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(Photo by Robert Lyle Photo)
(Photo by Robert Lyle Photo)

Huntingdon men’s lacrosse ready for second season

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon men's lacrosse team made its debut with five wins in 2012.

The Hawks are looking for more in Year 2.

Huntingdon's second season officially opens on Feb. 9 when the Hawks host Birmingham-Southern at 2:30 p.m. But fans were able to get a glimpse of the Hawks on Saturday at Samford Stadium in a scrimmage with Mississippi State's club team.

Huntingdon scored 10 goals in the first half and defeated Mississippi State 16-6.

"We were looking at this as an opportunity to polish up a few areas before our first game next week," Huntingdon head coach Andrew Carey said. "Overall, I was pleased with what I saw. We need to work on a few things and get a little more crisp and confident with our sticks, but I see a lot of potential."

Carey said it's clear a year's experience has made a tremendous difference in many of the returning players.

"We've made a lot of strides since the start of last season and we view this season as an opportunity," Carey said. "It's an opportunity for us to show how far we've come and to see how much progress we can continue to make this season."

Carey said one of the things he was most pleased with on Saturday was the play of his goalies. Fabien Gutierrez earned the start in the scrimmage and split time with Kristian Smith and Chris Minar.

"There's been some uncertainty at goalie but Fabien, Kristian and Chris all did well today," Carey said. "I was impressed with the stops that each of them made and with the way they commanded the defense. We're feeling a lot better about the position than we were just a couple of weeks ago."

Carey said he one new player that caught his eye on Saturday was sophomore Jimbo Turk.

"Jimbo has only been playing lacrosse for a few weeks, but he's been impressive," Carey said. "He won seven faceoffs today, had five ground balls and is really picking up on things. He's busted his tail and earned a key spot on the field for us during faceoffs."

In addition to the successful scrimmage on Saturday, the Hawks introduced senior Gavin Carey, sophomore Brandon Sewell, sophomore Matt Bowes and freshman Jakob Works as their recently selected captains. Carey and Sewell are both returning players while Bowes and Works are first-year Hawks.

Carey and Sewell both started in all 15 games last season. Sewell led Huntingdon with 28 goals, 14 assists, 126 groud balls and won 156 faceoffs. Carey was second on the team with 22 goals and third with seven assists. He also had 27 ground balls.

"All four of these guys are skilled players, hard workers and dedicated to the growth and development of the program," coach Carey said. "They lead by example and they understand the importance of leading on the field and in the classroom. They are guys their teammates look up to."