(Photo: Jodi Vosika-ASU Lacrosse)
It did not take long for ASU to set it sights ahead to 2014, after the 2013 season ended with a disappointing exit from the MCLA Tournament in the Final Four.
The team announced today that its 2014 captains would be a foursome, consisting of Justin Straker, Ian Connell, Logan Quinn, and Nick Hillier. A lot of qualities could be used to describe this bunch, but the words that head coach Chris Malone said best exemplifies the group are “scrappiness, hard-working, and smart.”
“You look at Ian Connell, a guy who wasn’t sure he’d be seeing the field here, but he worked and worked and now he’s one of the elite defenders at this level of lacrosse. Same story with Nick Hillier: a walk-on who refused to let up, earned himself playing time and is now our number one defensive midfielder,” Malone said.
All four players are seniors and all four players play different positions on the field (Straker is an attackman, Connell is a defenseman, Quinn is a midfielder, and Hillier is a defensive midfielder). This presents an interesting opportunity for the four captains to exert their leadership and influence over the entire team in specific groups.
These four will have to fill the shoes of last year’s three captains, now-graduated seniors Payson Clark, Zach Scarano, and Jon Little. Those captains led ASU to one of its greatest seasons ever, and oversaw a span of three MCLA Final Four appearances and two championship appearances during their time donning the Sun Devils uniform.
This year’s group (minus Straker, who transferred from Oregon after his freshman year) has made it through those successful seasons as well. But they’ve got their minds set on one thing: winning the big game.
The road for ASU might be a little more difficult with Payson Clark (66 goals and 87 total points in 2013; was first in the entire MCLA in goals, third in points) having hung up his cleats in graduation.
However, with that being said, it’s impressive for an MCLA Final Four team to lose only four players (Clark, Little, Scarano, and Sam Lockett) to graduation. The returning experience for the Sun Devils should put them in a good position for a solid title run in 2014.
If they want to win it all, though, it’s going to come down to the leadership and capability of these four captains.
“The team voted on these four. Can you think of four possibly better players for the job? They got it perfectly right. These four guys are going to make great captains,” Malone said.
You can reach Trey Lanthier on Twitter @TreyLanthier or by email treylanthier@gmail.com.
