For Matt Fitzhenry and Harry Saville, captains of the Oakland University men’s club lacrosse team, competing in Division II is simply not enough.

 

The upcoming season will be just the second year that the lacrosse program will play in Division II and both captains are doing what they can to ensure that it is one of their last.

 

“The motivating factor in all that we do is to get back to Division I,” said Fitzhenry, a senior majoring in physical therapy.

 

By all accounts, the 2008 season was not a memorable one for the team. As a result of their down year, the team was demoted from Division I to Division II for the 2009 spring season. The team went undefeated against divisional opponents last season, but lost a one-run match against Hope College in the first round of the playoffs.

 

Saville said his goal for the team this season is a national championship.

 

But Fitzhenry said he thinks his own expectations are a little more realistic.

 

“We still see ourselves as a Division I team and that is where our goal is. We want to advance further than we did last year and make it to the national playoffs,” Fitzhenry said.

 

Both players did agree, however, that the very young team has a long way to go before either of their goals can be realized.

 

All of the starting defenders from last year’s team are gone from the new squad. Fitzhenry said he believes in the new core group of defenders, but that it’s going to take a lot of practice to get things right.

 

“Individually they all look fine, but the key is to get them to play together as a team,” he said.

 

The captains will have an opportunity to see their team in game action Saturday, Oct. 10 at Western Michigan University as OU takes on Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Central Michigan and Purdue universities in an annual fall lacrosse tournament.

 

Although Saville and Fitzhenry would like to win the tournament, they each said they’re placing a higher priority on seeing the players develop as a team and mesh together.

 

“Winning is always the main goal, but it would be nice to see where the players are at,” Saville said.

 

The team has not had a full roster at any practices yet this fall. Fitzhenry said he really believes the tournament will tell him a lot about the progress of the team.

 

Getting players to the practice field is not the only struggle that OU’s lacrosse team has to endure because of its status as a club sport. The team is also responsible for its own fundraising. The team is holding a bowling fundraiser Nov. 27.

 

In addition to being on the field, Fitzhenry and Saville also function as coaches for the better part of the offseason since the team cannot afford to pay a full-time coach.

 

“We don’t start practicing with head coach Nate Reynolds until winter time,” Saville said. Until that time, team practices are held at the players’ discretion.

 

Scouting is another area in which the Oakland men’s lacrosse team is lacking.

 

“We don’t have any scouts so most of the guys we have on our team we get through word of mouth,” Fitzhenry said.

 

The club’s Facebook group and website, www.oaklandlacrosse.com, help raise awareness, but Fitzhenry said most of the new recruits are friends of guys already on the team.

 

“As long as someone goes to school at Oakland they are free to come out and practice with us. Our practices serve as tryouts,” he said.

 

Despite the hardships of being a club team, Oakland men’s lacrosse team has enjoyed success in the past in Division I and would love nothing more than to get back to where they believe that they belong.