My First Two Lacrosse Games

This past Thursday I experienced something new, something exciting and something I fell in love with or so it seems. In all my years watching and covering sports the one thing I have never done is attended a lacrosse game. My cousin Kyle Detmers has been playing lacrosse for nine years now and have never been to one of his games so on Thursday evening I wandered over to Davenport University’s field house for their game against Aquinas. It was a gorgeous sunny day for it. I didn’t realize how physical the game was until I saw it up close. However this game was pretty one sided. At halftime Davenport had scored 16 goals and 25 shots on goal while Aquinas has 4 goals with only 8 shots on goal. At Halftime I took a little tour around the field house and has got state of the art equipment and it is absolutely gorgeous to be in there. They have a lot of flat screen TV’s, an awesome fitness center. The coolest part of it is that the cafe upstairs overlooks the field where they play lacrosse and soccer. Now back to the game. It didn’t take long for Davenport to get going again. The final score was Davenport 33(59 shots on goal) and Aquinas 6(18 shots on goal). Kyle was credited with one assist and picked up quite a few ground balls. Oh I might add that those 33 goals was a Davenport school record.

Now onto Saturday Night at Lowell high school. The Panthers took on the Ferris State Bulldogs. This game was absolutely more intense then the first game I went to. It got physical, a little dirty and then some. Kyle plays defense and as most people know when you are on defense you don’t score a whole lot. Well for me the highlight of the night game when Kyle scored a goal in the first half. At halftime Davenport had scored 8 goals with 18 shots on goal and Ferris State had one goal with 14 shots on goal. This game I was a little bit more acquainted with who the players were. Actually at halftime #44 RJ Bogdanski was walking around the stands looking for Powerade so I gave him mine to take a swig from. It was a cool moment. There was a few guys that really stood out to me, Shawn Beer, who is an absolute scoring machine. He looks like one of those players who could change the complexion of any game at anytime. Another guy I was impressed with Jeff Samuels, who has Bruce Lee like reflexes when he is out there. This kid can move and I mean move fast. I am really surprised his not a running back on a football team somewhere. He reminds of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. What impressed me even more is how fast the ball moves when he shoots. I thought I was watching a tennis ball being served. It was that quick. I know if I was a goalie I would dread having to defend against him. A few other guy who stood out were Fabian Morales, Jordan Richtsmeier, Adam Bower and Dan Catzere. I mean really all the players stand out in their own ways, but these are the guys that really caught my attention and who I familiarized myself with. The Final Score was Davenport 14(38 shots on goal) Ferris State(35 shots on goal.) It was definitely a game to watch. I know I’ll be watching more lacrosse for many years to come. It is definitely a sport I can get into.

On a final and personal I would like to say this, Kyle Detmers is more then just my cousin. He’s my best friend and like another brother to me. I once heard the story of why he wanted to play lacrosse. He said it looked fun to run around and hit people with sticks. I am proud of the person and player he has become. If you live in the West Michigan Area be sure to check out the Davenport Panther Lacrosse team. For more info go to http://dupanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-lacros/dave-m-lacros-body.html