It's GAME TIME!!! Our first episode of the 2024 season!

Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's Lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom, and with me as always is the man who already has the lacrosse job hosting this podcast, Danny Moran. Hey Danny. Oh Kevin, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

But you're the guy in this podcast. You're the guy that drives. You're the guy that puts it in the gear.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I'm the puppet master from behind, but uh you're you're the voice. I'm the passenger on the right side saying, stop, go left, right.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Thanks so much for that. How's it going tonight in northern Virginia?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Well, you know, I've been dealing with a cold for the past few weeks. I don't know if you can hear it in my voice, but it's just been lingering the whole time. So hopefully it'll end soon, and I'll be back back 100% for the podcast. Well, sound fine to me. Yeah. Well, that's at least I'm getting better, I think. But that that um intro was kind of a shout-out to our new sponsor, Danny, for one of our segments this year, laxjobs.us. And we've talked about this before, right? Just like scorebreak, we just aren't picking whoever can come on. We can do this several different ways to get sponsors on to sponsor different segments. We're partnering with companies that we think bring value to the lacrosse community. And I don't think there's anything better than laxjobs.us. It was started, yeah, because it was started by James Foote, the offensive coordinator of Flagler, because he saw the need. He saw that it was all disparate. You couldn't figure out, you know, if you're looking for a job or in lacrosse, where do you go? That you had to probably go to every different school or community website to see if anything was out there. He's trying to bring it all together in one stop shop.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Yeah, what's got going on with laxjobs.us, it's it's a website that's free. Um, you can sign up, it's free to sign up. Um, if you're looking to hire, you know, in the lacrosse field, you can put your job out there and be thrown out to hundreds of qualified uh, you know, job seekers. And uh, if you're looking to get a job in lacrosse, you can put your resume together, put a seeker profile together, and and put it out there for literally hundreds of employers to see. So, you know what, Kev? It's a really good tool. And the best part, it's free.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yeah. Talk about building the lacrosse community or making another community through trying to build lacrosse by providing this service.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

It's just amazing. Yeah, and I'm excited to be partnered up with laxjobs.us for the rest of the season, Kev. They're going to be sponsoring us for segments throughout the whole season. And we're excited about that. And folks, there's anybody listening out there and wants a job in the lacrosse field, go to laxjobs.us, sign up, it's free. And if you're if you're a lax entrepreneur and you're looking to hire people, you can do it there as well. So I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

I'm excited, I'm excited to uh to be part of this, Kev. Yeah, that's that's a good way to end it. So let's move on. It is now, Danny, the start of the season. We're just a couple as we record, we're just a couple days out. It's go time, it's go time.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

This is it, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

This is it. Season starts this week, bro. Can't believe it. I was just thinking about that today. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm actually gonna be watching games this weekend.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Yeah, the season starts this week, man. Saturday's a big day, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

And we've got a few games before that, but let's just talk about what our in-season episodes are gonna look like again for our listeners. We're gonna continue to bring the week in review, kind of the games that have been played, games to watch this week, really. It's the games that you and I are gonna be focused in on. And then the lacrosse news of the week. Now, we usually had other episodes. We had a continuing thing for player spotlight and a coach's spotlight. We're gonna mix it up a little bit this year. We're gonna bring the player spotlight back most of the time, but we're also gonna spring in, sprinkle in things like guest analysts to help us in kind of reviewing games and maybe we'll do team interviews. And who knows, Danny? The sky's the limit this year.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Yeah, man. We're gonna open up the book a little bit. We're gonna bring out the Andy Reid offense and uh and and run some uh some some some new stuff out there for the listeners this year. So I'm excited about that as well, Kev.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah. So if anyone out there has any suggestions of what they want to see this, listen to this season, see this season on the podcast, drop us a line. You know how to get in touch with us through Instagram, it's probably the best way. We get lots of DMs telling us what we should be doing, which is exactly what we want.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah, so it's gonna be fun. We'll get a couple of some uh maybe former players to come on and do some analytics with us and uh see get their opinions and see what they think, and maybe a couple of team interviews like that. Like I like the team interviews when we do a couple of kids a time because last year we did it, and it just seems like they they have a lot of fun when it's like two or three or four kids. And so we'll we'll open up the books a little bit, open up the offense a little bit. Go deep.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

I love it. Go deep, go deep. I love it.

