Johnnies' midfielder Sam Gondeck (No. 15) fires a shot on goal during the Friday, April 9, 2010 game against University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Photo by Steve Sanner
The St. John's University (MN) lacrosse team kicks off the 2011 season with a weekend of UMLL DII conference action.
"We're really looking forward to starting the season," St. John's coach Derek Daehn said. "We have a tough weekend against conference opponents and obviously it's important to start the season out strong."
The Johnnies will play three conference games in three days at three different locations.
"It's an exciting start to the year," St. John's midfielder and co-captain Sam Gondeck said. "We're going to have our endurance and intensity tested early so we need to be sure we're ready to go for the weekend.
"It's going to be a lot of fun."
First up for the Johnnies is St. Olaf College on Friday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. Last season, the Johnnies defeated the Oles last season at Lakeville North High School.
The game between the Johnnies and St. Olaf will be played at the Shattuck St. Mary's dome in Faribault, Minn.
Following the Friday game, the Johnnies will head back to the cities for two games closer to home.
St. John's will travel to the Augsburg College dome to faceoff against Carleton College on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 6:15 p.m. The Johnnies won last season's matchup.
To cap off the weekend, St. John's will host the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 9 a.m. Once again, the Johnnies found success last season against the Blugolds.
"From what I can tell at practices, there's not a single player on this team that isn't excited for the season to begin," Daehn said. "We're hoping to have a nice crowd of parents, alumni and fans to cheer us on as we start our quest towards another trip to Denver and hopefully a National Championship.
"Like I've been saying to the team, it's a new year and we have to prove it on the field we are a championship caliber team."