<rleton men’s lacrosse team continues to roll as it heads into Saturday’s showdown with the number two-ranked team in the country, the St. Thomas Tommies. The Knights are coming off huge victories over the weekend against North Dakota and Augsburg in which they scored a combined 27 goals against the two teams. While the Knights find themselves at .500 right now, they will be facing a tall task this weekend when the Tommies roll into Northfield on Saturday in addition to playing the high-rising University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire team on Sunday, who beat the Knights last year in inclement conditions.
While the Knights may have the most challenging game in the history of the program, they’ll be in good hands with the help of attack men Jason Weischedel ’11 and Will Tynan ‘11, the first and third leading scorers in the Upper Midwest Lacrosse League, respectively. With the help of Wyatt Marshall ’09, who has recently returned to old form and found a penchant for putting the ball in the net, the trio looks to give the Tommies all they can handle. On the defensive side, the return of Mac McDonald ’09 and his top save percentage in the league in the goal gives the Knights a major boost.
Major festivities to honor the Knights’ first annual parents and alumni weekend will accompany the Saturday game at the Hill of Three Oaks. Along with a concession stand run by retired Knights’ lacrosse legend Nick Brom and a crowd expected to break the all-time attendance record, all-time leading scorer Jim Watkins ’07 returns to campus to have his jersey retired and sign autographs.
On the women’s side, the playoffs begin this weekend as the Lady Knights hope to rebound and try to advance to the national tournament through an automatic bid. It’s been a tough week for the team as they lost the University of Minnesota and Gustavus Adolphus College. Despite the two losses, the Knights are 5-4 overall and look toward top scorers Emily Litwin and Ali Melton for more magic in the playoffs.