Games to Watch this Week

SPEAKER_01 5:31

All right, so let's move on. This week we obviously do not have a week in review because no games have been playing. They've been playing, you know, the preseason scrimmages. A lot of the northern schools, Danny, like we talked about last year, they'll continue to have scrimmages over the next weeks or so. It really starts in the south this week, but we don't have those yet. So why don't we just get into the games to watch this week? What do you say?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah, man, and there's a couple of really good games to open up the season this year, Kev. Some some historical games and uh some pretty good matchups, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Let's just start off and talk about the first game of the season this year is on Thursday, and that's Oglethorpe against Shorter.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

Yeah, Shorter opens up their season away.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Yeah, but and you know what? It it's it's a great way for them to start, and let's just see where they go. But it's it's the opening, it's the inaugural game of 2024. I love it. Yeah, that's Thursday. Yeah, then we got some games on Friday that I find pretty interesting. The first that I have is Alabama Huntsville against U Indy. And I say this because this is the first of two games over the weekend for the Hounds. Yeah, they played two in three days or whatever. Yeah, 48 hours. They turn around and face Montevallo on Sunday, so they go two tough peach belt teams, and it's our first look at the new look of U Indy when they've lost five All-Americans.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they're doing. Again, two tough teams, you know. They're very, you know, Alabama Huntsville's no joke. Neither is Montevolo.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Right, and you know, both of those teams, all they all they want to do is knock off the big boy. Oh, yeah, man. That would be huge for both of them. If either of those can take care of business, it puts their team on the map early this season.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Yeah. Any prediction?

SPEAKER_01 7:27

You Wendy. Didn't take you long. I I think Montevali UND is gonna be the interesting one. Uah, this is the first game for Coach Fry's reign. Yeah, it's true. So wow. I I don't know. I I said that pretty quick, but I'll tell you, I think they're gonna be close games early in the season, probably miss more mistakes than usual. How does U Indie gel? It'll be an interesting game.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Yeah, you know, I agree with you. You know, they lost a lot of firepower Undie. It's gonna be a different look team. Let's see what they got. You know, they do pretty good out there, Undie, though. They yeah, they seem to find players and get them there and and do good things. But Huntsville's been pretty good, man.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

And and Montevalo, I think both of them. You're right. You're right. It's not one that you indie can say, either one of those games, and they've got they've got them almost back to back, that they can even say, all right, let's look at who we're playing in game three. They can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Yeah, if Montevallo gets them in a little tired, they can give him a game, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah, without a doubt. That should be good. That's good. All right, it's good. Another game on Friday, Adams State versus Dominican of California. Yeah, Dominican. First game back in NCAA D2 for them. First game back for Coach Sammy.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Coach Sammy and Dominican of California. I don't want to say California Irvine. I've been saying that for like three times, but hey, it's their first game, and uh I I expect them to uh win that game. I think they're gonna dominate that's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

I think they can. Then they also turn around two days later and play against CSU Pueblo. Yeah, I think they're gonna win that game too. I think they can.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

I think they can remember they come from you know, they already have 50 something on their roster. They've already, you know, they're an AI team. Right. They've been playing. Right. Now, right, they've been playing, so it's not like a Bridgeport that's really kind of starting out or a Tiffin or one of those kind of colleges. Yeah, so they and even though it's their first game in NCAA Division II, it's like you said, they're a team, they're they're gonna be pretty good. Yeah, right off the bat. Okay, who else are you looking at this week? Oh, well, you know what? I was looking at Saturday's games. I like that St. Leo limestone matchup. Yeah, I've got that one too. If you remember last year, St. Leo gave Limestone a game, man. Only lost by two. I don't think anybody expected that. I think St. Leo's an improved team. Um, catching limestone early, but St. Leo's gotta travel to Gaffney.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

And limestone brings back a lot.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Yeah, yeah, they're they're pretty stacked. So is it but that's a good game. It should be a good game.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Yeah, it'll be it'll be fun to see what St. Leo can do. You know they're gonna want to come and play and beat them this time. So it's not gonna be well like we talked about U Indy with Uah and Montevallo. They can't, limestone cannot look past St. Leo. If they do, they'll lose. Yeah, St. Leo's got they got weapons there. Yeah. Okay, another game on Saturday that I'm looking at is Wingate Florida Southern. Big early tests for the Mox. Yeah. Both teams, Danny, are ranked number three in their conference preseason polls, which I found interesting too. Yeah. Wingate, though, they they're stacked as well, but they cannot look past this team because this team will be good. We both had the mocks in our top 20. We both had Wingate, you know, in the top three or four. So I would say they're favored to win, but they've always been, these have always been close games. You know, the last time they actually played, Danny was back in 2019. I went back and looked at it because I thought it was more recent. And that was a 13 to 12 win by Wingate. Yeah, and then and then 2018, Wingate won, they won by a few, and 2017, Florida Southern won by two nine-seven. So it is a it's always a close match.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah, they they they match up well, have at least in the past, it's been good matchups, you know. Sometimes games are about matchups, Kev. Yeah, your individual individual matchups and stuff like that, you know. Florida Southern's always giving Wingate a game. I think you know, Florida Southern's a really good team, but I think Wingate's a really good team. So and Wingate gets them at home.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

