Ja:goh Larson Sundown
By Todd Shanesy | February 7, 2020 | Reprinted from www.goupstate.com
GAFFNEY – Limestone College men’s lacrosse opened its season late Friday afternoon and Larson Sundown had six goals by sundown.
The top-ranked Saints removed their starters after the first quarter, reached 20 goals by halftime (they led the nation last season with 17 per game) and then used the rest of the healthy roster, 49 substitutes in all, to rout Lees-McRae, 25-11, at Saints Field.
Sundown, who set school records last season with 110 points and 70 goals, found the net four straight times in a span of less than two minutes in the first quarter. And then he was done for the day.
Gavin Kesseiring had two goals and three assists before he also left with the other starters. Off the bench, Taz DeLaney and Grant Rodgers scored three goals each, while Ethan Stannard, Sammy Thomolaris and Connor Hoch had two.
Limestone, which went 20-1 last season and came up just short in the NCAA Division II championship game, is loaded for a run at its sixth national title, the fourth in seven years.
Inside Lacrosse magazine put three of the Saints – senior attack Sundown, senior midfielder Tyler Papa and graduate student defensive midfielder Jordan Stouros – on a list of players to watch for 2020 national player of the year. U.S. Lacrosse magazine picked a different Limestone standout, senior midfielder Clark Walter, as its preseason player of the year. Senior defender Kendall Collins makes it five NCAA preseason All-Americans on the team.
“It’s bizarre, isn’t it,” said Limestone head coach J.B. Clarke, who is beginning his 10th season after a dozen at the Division III level with Washington College. “They all have their own leadership personalities. Clark Walter is a phenomenal leader and he doesn’t say anything. Jordan Stouros is a great leader and is a little more vocal. Larson Sundown, obviously, is a special player. His practice speed and level of play is, quite frankly, not like anyone I’ve ever coached.”
With such a star-studded lineup and a head coach who has led the Saints to the championship game six times in the past eight years, Limestone is certainly the nation’s premiere program for the past decade and the team to beat once again.
“The target is on our backs,” Sundown said. “But, at least for me, I fell in love with that. I think it’s a good thing. It keeps you on your toes.”
Last year’s loss in the national championship game to Merrimack, which won its second straight, will serve as additional motivation.
“It does hurt,” Sundown said. “But regardless of what happens, you can’t dwell on the past too much. There’s only being in the present. In most cases, we don’t even worry about the future. If you think about that too much, you lose track of your goals in the present.”
“I think it got us to this point, if that makes sense,” Clarke said. “It’s sometimes hard to get through the offseason. But that game certainly has motivated all of us for the rest of the summer, through fall and into the winter. It’s not something we talk about, but I know it’s in the back of their minds. We’ll see where this team wants to take it.”
Source: https://www.goupstate.com/sports/20200207/top-ranked-limestone-rolls-in-lacrosse-opener?fbclid=IwAR1W2gHqepBU-WOP-beb4fVv-e2koW9o9twVYszqZVI5udU
