MCLA’s Cream of the Crop: Florida State 2015 season preview

A team that was perfect in regular season action and returning a hefty portion of its core spells trouble for teams that’ll match up against Florida State in 2015. However, playing in the SELC means it may be hard for this team to start showing up on the national radar. This is part of an ongoing series during which we will focus on one of the MCLA’s top teams each day, counting down till Christmas to the true “cream of the crop.”

Last year

Record: 11-0

Postseason finish: SELC Tournament Semifinals

Quick season recap: A magical season for the Seminoles in 2014 ended with a perfect regular season and a lot of buzz heading into the SELC Tournament. The schedule included wins over ranked opponents like Liberty and Texas State, and brought Florida State into the national spotlight. However, the team would depart from MCLA Tournament consideration after an early semifinal exit in the SELC Tournament, at the hands of the Liberty Flames, 15-8.

Roster losses: All four of the team’s leaders in points will be back in 2015, but the loss of midfielder Andrew Kiggen could sting. He was second on the team with 18 assists, taking on a distributor’s role, and he was one of the team’s captains as well, a leader by example and a strong voice in the locker room. Aside from that, the defense will be losing captains in Ben Pelton and Jason Senter, although both were hurt very early in the year, limiting their impact. As far as actual performers go, nobody irreplaceable has departed from this team – goalie Tyler Selman, who acted in relief during some of the team’s lopsided games. All in all, it’s a loss of leadership that is  most concerning, as four of last year’s five captains will be gone.

This year

Who to watch for: Will Goodman, senior attackman

It’s the obvious pick, but this is a star player whose career accolades don’t quite equate with how great of a player he is. 58 points in 2014 weren’t enough to put him into serious award contention (although he was an MCLA All-American Honorable Mention and First-Team All Attack in the SELC), but keep in mind this team played a limited number of games. His 4.46 points per game placed him at 16th in the country and second in the SELC. This year, things could be on the climb as he evolves further into his senior year. Head coach Matthew Doyle had nothing but praise for the star Seminole. “You’re gonna see stuff out of him that people don’t expect,” Doyle said. “I’m expecting a huge year out of him.” Goodman will also have a chance to up his assist totals (from his team-leading 19 a year ago) with the emergence and maturation of fellow attackmen Cole Lindquist and Erik Marshall, both of whom are only sophomores, and yet, as freshmen, combined for 64 total goals.

They’re dangerous if the young talent from last season translates to stardom this season. Last year’s team saw action for 10 freshmen, and Doyle wasn’t afraid to plug them in with big games on the line. Midfielder Darby Brower was a sophomore captain last year, something that Doyle said he’s “never seen in college sports.” While the offensive youngsters paid massive dividends, there is still room for growth there, and the defense could be very dangerous as well with the hiring of Jerry Delorenzo (former Syracuse goalie and Long Island Lizards’ goalie coach) as the team’s defensive coordinator. Experience like the kind that Delorenzo has is not easy to come by, and his addition to the staff could be a game-changer. If the offense continues to do what it did last year in limited action, this defense could catch some teams off-guard and really make the Seminoles a threat to any team in the country. “I would think that [with the addition of defensive coordinator Jerry Delorenzo] defense would be our identity,” Doyle said. “We’ve got a lot of big guys on defense.”

Achilles’ heel: Limited chance to make an impact. As great as the undefeated regular season was for Florida State, the fact that this team wasn’t able to secure an at-large bid in the MCLA Tournament speaks volumes about the strength (or lack thereof) in the SELC. It means that the team will need to make its non-conference schedule count, big time. Games against Colorado and Colorado State will give the Seminoles a chance to make a national splash, but that will be the team’s lone shot outside of in-conference power Virginia Tech, who gained national respect with a quality tournament run last year that nearly got the Hokies to the national semifinals. But those three games will carry a lot of pressure for Florida State – if the team cannot pull close with the two RMLC titans it plays, its chance to garner attention around the country may fade early and force the team to snag the SELC’s automatic bid in order to play in postseason action.

Trey Lanthier is a lacrosse reporter and editor at WCSN, as well as a contributor for Inside Lacrosse. You can reach him at treylanthier@gmail.com or on Twitter, @TreyLanthier.

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