Update from Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Frank Fedorjaka -- February 2024

Hello Everyone,

We are back in full swing as the season is upon us! Since we've been back we have been very busy. The weather in Lewisburg has been very cold and wet but we have been able to get a lot done as we prepare for our first game this weekend (February 3) at Merrimack College. We scrimmaged Penn State on January 20 in their indoor football practice facility (Haluba Hall). PSU returns all but one of their starters from last year's Final Four team. They beat us 19-12, however, we outshot the Nittany Lions 46-41, won 50% of the face-offs, and nearly tied them in ground balls. They have great team speed and play fast, which are things that we simply cannot replicate in practice every day. These are the kind of opponents that will push us to be our best.

Last weekend we scrimmaged at Towson. We lost 11-9 to a very physical and talented Tiger squad. Both goalies (Max Nolan, Jaz Zanelli) played very well. We won the 6 vs. 6 battle on both ends of the field. We lost riding and clearing in the first half, but we adjusted and did very well in the second half. While face-offs went very well vs Penn State, they did not go as well vs Towson. We played physically and fast, and I anticipate us getting better each week due to how young we are across the board.

The Pascucci Team Center is coming along very nicely. I was able to get my first tour of the building last week and I am blown away. It's better than I had anticipated. As I was walking through the facility I could not stop smiling. Memories of Bucknell Lacrosse, our field, and our facilities came rushing through my mind as I thought back to my first year in the fall of 1991. Visions returned of our field between the cemetery and the Langone Center, the portable scorer's table, the scoreboard hanging on the wall of the old swimming pool, the crowd on the hill, the snow fences to try and keep the balls from flying into cars in the parking lot, and the old metal orange lockers in Davis Gym. And of course, I thought back to our locker room move to the fieldhouse and the team roster expanding after a few years to where we added six lockers in the middle of the locker room, and then after receiving a generous gift from Bob O'Mara, we were able to refurbish our locker room to what is today. I'm not kidding, all of those thoughts came rushing into my mind.

The new facility will have a men's lacrosse only, year-round locker room, and shared spaces that will include a weight room, training room, film room, and other meeting spaces. There will be an area designated for Bison Fuel, which will provide student-athletes with quick energy things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit, granola, Vitamin Water, chocolate milk, protein powder, etc. Despite some supply-chain delays, we are still tracking to have the facility online for later this spring but are still a little too far away from knowing when we can occupy the space.

As many of you know, we had a Bucknell Lacrosse Alumni/Parent/Team networking event in NYC back on Thursday, January 11. I was able to bring the entire team, my staff, Coach Jamieson and Todd Newcomb. A total of 123 Bucknellians attended our networking event for Bucknell men's lacrosse. You could see the camaraderie and you could feel the passion. To connect the alumni, parents, and student-athletes in an educational forum where student-athletes had the opportunity to gain insights into the areas of wealth management, commercial real estate, investment banking, hedge funds, private equity, law, medicine, media, tech, ad, and software was powerful. As the leader of this program for the last 19 years, these are the kinds of moments that make me feel such pride in Bucknell men's lacrosse. Go Herd!  It was an amazing event and I know that everyone that attended was proud to be a Bucknellian.

Please save the date on Friday, April 19 as we are going to designate that as our Lacrosse "Alumni Weekend". We play Army West Point that evening at 7:30 p.m. in Christy. It's going to be epic! More information to follow.

In closing, we have a significant 24-hour period approaching for our program. The annual One Herd One Day 24-Hour Giving Challenge will be on March 26-27 from 10:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Historically, we have not been very competitive with the sports across the athletic department during the challenge, but we are hoping to change that dramatically this spring. If you have not made a gift to men's lacrosse or would like to help us win the challenge with an additional gift to the program, please consider supporting these athletes in the One Herd One Day event.

We are looking forward to a great season!

Go Herd!

Frank Fedorjaka
Head Men's Lacrosse Coach
Bucknell University
fedorjak@bucknell.edu

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Update from Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Frank Fedorjaka -- February 2024