So yeah, so that's a benefit to Wingate, but they want to come out of the gates firing, and Florida Southern can give them some difficulties. Like I said, like you asked me who'd win between you and the I expect Wingate to win that game. That would be my bet. But once it they're close every time they play, so I think it's gonna be it's a good matchup. I I agree, it's a good matchup. Who anyone else? Who else you looking at on Saturday? Any other games?

SPEAKER_02 12:35

I like the LMU Chawan matchup. Interesting. Yeah, LMU's at home. Chawan's always been a pretty good team, and LMU's been up and coming. Um, I think this is a pretty, like, really good matchup for a first game for teams.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

That is good because you talk about we just talked about it at the beginning here, early season, first game. It's tough. It's tough. Yeah, there you usually see some mistakes. Who's gonna come out and and play better?

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Well, you know what? You want to see good lacrosse games, you know. Sometimes these games in the early parts, there might be some blowouts and stuff like that. Teams not ready, not prepared, a couple of injuries and stuff. But these two teams kind of match up together. Out of conference, they're both out of conference. LN might have been up and coming. Chawan's always been a pretty solid team with some really good players like Andy George and those kind of guys.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

And so it's that is a really good one. The other one I've got an earmark for Saturday is Florida Tech versus Rollins. It's a conference matchup right out of the gates, although it's not counted as a conference game. And this is exactly what Coach MacArthur wanted when we discussed it last podcast, Danny. Right. He wants to play against the big boys in his conference more than once because it's gonna make his get his team where it needs it to be. And this is the first test for the Tars.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Yeah, I think, you know, I think Rollins is gonna be strong this year. I think they're gonna be a strong team. I think Florida Tech, I don't know, I think they're gonna have their hands full this first game, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Even though they're home. I think so. But this is a good test for them to see where they're at and then what they need to do when they get them in conference. So I like it. That's why I like the matchup. Anytime you can get it, it's really interesting when you get two conference foes playing each other early in the season.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Who else are you looking at? Anyone else on Saturday?

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Or no, that was pretty much it. You know, I think North Greenville Cotabo might be a decent game. Let's see how North Greenville comes out. I expect them to be a pretty decent team this year. Yep. So like I'm looking at certain teams just to see how they start out. Start out and and see where they go. You know, I'll definitely probably tune into the one of the U Indie games, whether it be Montevallo or the President game.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

I've already got that marked for uh for Friday. That's on my Friday later.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

I'll probably try to uh get some uh time with the Rollins game. That's on at night. That's a seven o'clock game at night. So I might watch that game. I'll probably watch, I'll definitely watch the Wingate Florida Southern game. I'll probably tune in to the St. Leo Limestone game. I'll watch that at another time. Yeah. So yeah, there's like at least four games that I'll I'll watch for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Now there are a few other games going on next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, before our next podcast comes out. So I would just want to mention a few of those. First one is on Tuesday, and it's Lincoln Memorial second game. It's the first game ever for Virginia State.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Virginia State. Yeah, their first game. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Yeah, and they're going against a tough LMU team. Tough. Yeah. But they're getting their they get their experience. They get to get out there and get going. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Yeah, you know what? And if LMU plays well against Chihuan, that's only gonna, you know, give some confidence to the rail splitters there. Yeah. And Virginia State might be in for a long day, their first game, you know. But hey, it's great to see Coach and Virginia State get on the board, get on, get some goals, get some uh stats in the book for the first time, Kev. It's fun, it's a fun it'll be a big day for them.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

It will, it will. Next another game on Tuesday, I've got marked is Lander versus Coker. You kind of talked about this with uh LMU and Chawan. Well, Lander, great team, great team in the Peach Belt. You had him in the top 20, your top 20, and they're going against Coker, who's really, really solid. And they're playing for their interim coach, Austin Ambrose, as Coach doing rehab. So I'm really interested to see how they come out and how they play against Lander and how Lander looks this first game.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Yeah, sack against the uh Peach Belt. I you know, I think Lander's got the upper hand on this one. You know, it'll we'll have to see how Coker looks, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

I I agree with you, but I think it's another one of those games that could be very close. Yeah, oh, I agree. I agree 100%. Then on Wednesday, Danny, the big matchup I have earmarked is Flagler versus Tampa. Yeah, that should be a good game. Flagler plays Lynn first on Saturday, so they'll be testing themselves early, but this is the big one. And what will Tampa look like with so many changes?

