Wilkes University restarted its lacrosse program last year after several decades. The team went 0-15 after its first season back since the 1970s.

“I really enjoyed my first year in the program and am very excited to get back at it for this upcoming year,” said junior mid-fielder Jeremy Kachel.

Players for the men’s team knew from the beginning of the season that they entered an incredibly competitive conference. In a preseason poll, Wilkes was ranked the last team out of eight teams in the MAC.

This was likely because Wilkes had no prior stats to be judged from, as well as very little time to recruit players with the program only in its first year.

Wilkes lacrosse became a championship team in 1975 and had nationally ranked players.

“In just five short years the Wilkes College lacrosse program has spawned from a nonentity to one of the most thriving college division operations on the east coast,” said an article from 1974 found on the team’s instagram page, @Wilkeslacrosse.

The success found on the Wilkes team decades ago can bring some motivation to the players of today. A quote from 1974 shows how the championship team started from the bottom. That relates to this first season. The team hopes to have a breakthrough year, where any win can excite and rally the team for more.

“I thought this season went very well. Even though we weren’t fortunate enough to come up with a win, we grew more than any other team in the league.

“If you look at our stats as the season went on, our numbers went up and we kept breaking our own records.

“The last game of the season was the best game we played by far,” said junior defender James Copley.

The lacrosse team hopes to carry over that momentum into its next season. Copley has surrendered a lot to be a part of this team.

“I personally joined the team after having to drop AF ROTC. I joined the team very late in the preseason and worried about how long it would take to join the family. We became a huge family right off the bat.

“The family aspect is biggest thing I missed about ROTC. However, we have become brothers through the hardship, blood, sweat and tears. It’s really corny but extremely true,” Copley said.