South Carolina kicks off season with 10 consecutive wins
Adam Rathe has been involved with the USC club lacrosse team for six years as both a player and now coach, but he has never seen a season like this.
The squad is currently off to its best-ever start, having opened the season 10-0. Now, it will face its toughest stretch of the season, starting with a trip to nationally ranked Clemson on Friday and a meeting with a heralded Virginia Tech the next day.
Clemson has defeated USC for three consecutive years, but goalkeeper Shaun Lynch said he thinks the Gamecocks will come home victors this year.
“Clemson should be a very tight matchup. I feel like now is our time; it’s got to be,” Lynch said.
Lynch, a senior, is the leader for the Gamecocks on and off the field. He has the best save percentage of any club lacrosse goalie in the nation, but Rathe said personal statistics do not matter to his goalkeeper.
Earlier this season, Lynch had shutouts going into the fourth quarter in two games, against Ole Miss and Auburn. Both times the opponent scored before time expired.
“I said I was bummed to not see [Lynch] get a shutout in at least one, and he said, ‘I’m not concerned with a shutout. It’d be nice to have one, but all I want is for us to win,’” Rathe said. “To have a guy with that mentality in that role really sets the tone for this team.”
Lynch was quick to credit his teammates for the great season he is having.
“Anything that I can accomplish for the team makes it even better,” Lynch said. “The reason I’ve had so much success this year is because everybody else on the team has been giving it all they can.”
The season has been a pleasing one for Rathe.
“Transitioning from a player to coach for the team you played for is a really interesting thing to see the way the team, players and program has evolved,” Rathe said. “I couldn’t be happier with where we’re at right now. We’re taking the team in the right direction.”
In Rathe’s senior season, 2007, the team went 9-4 and made it to the conference championships in Atlanta. He said he sees much more potential in the current incarnation, and their goal is to win the conference.
“I keep telling these guys they have a heck of a lot more talent than our team had,” Rathe said.
When Rathe played, he said the team was lucky to have six players show up to practice.
“Now we’re getting 60 to 70 guys out here, and we’re almost to the point where we’ve got to make cuts,” Rathe said.