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Yeah, um that's a good question. That's what's so interesting. That's what's great about Division II, you know. Um, a lot of turnover at Tampa this year, you know that. And uh they'll have some new guys out there, but they have a lot of guys returning. They'll I think Tampa's gonna be just fine. But I like Flagler. I like what Coach Duncan's doing there. I think he's got really good athletes. I think he's a really, really good coach. It seems to, you know, people have a lot of uh thing, good things to say about Flagler. And uh the team has just improved and improved and improved, and they're only been out two years. This is gonna be another stepping stone year for them. Some of those players are getting older now. They got freshmen, they got their second recruiting, full year recruiting class coming in. And so, you know, Duncan's building a program there and he's doing a pretty good job. So I'm interested to see Flagler on in general, just in general.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Well, I I think Tampa has the upper hand on this one. Um they're just they're Tampa. But if Flagler can make it close, I think that bodes really, even if they lose, but they make it a close game, it bodes really well for them for the rest of the season. What I like about Flaggler is they're so athletic, man.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

They get up the field fast. They're they're an athletic team, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Like well, that's what's funny about Flagler, and I talked about this last year. Sometimes they seem to like get this, they're steamrolling, and then they get so fast that they they make make some mistakes. It's like, and but if they get that synced up, they'll be really tough to be.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Hey, another year older, Kev, more mature, you know, another year under Coach Duncan, and and he, you know, these kids know what they want. They go over film. Hey, we made a mistake here. Well, let's not try to do that this time. This time we want to do that, we'd like to do this. And you know what? The more reps that these kids get, the better they're gonna get. And you know what? Some of these kids are gonna be three-year starters now. Yeah, because they came as freshmen, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

So again, I like what Coach does there. Yeah, he's just got like he's he's got an eye for athletes. I mean, he likes athletic guys, yeah. You can take an athlete, I guess, and show them some stuff once they get to school, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Yeah, if you know how to coach, and I think he does. So there you go. Yeah, there you go. So that should be a good one. I'll probably definitely watch that game. Yeah, yeah, that'll be a Wednesday night watch for me. Any others for you that this first no, that's it for now.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

That's a good first week, good first starting, good couple of games. U and D, you know, on the road. It'll be interesting to see them. And uh, you know, North Greenville Cotab is kind of good a decent game, I think. Tiffin plays their first game, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:34

They do. They it's actually a scrimmage, though. They're playing Bethany, and it's a scrimmage. I went and looked at it. Uh, interestingly, Bethany then turns around and plays Holy Family next week. So uh Oh, Holy Family, right, right, right. Yeah, so they're playing two D2 uh teams to start off, and I think that's Holy Family's first game. I think that's actually a county game. So interesting. So we're gonna get some of the other new teams starting next week with Tiffin and William Jewell and Thomas Moore and Holy Family to be good, get them on the books and see them play too. So here we go, Kev. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Bell's running, the train is running, kid.

Lacrosse News

SPEAKER_01 21:10

I love it, I love it. Okay, Danny, a little D2 news to go over. Uh, and this is that CSU Pueblo will revert back to a club team after the season. Did you hear about that? It's been in the news for a little bit. I did, I did. That is a bummer. That is a bummer. In fact, I saw something and I posted it on our In the Crease uh account for Instagram and Facebook. There's a petition out there going on to try to get enough signatures, try to help convince uh the administration to let them at least have another year because so many players didn't hear about until January. And, you know, they they want to get their ducks in a row of what they what they do and where they can go, and can they keep the team? It sounds Like there's a big groundswell to try to keep them in Division II, and we'll see where that goes. Could be really tough, you know. It obviously comes down to a lot of budgetary reasons they do that. Resources, yeah, resources and competing resources for their their teams, but God, what a tough thing. Because if CSU Pueblo stays in next year, the Armac has six teams that can get an automatic qualifier. And I think CSU Pueblo, I love their coach, love what he's trying to do there. He's been there a long time.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

I'm sure he wants to stay too. I mean, he's gonna lose a job. I mean, it's a it's a shame. But a lot of times, again, Kev, it's about resources, and you know, this is the way these things go, and it's been going a lot that way. It seems since COVID, some of these some of these schools have had a hard time, you know getting money. Yeah, yeah. The following segment of Increase is sponsored by LaxJobs.us. Final CrossJobs, final across people. Laxjobs.us is the number one source to browse and post across job opportunities on the web. If you're looking to work in lacrosse, at laxjobs.us, you can browse across job opportunities, upload a resume, create a sticker profile, and pick file employer, you can file for email job alert as well. Are you looking to file lacrosse people? At laxjobs.us, you can post the job that you lead to a network of qualified job speakers. And the best part is that laxjobs.us is completely free to use. Our goal is simple. Fill across roles with lacrosse people. Visit us today at laxjobs.us and follow us at laxjobs underscore. And join our community of professionals. Laxjobs.us. Find lacrosse jobs. Find lacrosse people. Laxjobs.us.

