An extra week to prepare for its two-game road trip gave Idaho men’s lacrosse time on the practice field to correct basic errors that hampered it Feb. 18 and 19 in California.
Idaho (1-1, 0-0 PNCLL) will cross the Cascades toward the Oregon coast to face Portland State (3-3, 0-0 PNCLL) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Portland and Oregon State (1-3, 0-0 PNCLL) at 12 p.m. Sunday in Corvallis, Ore.
Senior attackman and Idaho points-per-game leader, John Kopke said fixing the mental errors that plagued the Vandals against UC Davis extended beyond the practice field.
“We really chimed in on each other and made sure that we were working hard off the field,” Kopke said. “It’s what you do off the field … It’s what you do as an individual to bring it to the team level.”
Kopke said the team focused on fundamentals to shore up dropped balls, mental errors and cohesiveness in preparation for the Oregon trip.
Coach John Andrysiak said the goal is to beat Portland State and Oregon State but the challenge is not an easy one. He said both teams’ coaches prepare their teams well and Andrysiak is not expecting a walk in the park this weekend.
“It’s gonna be a tough challenge,” Andrysiak said. “Oregon State just came off a huge win this (last) weekend over Simon Fraser.”
Simon Fraser, of British Columbia, is a traditional powerhouse in the Pacific Northwest College Lacrosse League and has won the league eight times since 1997.
Andrysiak said while Portland State is at .500 with a schedule of mixed Division I and II teams, Viking coach John Evertz fields a squad worthy of careful preparation. Andrysiak said it is hard for Idaho to match up against Portland State because the Vikings have played unfamiliar competition.
“He’s (Evertz) put themselves in kind of a good position where they’ve played a lot of D-2 teams which builds their confidence — it’s just hard for us to match up,” Andrysiak said.
Each team has one player Idaho will attempt to contain this weekend, Andrysiak said. He said Portland State is an attack-based team and Idaho will rely on its defense in the first contest.
“They have an attackman, No. 3 (Nikolaj) Lund, and he’s always been a strength for them and he’s somebody we’re going to key in on and we’re going to try to take him out of the game as best possible,” Andrysiak said.
Lund, a senior, leads Portland State in goals scored with 12 and is No. 2 on the team with assists at three.
Andrysiak said Idaho should be able to exploit the Vikings’ goalie, freshman Vincent Coric, who has allowed 42 goals in six contests. Idaho has netted 25 goals in its first two games of the season. Both teams will likely score more than 10 goals apiece, Andrysiak said.
The game plan against Oregon State changes because its best player, midfielder Alex Spang, controls the midfield, leads the Beavers in points per game and is tied for second with goals per game.
“We have our long poles who can lock up an attackman,” Andrysiak said. “But with our youth at our defensive middy (midfielder) position, that’s something that’s going to be a little bit tougher to grasp for these guys.”
Idaho has three junior midfielders, but does not have a senior midfielder on its squad, while Oregon State lists two seniors and three juniors on its roster at the midfielder position.
Sophomore defender Ryan Erstad said Idaho must adapt to different opponents, especially when his team gets behind and commits unforced errors, something the team worked on in preparation for the road trip.
“In a game time situation it’s kinda tough to rebound from that mainly because those little mental errors will keep the ball on our end of the field,” Erstad said. “We’re already tired so the more tired we get, the harder it is to stop making mental errors. It just comes down to how much you practiced it and how well the rest of the team can hold onto the ball.”
Kopke said the more than six-hour trip is a welcome change to the cold of Moscow.
“It’s two games our guys are definitely looking forward to,” Kopke said. “I always love the Oregon trip. It just provides us a way out of Moscow, warm weather and good lacrosse over there.”
Andrysiak and Kopke said the goal is always to win both games, but Erstad expressed Idaho’s aim more aggressively.
“Win,” Erstad said. “And make people hurt.”