1. PAGE 12 Sports APR 1 - APR 7, 2008
For the love of the game
UNCG's club lacrosse team defeats High Point University 9-5
Joseph Murphy
Staff Writer
Theplayseemedsimpleenough.
It was a face off, the same way
every lacrosse match starts. The
UNCG club lacrosse team faced
High Point, their cross-county
rivals, as the picturesque March
sun set over the UNCG recreation
field last Friday.
The referee drops the ball be-
tween the Spartan appropriately
wearing number I and his High
Point counterpart swats at it,caus-
ing it to squirt to the left. Spartan
defenseman David Klein ends up
with the ball. He tosses it back to
number 1 who then trots around
midfield and twirls his stick while
he calls out a formation.
Simple enough, right? But for
Noah Downs, the Spartan wear-
ing number 1, that simple play
was the culmination of two years
of tireless work to get on the field
with his team.
Noah tore his left ACL in the
summer of 2006 before trans-
ferring to UNCG from UMASS
Dartmouth. Surgery and a year
of rehab ensued for Downs. The
first time he got back on the field
after that injury, he tore his right
ACL. Another surgery and anoth-
er year of rehab followed.
Now armed with the ACL's of
two cadavers in his knees, Noah
is finally leading his Spartans on
the field as he has for two years
off the field.
Three minutes into the game
Downs calls a timeout. He dash-
es over to the sideline, throws off
his helmet, and snatches a dry
erase board and marker off the
ground.
"Bring it in!" he shouts.
In addition to his midfield du-
ties, Downs serves as coach of the
team. The rest of the UNCG La-
crosse team surrounds him and
Downs scribbles a play on the
board and gives the team instruc-
tions. That's what he wants to be,
a lacrosse coach and a Phys-Kd
teacher.
Player-coach still does not ad-
equately describe Downs' role.
Father and caretaker is more ap-
propriate considering the count-
less hours he has put into form-
ing and maintaining the team.
When Downs arrived on cam-
pus in the fall of 2006 he was
alarmed to discover that UNCG
did not have a lacrosse team of
any kind. He immediately set
about to change that. A year lat-
er, thanks to Downs' efforts, the
team played its first game against
Appalachian State last October.
In Friday's game the Spartan got
off to a strong start. Brian Jobe
and Jake Johnson each scored two
goals and Kyle McKinney scored
one to give the Spartans a 5-1
halftime advantage.
A few minutes into the third
quarter Downs glided from mid-
field making a beeline for the
goal. Showing no signs ofhis two
year absence from the game or ill
effects from his knee injuries he
eludes two defenders with a slight
lean to his left and pass fake then
slings it past the helpless High
Point keeper to give the Spartans
a 6-1 lead.
"It feels amazing," said Downs.
"It was great to get back out there
and get my feet wet again. It's a
great feeling."
This moment, this feeling of
exhilaration after the first goal of
his Spartan career is what Downs
has been working for the past
two years. This feeling makes it
all worth it—the surgeries, the
month of bed rest that followed
each when his exercise regimen
was limited to lifting his leg a
hundred times three times a day,
the months of daily trips to the
gym for rehab, the mountains
of paper work, the struggle to
scrounge funding, the trip to At-
lanta for the Southern Lacrosse
Conference meeting, the 25 hours
he routinely devotes to the team
on a weekly basis—all pale and
fade away compared to the joy of
scoring a goal.
"The great thing about club
sports is it's only for love of the
game," said Downs. "These guys
get nothing out of this team ex-
cept being able to play the game
of lacrosse."
One of the biggest concerns
for the team is money. Lacrosse is
one of the most expensive sports
besides football. With no finan-
cial help from the school it has
taken nothing short of a Hercu-
lean fundraising effort on part of
Downs and the rest of the team to
get on the field.
The team needs uniforms,
pads, matching helmets, match-
ing shorts, and matching gloves
for all 38 players. Add to that the
nearly $2,000 it costs to join the
Southern Lacrosse Conference as
the team hopes to do soon and
travel expenses for away matches
and its obvious why the team is
desperate to find sponsors (so far
only Kicks and Sticks on Battle-
ground has stepped up to the
plate).
Lacrosse is one of the fastest
growing sports in America, es-
pecially in the south and west.
It's already been a staple in the
Northeast, where Downs hails
from, for decades. Club lacrosse
is booming on the collegiate level
and surprisingly is bigger than all
levels of NCAA Lacrosse.
"Club lacrosse is actually big-
ger than Division I, Division II,
and Division III lacrosse and it's
growing," says Downs. "The only
reason big Division I programs
can't make themselves Division
I, the reason they're club is Title
IX."
Title IX is an act passed in 1972
that requires that institutions not
discriminate on the basis ofsex or
deny participation or be excluded
from participation in activities
on the basis of sex. Essentially
it requires high schools and col-
leges to provide equal funding to
men's and women's sports. Many
schools simply cannot take on the
added expense of lacrosse and
still be compliant under Title IX.
According to Downs that is why
major Division I ACC schools
Florida State, N.C. State and Bos-
ton College still only have club
teams.
But even other club teams
such as High Point receive addi-
tional funding from the school
that helps pay expenses and hire
coaches. That's not the case for
UNCG, meaning that funding,
organization, and travel all falls
on the shoulders of the team's
participants and most of the time
for the lacrosse team that means
Downs.
"It's all on me," he says, "the
club sports people do not talk to
any of the other players, so it all
goes through me."