Player;s Spotlight

SPEAKER_01 24:05

All right, Danny. Our first player spotlight of the 2024 season. Are you ready? Yeah, baby. I like this one. This one's gonna be a good one, Kev. Yeah, we've gone back to a position that we love. Goalie. The crazy, the crazy men. I think you remember our first ever player spotlight was a goalie, CJ Hart from St. A's. That's right, man. That's right. So we we got to keep that tradition going even better this time.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

We love goalies. Come on, you gotta admit, we love goalies.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

We because you're right, you said it exactly right. They've got to have something a little bit loose in their head to play in that position and have that bug coming out. Yeah, my kind of guys. Exactly. But we also get to speak tonight to a goalie that is from a new and building team for the first time. We've never talked to anyone at this at this school yet in this program. That's what's exciting me from this. So let's just welcome him in, Pete Nazario, goalie for the Bridgeport Knights.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Hey, thanks for having me, guys.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Little people out there.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

A lot of people listening. In our minds, there are a lot of people listening. Pete, so great to have you. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

All right, Pete, what's going on? It's a Long Island kid. Kev, I love the Long Island kids. You know what I mean? Pete's from uh Farmingdale. Tell us about uh playing lacrosse in Farmingdale, kid.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Oh, it's it's intense. There's a lot of good lacrosse that comes out of Farmingdale, and uh we have a few guys on the team out of Farmingdale. I think if we're up to four now, um yeah, it's intense. Great, great program, won a lot of games. I uh I actually didn't really touch the field at Farmingdale at all. Um, I wasn't one of the players that ever really got on the field.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Wow, wow, see that's just crazy. That's how good Farmingdale High School is.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

So then talk to us. How did you go from uh that to playing D2 ball and talk about your journey and how you got to Bridgeport?

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Yeah, so um in high school, wasn't seeing a lot of playing time, had to rely on uh travel teams, and uh luckily enough, my dad had played college lacrosse with uh Coach Tempone at Nassau Community College. Um, so they kept in touch. And my freshman year, maybe eighth grade year, Coach Tempone got the job at Palm Beach Atlantic. And my dad had sold me on the dream from there. I mean, what's better than uh playing lacrosse down in Florida? So that was yeah, that was the goal all throughout high school was to find a way to earn a spot on that team, and uh that dream did up come did end up coming true. Um, went down there for my first two years, played for Coach Tempone, had a blast, love all the guys there, the program. Um and then Coach Tempone ended up taking the job at Bridgeport halfway through my sophomore year. Uh finished out the year there at PBA, and um it was a tough decision to make, you know, uh comparing living in Florida to living in the two different spots there, yeah man. Yeah, but I uh I knew that Coach Tempone believed in me and uh I believed in him, and so I decided to take the risk and uh jump over to Bridgeport.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Wow, that's great. You guys have a really good relationship, huh?

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

That's fantastic. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

So you actually came on board Bridgeport almost building the team along with Coach Tim Pone. What's that been like?

SPEAKER_00 27:48

Oh, it's been amazing. I mean, yeah, coming in that first year, being really one of the only guys that that knew coach, uh, I knew that I was gonna play a strong role in getting uh the rest of the team to uh get to know coach's expectations, what he needs, you know, on the field, off the field, academically, you know, behavior in the dorms, all that type of stuff. So yeah, me and uh Nick Whalen, who graduated last year, but he came over as well from Palm Beach Atlantic, and uh the two of us kind of helped out with all that.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

That's awesome. That's awesome. What was that first year like really trying to build the program? Obviously, you you played at Palm Beach Atlantic, you're used to a building program because that's what uh Coach Tempone did there. So what differences did you see, or what what was that first season like in a totally new program for you?

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Yeah, so I wasn't there the first year for PBA. Um, but coming over here and seeing what it was like in that first year, I know it was really interesting to get to to peek behind the curtain. And you know, because of my relationship with Coach Tempo, and I got to uh you know kind of pick his mind a little bit, yeah, uh and see what he expected from all the guys. Yeah, getting all the guys adjusted to college across. We had a few uh JUCO transfers, uh a few transfers some for some other places, and getting all those guys, you know, onto the same page and to really buy into what Coach Preach is uh so you oh go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

I'm sorry, continue.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

No, that was just one of the biggest challenges of uh of year one, but I think we did a good job.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Did you embrace that role? Did you like it like being there? Were were you nervous about it? Or did you said, hey, let's roll, fellas? This is what we did, and this is how we're gonna do it. And did you take that kind of role on?

