Poets, coach Brian Kelly, release 2010 schedule
WHITTIER, Calif. - The Whittier College men's lacrosse team and head coach Brian Kelly released its 2010 schedule on Thursday morning. The Poets play its first eight games of the season at the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium before they finish with six of the final seven games on the road.
"I am very excited about our schedule," said Kelly. "We are
fortunate to have some high caliber teams coming to our campus, as
well as the ability to travel back east twice."
Whittier opens on February 19 against a familiar foe in Southern Maine. Last season the Poets rolled to a 16-5 win over the Huskies. That game will come 13 days after the annual Alumni Game which will be played on February 6.
Other notable home games include St. Lawrence on March 10 and Fairleigh Dickinson on March 19. Both St. Lawrence and FDU-Florham earned a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament last year. St. Lawrence advanced to the second round with a 14-7 win over Nazareth before it suffered a 15-11 loss to Middlebury.
FDU lost to Washington & Lee, 6-5, in the first round.
The Poets also welcome back Ithaca for a rematch of last year's game on March 15.
Whittier hits the road for the first of a four-game road trip on April 3 against Sewanee. Two days later the Poets will go toe-to-toe with Birmingham Southern in Alabama before they travel to the east coast for a pair of games against Greensboro and Hampden-Sydney on April 8 and 10, respectively.
The Poets return home on April 17 for Senior Night against cross county rival, Chapman (Club Team), and conclude the regular season with two games in Ohio.
Ohio Wesleyan University, who was an NCAA Tournament team in 2009, will host the purple and gold on April 24 and Wooster will go to battle with the Poets on April 25.
"I feel that for the first time in a few years we have assembled the type of schedule that will enable us to truly compete for an NCAA tournament bid," said Kelly.
The Poets' NCAA opponents had a combined 115-90 record in 2009 with three teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Ithaca, who went 14-2 last year, was left out of the field tournament field.
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