With only minimal assistance
from the school, Downs sched-
ules games, secures field time,
hires referees, cleans the field,
organizes and runs twice weekly
practices, designs fliers to pro-
mote games, organizes transpor-
tation to away games, and on top
of all that he coaches the team.
Then there are the piles upon
piles of paperwork.
"I had to write a constitution
for the team, every time we play
a game I have to fill out paper-
work, every time we travel to a
place I have to fill out a bunch of
paper work, every month we do a
monthly report about the team, I
have to fill out paper work every
time someone gets injured."
Why go to all this trouble?
"I love the game oflacrosse and
I love letting other people play it
and enjoy it," said Downs.
Goals from Brian Canaris and
Gary Van Vleit increase the Spar-
tan lead to 8-2 midway through
the fourth quarter.
It's now that Noah finds the
back of the net once more to give
the Spartans a 9-2 advantage. His
teammates run to congratulate
him. Fans shout his name and
applaud. None of them would
be here tonight if it weren't for
Downs, but he wouldn't be here
if it weren't for his parents, who
are down here all the way from
Massachusetts to see this. They
can't help but be proud as they
bear witness to what their son has
built from the ground up.
With three minutes left to play
in the fourth and the Spartans
holding a comfortable 9-4 lead
Noah makes a play on the ball
as it heads out of bounds on the
sideline near midfield. He is able
to toss the ball onto the playing
field right before being knocked
out of bounds right in front of
his parents. A Spartan scoops up
the ball and plows down the field
in search of another goal.
But Downs is still on the
ground, right in front of the fans,
including his parents, gathered
around the midfield line. He
throws offhis gloves with urgency
and quickly disassembles the me-
chanical brace on his right knee.
Slowly and cautiously he bends is
right knee with a wince.
It is fitting that the game keeps
going on for several moments
and the Spartans attack continues
thanks to Downs' sacrifice.
High Point contains the Spar-
tan attack and play is stopped. A
hushed silence of concern comes
over the audience. Not again. His
teammates huddle around him
once more this time with worried
expressions.
After a few moments Downs
rises to his feet and hobbles
across the field back to the Spar-
tan bench. The Panthers sneak
by one more meaningless goal to
make the outcome (9-5) appear
closer than the game actually
was.
Downs sits on the ground af-
terward with ice packs pulled
tightly on the top and bottom of
his knee.
"Hopefully I just tweaked it," he
says with optimism but he won't
know for sure until a doctor can
look at it.
Whether he just tweaked it as
he hopes or it's the worse case
scenario and he's re-injured his
ACL, Downs will surely keep the
lacrosse team afloat.
Even if he has to go through
surgery and year of rehab for the
third time you can expect to see
Downs back on the field again for
the Spartans come this time next
year.
But why go through all this?
Not just the injuries but also the
time, effort, and energy?
"I just love the sport of
Lacrosse."
The UNCG club lacrosse team
plays next on April 8, in their final
home game of the year against
UNC Charlotte. Admission is
free. They will visit Southern
Virginia University April 12 and
Duke University April 19 to finish
the season.
Those interested in finding out
more about the UNCG Lacrosse
team or in sponsorship can visit
the team's website: uncglacrosse.
ialax.com/. Join the team's Fa-
cebook group (UNCG MENS
LACROSSE), or contact Noah
Downs directly by e-mail at un-
cglacrosse@gmail.com.
..SOFTBALL
in the second game, going up 1 -0
early as Mary Greenway scored
on a Whitney Sirois fielders'
choice; an error and a pair of
wild pitches allowed the Spar-
tans to take advantage and score
first.
Liberty answered in the bot-
tom of the second inning with a
homer and a run for each team in
the third—another tater for Lib-
erty and a Leslie Furness single
scored Mary Greenway after she
singled and stole second—left
the score knotted at two all.
The Spartans answered right
back to take the lead for good
though, as a three hit inning
scored two runs. Kaitlin Merkt
led off win a single before Whit-
ney Miller advanced her to sec-
ond. A single from Mary Cath-
erine Vercoe moved Merkt to
third before a Lyndsay Mouse
single brought her home. An
error by the Liberty shortstop
on the next play scored Laura
Olenderski, who pinch ran for
Vescoe.
Liberty picked up another run
in the bottom of the fifth after
Amber Depasquale scored fol-
lowing her double. Liberty then
left three more runners on base
over the next two innings as they
failed to score. Both teams went
scoreless from then on out, actu-
ally, giving UNCG the 4-3 win.
The first game was a pitchers'
duel, that saw only eight hits be-
tween the two teams and a single
run as Liberty eeked out a vic-
tory 1 -0. Amber Harrell pitched
a six inning complete game loss
for the Spartans, walking five
and striking out seven, as she fell
to 6-10. Two pitchers combined
for Liberty to shut out the Spar-
tans over seven innings, giving
up only four hits while striking
out six.
The first game was a pitchers'
duel,that saw only eight hits be-
tween the two teams and a single
run as Liberty eeked out a vic-
tory 1-0. Amber Harrell pitched
a six inning complete game loss
for the Spartans, walking five
and striking out seven, as she fell
to 6-10. Two pitchers combined
for Liberty to shut out the Spar-
tans over seven innings, giving
up only four hits while striking
out six.
Leslie Fur-
ness posted
a team-high
three hits
In UNCG's
double-
header split
against
Liberty.