SPEAKER_00 29:46

So I've always been like a really quiet, reserved person, and obviously jumping over to to Bridgeport, being one of the few older guys, right, was uh it was really a challenge at first to try to you know open up and and to find my my voice within the team uh to fit my new role. Um, it was definitely a struggle at first, but uh once we got going, I think I got a lot more comfortable being able to have you know difficult conversations or just being able to speak in front of the whole group. Uh and it's definitely changed who I am as a person since then.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Yeah, that's not an easy thing to do, especially if you're you know, if you're kind of like a quiet kind of guy, it's not easy to have that role. But you know what? You kind of learn and adjust as we get older. We and we adjust to different, you know, we uh we kind of get used to different situations and we have to take different roles. And sometimes it's a little hard in the beginning, but then we come out, we come out on top at the end, and that's what it seems like you're doing right there at Bridgeport.

unknown 30:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

So Pete, talk to us about this year now. What do you think? That has the has the team kind of gelled a little bit? Are you guys really psyched for your second season going in? You guys got a pretty tough schedule, not only in conference, but out of conference. St. Mike's Deuville, Malloy, Franklin Pierce, and that's before you hit conference play. So, what how psyched are you guys about it? What are you guys thinking and how you feeling?

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Yeah, so this season's really exciting because we have rematches with all 11 teams that beat us last year.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Okay, oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Um, so we're going, it's gonna be you know, full revenge tour, see how we match up again uh with the revamped roster. Um, a year ago today, we had 22 kids on the team, and only 14 of them were eligible to dress for games for eligibility reasons, transcripts, grades.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

That has to be tough. Oh man, I did not know that. Did you know that? No, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

So only 13 guys. We had uh you know four guys in the sideline during our games in uniform. So the good news about this year is that we have 27 people on the roster, and all 27 are going to be eligible to play.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Yeah, all right. That's gonna help out a lot, man. That's that's a big that's a big uh weight off your shoulders for sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Yeah, it's really exciting.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

But you know what? The CACC is pretty tough, you know. It's a pretty tough conference, and you know what? Coming from the Sunshine State Conference, which is a pretty tough conference in itself, but now you're playing another tough conference in the weather. What's that like?

SPEAKER_00 32:29

Oh, yeah, it was definitely a huge adjustment coming back, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

I'm sure it was, man.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

I'm sure from Long Island, I kind of always grew up playing in the cold, but I think I got spoiled a little bit playing down at West Palm. Uh, so it was definitely a huge adjustment. Played a few games in the snow, a lot of practices outdoors in the elements. Uh, but I think now I'm used to it.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, you you can never tell that Danny has a preference for the south.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

And wait to retire, Pete. Man, when I retire, I'm going down south. All you're gonna see is the bottom of my my Jordans, bro. That's what you're gonna see me running. But yeah, it's a big difference, and it takes definitely have to acclimate to the cold again. And so this year, are you expecting a lot more from the team? You expecting a little bit more?

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Oh, yeah, we can tell straight from the practices, it's a lot more intense, uh, a lot more information being thrown at the guys. Uh, the expectations are definitely higher with the team with so many freshmans last year. I think it was uh, I think it took a little bit for Coach Sampone to trust these guys to uh to understand some of the more complicated concepts offensively, defensively, and all that stuff. This year, it's totally different. You know, uh, we're throwing everything at him.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Okay, that's awesome. That's any fresh, any any new freshmen standing out a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 33:57

We have uh, yeah, we have a bunch. We got six freshmen that came in, uh, a lot of Long Island guys, um, another Farmingdale guy, more Long Island, Wontaw.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

There we go.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

We got a guy from Patch Hog.

unknown 34:12

All right.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

Yeah, we got uh we got two freshmen in our offense that we're really excited to see this year.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

That's great. So Bridgeport's definitely taking the turn for the better, you know. Hey, it's tough to start a new program uh uh in Division II, especially in the CACC when you got some pretty, some pretty really stout lacrosse teams in that conference for sure. But um being part of a new program, how does that feel for you like being all part of this whole new thing at Bridgeport?

