Junior midfielder Hans Rydquist attacks the goal during a 2002 game against the College of Wooster.
The Wittenberg men's lacrosse program welcomes Head Coach Vinnie Lang's third recruiting class in 2003, a strong group of 11 new players that he hopes will blend in well with 13 returning letterwinners. Finding the right mixture of talent and experience will be a key to righting the ship after the Tigers posted a 5-11 overall record and 2-3 mark in the North Coast Athletic Conference in 2002.
Leading the charge on offense this year will be the Tigers' top point-scorer from 2002, senior attacker Dan Patterson (St. Louis, Mo./Desmet Jesuit), who finished with 52 points on 23 goals and 29 assists. He will be joined on the attack by sophomore Trevor Carlson (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington), who came on strong in his first season to score 10 goals and six assists, junior Hans Rydquist (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson), who finished with 14 goals and 12 assists in 2002, and senior Spencer Dunning (Terrace Park, Ohio/Mariemont), who chipped in four goals and four assists.
Dunning and Rydquist are the top returners in the midfield, but the cupboard is anything but bare with juniors Andy Buck (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson), Eric Stenholm (Hinsdale, Ill./Central) and David Marks (Houston, Texas/The Pomfret School) and seniors Ross Mellgren (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview) and Wes Enicks (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) among the other returning letterwinners in that section of the field. All three players saw action in at least 15 games, with Buck ranking among the team leaders in ground balls.
On defense, two players stand out immediately. Junior defender Jim Kelley (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson), a first-team All-NCAC selection a year ago, returns to anchor the defensive backfield. In goal, junior Kyle Prussing (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) was one of the top players in the NCAC as he finished with a saves percentage of 57.3 in 480 minutes of action. After sharing time last year with two other since departed student-athletes, Prussing heads into the 2003 campaign as the clear No. 1, but Wittenberg is blessed with adequate support at the position in freshman Kevin Adams (Medina, Ohio/Medina).
Rounding things out on defense, sophomore Bill Fortune (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South) and junior Andy Labarre (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) are also returning letterwinners.