked No. 5 nationally, starts its season Sunday against Ohio State at a tournament in Jacksonville, Fla.
The key to remaining among the national elite, third-year DU coach Bill Tierney said, is winning without luck.
"We have to remind our players that we were awfully lucky last year," Tierney said. "There were a lot of breaks that we got. And we have to get to a point this year where we don't need those breaks."
If there was luck a year ago, it was disguised. Sure, DU needed four overtimes to get past unranked Sacred Heart. But less than a month later, the Pioneers toppled defending NCAA champion and No. 4-ranked Duke.
Faus, though, doesn't see any luck involved.
"When you work hard, things fall your way," he said. "We played to our strengths and made teams work for their goals."
For Tierney, a coach with six national championships on his r?sum? from 22 seasons at Princeton, the progress of turning DU into a national power has come faster than expected.
"We progressed a little quicker than we proposed or thought we would," he said. "But the players really bought into it."
Nick Groke, The Denver Post
Source: http://www.denverpost.com/du/ci_19967131?source=rss
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