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Yeah, so it's really awesome being a part of you know, developing all the young guys in this program. And sometimes it's a little bittersweet too, because I know that you know, being a senior, I'm not going to be around to see this first class come all the way through. Um, but I just want to do everything I can to help develop these guys and make sure they have a great career and lead them down the right path.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Yeah, but you get to put a stamp on this program, even if you're there for two years, especially as being someone who automatically had to come in in a leadership role. Yeah. So what kind of goals do you have for yourself this year? Do you have any goals for this year for for you or or for the team?

SPEAKER_00 35:27

Yeah, I mean, I don't have any super specific goals personally, but just like you said, I I know that I want to just, you know, leave my my handprints all over this program and uh and leave a legacy behind that, you know, 10 years down the line, those guys will look back at my name and say, you know, that was the first captain, the first goalie, and you know, the guy that came in and really built this whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 35:49

Yeah, man, that's very cool. Your your name is in the history books there, British Port Lacrosse, and that's really a cool thing.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Yeah, that's all I I think that's a very admirable goal. I mean, it's not one that you're looking at what do I need to do individually to get my accolades? You're thinking about the future of the program and where it wants to go, and that's just phenomenal to see. And I it's great to see you, Pete, leading that team and bringing Bridge Sport to where it needs to be.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Yeah, I'm super excited for the role. Um yeah, I love being here, uh, and I definitely love uh trying to develop uh this program into where it needs to be.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

That's awesome. That's awesome. So Kev, you think he's ready? I he better be. He better be. He's already smiling, knows what's coming up.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

I know.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

It's the firing round, the first one for 2024. And tonight we have Pete Nazario, former Daler, now up at Bridgeport goalie. He's uh being a really good guy coming on the show tonight. We really appreciate him. We're gonna go a couple of 15 questions. What do you think, Pete? Quick, quick. We'll try to get through this fast. It's never fast because I never stop talking. Question question number one mom's best meal.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Chicken cutlets for sure.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Chicken cutlets. Oh, that's awesome. Morning bird or night owl?

SPEAKER_00 37:20

I'm a morning guy. I like to wake up early.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Yeah, me too. I'm the same. Runs or lifts?

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Lifts for sure. That's why I play goalie.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Ah, that's great, dude. Appreciate it. Favorite holiday.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

Favorite holiday. Uh, definitely Christmas.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

There you go. Because of the all the giving that you give, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

Yeah. Netflix or ESPN?

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Oh, love ESPN.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Yeah, me too. PlayStation or Xbox?

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Xbox.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Okay. Something about yourself that not many people know.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Ooh. Oh man, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Um, you play violin, you know, tell the guys. He's laughing, folks. He's laughing out there. You can't see him, but believe me, he's got a big smile. Yeah, something about yourself that not many people know. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Okay. Um who's the funniest kid on the team?

SPEAKER_00 38:32

Oh, that's gotta be Mark Napoli.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Mark Napoli, one of the Napoli triplets, huh? Yeah, yeah, that's they're famous too in their own way. All right. What kid, what kid would you never let date your sister on the team?

SPEAKER_00 38:48

That's gonna be James Napoli.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Uh James Napoli. All right, that's a good one. That's a great one. Okay, what other sports did you play in high school?

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Uh, I played football.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Oh, you did play football. What position?

SPEAKER_00 39:06

I was a cornerback.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Corner, all right, laying the wood out on some guys. So, all right, that's awesome, man. Um, what is your major psychology? Wow. Now you blew me away with that one because you said in the beginning you were kind of nice and quiet. Then you said you're an open book. Now you're telling me you're a psychology major. Yeah, but we gotta watch out for this guy. And he's a goalie. And he's a goalie. See, you're part crazy already. No wonder you took psychology. No, that's great. Best class you took at Bridgeport, uh, cognitive psychology. And what's that about? Tell us a little bit about that class.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

It's all about uh the way that people perceive the world, it's all about all the processes going on in the brain.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Wow, that that's a lot. That's a lot of stuff going on there, especially in my brain. There's a lot of there's a lot of things going on in there. Um, who's the best professor you've had at trust at Bridgeport?

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Uh, that's Dr. Fless.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

And why? Why?

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Um, she's great. Um, really good teacher, makes the class interesting. She's my advisor as well. So give her a shout-out for that one.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Dr. Fles gets a shout-out. All right. Give us one item on your bucket list.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

One item on my bucket list. I've always said that after college, I want to go and try to run a marathon.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Okay, that's cool. Just to let you know, Pete, I ran my first marathon ever, my senior year in college.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Yeah. I wasn't playing lacrosse though. I had a little extra time to train.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Kev's Kev's been running a long time. You know where I run, I run to the bathroom. That's about it. I used to do a lot of running when I was when I was an athlete when I was young. My knees can't take it no more. Okay, last but not least, uh, Pete, give us your best impression of Coach Tempo.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

I prepared for this one. All right. All right, here we go. So, guys, it behooves you guys to look over the game plan tonight. You guys don't have a clue how good you guys have it here. You guys are so ungrateful. Back in New York Tech, we didn't get to watch film. We practiced in the parking lot on the pavement. We didn't even have a locker room. We had to walk to our games.

