Daily Archives: February 6, 2009

“The expectations for the team are high this year,” Band said. “We had a good season last year, and we are looking to make the playoffs this season.”

The PNCLL pre-season poll ranked the Vandals eighth in the ten-team league. The four teams with the best conference records at the end of the regular season will qualify for the playoffs.

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Six hours each week practicing, six hours each weekend at games, more time spent outside of practice doing conditioning and stick work exercises, plus $650 each season in dues — these are commitments for every player on the 21-man roster of the University of Idaho men’s lacrosse team.

Idaho coach Band said this has helped form the best team in the program’s history.

“The expectations for the team are high this year,” Band said. “We had a good season last year, and we are looking to make the playoffs this season.”

Band founded the Vandal lacrosse team seven years ago and took over as coach at the start of this year after former Idaho coach Ryan Hanavan left to take a job in Montana.

“For the first couple of years, we had a pretty slim roster,” Band said. “And realistically, it can be pretty hard to get guys in Moscow, Idaho away from a can a beer and out to a lacrosse practice. Once we had a little bit of success and found our feet it just sort of snowballed from there.”

Vandal lacrosse is a family affair for the Bands. Band’s younger brother, Grant Band, rejoined the team after leaving Idaho following his first season.

“The change from when I first started to where the program is right now is amazing,” Grant Band said. “Everyone out here is dedicated, they want to be out here, they want to win and this team is going places.”

Senior Grant Band is now the team’s president and spends several extra hours each week taking care of the club’s organizational and logistical issues.

“We play because we want to play, not because we are on scholarship, and that means the team is what we make it,” Grant Band said. “To see the program’s hard work come to fruition is really satisfying, and I think of everyone out here as a true student-athlete.”

Last season’s point leader Jacob Ballard is in his fourth season with the Vandal lacrosse team and will be looking to help the team improve while finishing his senior year at Idaho.

“Being on the team has definitely been worth it for me because it is a good break from school,” Ballard said. “You get to come out here and hang out with your buddies while playing a game you love. It’s great.”

Ballard was part of the Vandal lacrosse team that toppled Boise State for the first time last season. This spring, Idaho will have home games against Montana, Gonzaga and five other Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League foes.

“Of course I want to beat Boise State again but this year I definitely want to beat Gonzaga too,” Ballard said. “We have had some close games against them and my sophomore year they beat us in the last second so I really want to beat Gonzaga.”

Last season, Idaho finished seventh in the PNCLL to conclude its best season in team history.

“This season it is important to expand on what we did last season,” midfielder Nate Strom said. “We have a very realistic chance to make the regional playoffs if we keep up our momentum.”

The PNCLL pre-season poll ranked the Vandals eighth in the ten-team league. The four teams with the best conference records at the end of the regular season will qualify for the playoffs.

“Making the playoffs would be huge for the team on a few different levels,” Strom said. “It will help legitimize us in the eyes of the other teams in the league, it will help us attract a higher level of player to the school and it would be a great reward for everyone who has put in so much effort to bring the team to the level it is at.”

Idaho lacrosse opens the season with home games against Portland State on Saturday and Montana on Sunday.