The following is an article published on the 7th page of the May 11th, 2016 issue of the Spartan Daily, written by Daily staff writer Jose Munguia, with photographs by Quincy Bouldin.

[Photo Caption] Freshman midfielder Garret Lutz surveys the field at Spartan Stadium for the upstart Spartans.


[Photo Caption] The Spartans remain focused as they line up against the University of San Francisco on April 9.

The SJSU men's lacrosse team ended its season with an 8-5 record after being eliminated in the Division 2 Western Collegiate Lacrosse League Tournament.

  Matt Ford, a sophomore biology major and defenseman, discussed how the team bounced back from starting the season 0-2.

"We never doubted our abilities as a team aft er those two losses," Ford said. "Th e chemistry we all have helped us play better and what helped throughout our six game win streak."

The WCLL has the following teams: Humboldt State University, SJSU, Sierra Nevada College, St. Mary's College, University of California, Davis and Santa Cruz, University of San Francisco and University of Pacific.

Only the top four teams move on to the league tournament. Th e winner moves on to the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association National Championships.

"We started 3-1 in the league which gave us the confidence heading into our non-league games," Ford said. "Everyone was doing their part by sticking within their roles to help the team win." 

The team doesn't have the luxury of traveling to different schools through charter buses, or flying out— they traveled this season with rented vans. 

The team traveled to Washington and Oregon to play four non-league games during spring break. Long travels for teams built chemistry with the amount of time they spent on the road. 

The drive from San Jose to Washington is nearly 14 hours, and during that time teammates talked, joked, played around and bonded.

Max Schneider, a sophomore graphic designer major and attackman for the team, thanked the long trip for helping the team be a family more than a team.

"This year was by far the best year I've had on the team, not only playing with this group of guys, but traveling with them," Schneider said. "On our off days we spent the time exploring the different cities. It was great exploring with the entire team."

In pretty much every team sport, chemistry is key in order to pull out wins on the schedule.

"Although we ended the trip with two close losses in Oregon, we solidified a brotherhood," Schneider said. "We became comfortable off the field that it carried on (to) the field— we played like a team that had been playing forever."

When the team returned from their road trip, they finished the regular season going 2-1 and earning the No. 3 seed in the WCLL Division 2 Championship Tournament.

SJSU went on to face the No. 2 seed University of California, Davis, a team they lost to earlier in the season 5-17.

Cody Gradone, a senior attackman, described the feeling of entering his final game against a team that was consistently ranked in the top 25.

"We faced them earlier in the season and lost but that was the past," Gradone said. "Coaches always say for win or go home game leave it all out on the field and we did just that.

The game was close, but UC Davis came out with the win beating the Spartans 10-13, ending one of SJSU's best seasons.

"It was a tough loss, coming close like we did," Gradone said. "But what we created here was something special I know the guys next season will come out even better than this season."

Since the start of the decade, the team has only had one winning record dating back to 2010 when they went 6-3. This season's team went on a tear in the WCLL going 5-2 within the division. The team looks to carry the success into next season.