SPEAKER_02 41:51

So they uh I have to say that that was out of all the kids that we've had on in the last two years, that by far was the best impression of a coach. By far, hands down. What do you say?

SPEAKER_01 42:04

I I agree. I just want to know if your dad corroborates the whole practicing in a parking lot.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

Uh so that was at uh at New York Tech. My dad played with him at Nassau, so he was like, Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Okay. So he so so coach Tim Pone can throw that out there, and your dad can't can't refute it. There you go.

unknown 42:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

Well, well, Pete, thank you so much for taking the time out of your studies tonight to come and talk to the two knuckleheads and in the priest. We really appreciate your time. You're a great young man. Farmingdale, Long Island, a Dale. I know them. I've been beaten up by them many, many times over the years with my kids in lacrosse. And uh continued success up there in Bridgeport and laying down the bricks and the foundation there. Continued success. We really appreciate you having uh having you on tonight.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Thank you guys. Appreciate you guys having me on.

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_01 42:58

Great having Pete on for our first player spotlight of 2024. What a what a sweet, nice kid, huh? Psychology major. Yeah. I hope he's using that on the team to get him ready.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Well, yeah, I think he is probably psychology. I think he is. You know what? I I I applaud the kid, you know. He's going to school in Palm Beach, dude. Palm Beach. And because of the coach, he's so, you know, they're so close. He he he left Palm Beach to go up to Bridgeport, Connecticut and play and start a program. And start a program.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

I do too.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

I applaud him. I I think it's a it's not an easy thing to do, you know.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

It's you know, like, damn, I got palm trees, and you know, and you're now and you're starting all over, and you listen to his goal for this year, and it had nothing to do with him. No, it's what can I do to make a legacy for this program, not for me, for this program.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

Yeah, and how you know how he wants to help the freshman coming in, and how he's taking a new role, you know, of being a leader and one of the first captains ever of Bridgeport. I applaud the kid, he's he's a he was a good kid. I really like him.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Yeah, and I really wish him the best, like you did in when we were signing off with him. And uh excited to see where Bridgeport goes now that they've got a roster with over 20 that can play.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Yeah, can oh man, I didn't know they only had 14. That's tough. But you know what? We've had coaches come on and tell us they've gone on with 12 kids, right? I know, I know. Crazy. How do you play an NCAA game with 12 kids? But you know what? These programs, when they're starting out, that's what it's like. Yeah, they're grabbing, they're grabbing kids from the soccer team. Yep, yep. They're grabbing kids from the football team if they can, you know.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Yeah, and it's it's just the way you build, and looks like he's got a good freshman class. It'll be interesting to see what Bridgeport does this year, and I'm really, really excited that we're getting going with the season. But before we go, Danny, can you believe the feedback we've got on our top 20? We've got some quality feedback. That was that was a sad bell there, Danny. Uh delayed. It was, but yeah, I mean, players, coaches, parents, fans, some happy with us, some not, as should be expected. You can't please everybody all the time, Kev. And it's preseason, it's just us. But I'll tell you, we got a lot of good shout-outs and good feedback on, like, oh, you know, why not? What about this team or that team? And how'd you have that there? And blah, blah, blah, blah. One was great in Facebook, uh, on a Facebook page, I said, I don't agree with you and Danny, but I found it interesting. I'm like, hey, I didn't expect anyone to really agree with us. We're just throwing it out there, but it was so much fun doing, and it's great, great get hearing the feedback from the fans.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

First of all, it's just fun doing the top 20. That's just fun. But I I even said at the end of last podcast, I know the haters are gonna come out, they're gonna start throwing some darts. There's gonna be somebody that we annoyed. Yeah, but you gotta love the my team's in the the bottom 20. You know, there's always one, it's always one, but you know what? We've been we were pretty close, though.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

I thought, yeah, we inside lacrosse has their top 20 out. Um, and we're not I personally think they waited till we came out so they could have some.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

That's what I think the same thing, man. I think the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

So with that, Danny, I think that's about it. So, anyone out there, let us well, we already said earlier in the podcast, let us know if you've got ideas of what you want to see during the season on the podcast. Tell us what games you're watching, keep the interaction going like you did the past couple weeks. And with that, Danny, that's a wrap.