With only three seniors and eight juniors on the men's lacrosse team compared to 23 underclassmen, experience may prove to be the biggest question mark in the 2001 campaign. Fortunately, a solid group of players who made it to the second round of the ECAC tournament last year are back, led by attackman, senior Dan Kollar.
Kollar was the team's leading scorer last season with a school record 63 points, and as a co-captain, he will be expected to provide both an offensive-punch and, perhaps more importantly, vital leadership.
"I don't think experience is as much of a problem as leadership," Kollar said. "The young guys are stepping up and doing everything they are supposed to do. The juniors have been really stepping up as leaders also."
While the players are pleased to be a part of the heyday of Tufts lacrosse, very few remember the days when the team was painfully bad. In Kollar's freshman year (1998), Tufts went 2-13, and the year before the squad finished with a 1-14 record.
"My freshman year - those were tough days," Kollar recalled. "I would come home from practice every day and wonder what I was doing it for. It's amazing where we are now."
The change has been due in part to the arrival of coach Mike Daly, a 1995 Tufts graduate, who has helped turn the program from the NESCAC's whipping boy to a veritable force in the conference. In the four years prior to Daly's arrival the team won a total of 14 games; in the past two seasons it has won 15.
Recruiting has also picked up, as the coaching staff has brought in some of the best high school players in the nation, giving the roster an unprecedented amount of skill and depth. But despite the young talent, Tufts' three seniors - Kollar, Brian Hwang, and Won Lee - will still be looked upon for leadership.
"We define our team and program based on the seniors," Daly said. "I look on the seniors to be the leaders."
The eight juniors on the team will also take part of the responsibility for guiding the team towards another successful season. Co-captains David Supple, Brian Cunningham, Jim Mandler, and Jack Palmer are experienced midfielders. All four were among the team leaders in scoring last year, and they will see considerable playing time this year as well. Attackman Jon Zissi scored 50 points last year and, despite an offseason car accident, is back to full strength. Zissi will join Kollar as the team's major scoring threats. Defenseman Yuri Grinshteyn played in all 15 games last year and will join goalkeeper Kirk Lutwyler as the only upperclassmen in the backfield.
If anything, the upperclassmen on the team have much more respect for the program and the complete turnaround it has made in the past few years. With expectations high and talks of the postseason already swirling, it is hard to believe that in recent years Tufts struggled to win a single game all season.
"There is not a practice that goes by when I am not amazed with the quality of lacrosse and where we are going," Kollar said. "From the equipment and the opportunities that the coach has given us, it has been amazing. The recruiting has been excellent.
"The guys a year ahead of us, they were part of the core crew who really turned the program around. With the direction the program is taking, I wish I were a freshman now."
