UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 21, Page 11
February 23, 1995
Season opener; Men's lacrosse team to take on Drexel Feb. 25

     The men's lacrosse team begins its regular season at 11 a.m.,
Saturday, Feb. 25, against North Atlantic Conference (NAC) rival
Drexel, at Villanova Stadium. The first home game is at 1 p.m.,
Saturday, March 18, against Fairfield.
     The Blue Hens, undefeated in their first three years in the North
Atlantic Conference, are coming off an 8-6 season that saw them ranked
15th among Division I lacrosse teams.
     "We feel that we have some pretty good potential for the coming
season," head coach Robert Shillinglaw said. "Though depth may be a
concern, we have some very good quality players."
     Leading the Blue Hens on offense is two-time All-American Anthony
DiMarzo, a senior political science major who currently holds the
single-season scoring record for Delaware, with 76 points.
     Joining DiMarzo on offense are the team's co-captains Brad
Glowaki, the team's second leading scorer last season, and midfielder
Jason DeCarlo.
     "Jason's speed and all-around offensive and defensive ability
will be a contributing factor to our program," Shillinglaw said.
     At midfield are three sophomores, including Eric Doust and J.J.
Arline, both of whom started as freshmen, and Andy Ward.
     "Ward has come on significantly since his freshman year,"
Shillinglaw said. "He has the potential to be one of our most
explosive midfielders."
     Defensively, the Hens are led by senior Mike Joyce, whom
Shillinglaw said he believes has the potential to be All-American.
     The job of stopping shots and clearing the ball belongs to
sophomore goalie Brian Cooper, who was named NAC Rookie of the Year.
     In lacrosse, as in most sports, the team that controls the ball
has the better chance of winning, so ball handling and control of
ground balls are among the skills that the Blue Hens work on during
their two-hour practice sessions that began Jan. 20.
     "We stress team concepts while working on individual offensive
and defensive skills, similar to those found in basketball,"
Shillinglaw said.
     Shillinglaw, who has been named NAC Coach of the Year for the
last three seasons, is supported in his coaching duties by assistant
coaches Chris Burdick and Cabell Maddux.
     Burdick, in his second season with the Blue Hens after two years
at Notre Dame, is an alumnus who played four seasons of lacrosse at
Delaware.
     A three-time All-American at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., a
Division III lacrosse powerhouse that has won 14 of the last 15
Division III titles, Maddux is in his first year of coaching at
Delaware.
     To give local lacrosse fans a good chance to catch the Blue Hens
in action, four of the home games this year will be played in Delaware
Stadium.
     "I would like to encourage people to come see our games,"
Shillinglaw said. "They will see some top-level Division I lacrosse."
     A contest that should be of special interest is the night game
against the Princeton Tigers, which will take place at 7:30 p.m.,
April 26, at Glasgow High School off Route 896.
     Division I national champion last season, Princeton has won two
titles in the last three seasons.
     Delaware is giving up a home game for this event, being played as
part of a fundraising effort by the Delaware Lacrosse Foundation,
which is working with youth and high school athletes to increase the
popularity of lacrosse in the First State.
     Shillinglaw has seen interest in lacrosse grow since the days
when he ran a Little League lacrosse program, to the six middle and
elementary programs now in existence.
     "In 1978, there were only two teams playing lacrosse at the high
school level," Shillinglaw said. "Today, there are 18."
     At the college level, Division I lacrosse is one of the top four
revenue-producing sports, and Division III lacrosse was the only
Division III sport that made money last year, Shillinglaw said.
     The popularity of the sport continues to grow as the NCAA
lacrosse championship prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary May
27 and 29, at Byrd Stadium, on the University of Maryland campus at
College Park.
     The 1994 Division I championships at Byrd Stadium drew more fans
than the NCAA basketball Final Four games, as nearly 49,000 spectators
showed up for the final two days of tournament competition.
     The Division III championship game drew 10,000 spectators,
pushing the combined total for the two championships to nearly 60,000.
     Although the road to the finals is lined with some pretty tough
competition, Shillinglaw said he is optimistic about Delaware's
chances for an invitation to the national tournament.
     "Ten of our opponents were in the Top 20 last year, and five were
in the NCAA tournament," Shillinglaw said. "We'll have our noses right
in there for consideration in the final tournament."
                                                         -Jerry Rhodes