Trojan stickmen hope NCAA bid comes their way

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 8, 2016 1:47 AM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Somewhere on campus tonight, the University of Mount Olive men's lacrosse team will gather around the computer and log onto the ncaa.com page.

They'll click on the link for the Division II men's lacrosse selection show.

Within a matter of minutes, they'll learn -- especially the seniors -- if their four years of hard work have paid off.

Rocky Bowman has no doubt that long-awaited bid will become reality.

"We have no doubt in our mind," Bowman said. "We thought we should have gotten one, almost, last year because we had put in a lot of hard work and I thought we were more deserving."

Bowman is part of the program's first "true" senior class that helped build the program from scratch. Before the first face-off took place during their inaugural season, they lost their head coach.

Mike Murphy stepped in.

He scoured the country for talent. His initiative involved finding players who didn't receive recruiting support from their high schools. Murphy convinced them to attend UMO, which took the risk to invest in a new program -- but made the players understand the high academic standards expected of them in the classroom.

"It was something different, a little nerve-racking," Bowman said. "You don't know what you're going into. You can only base your stuff (opinions) off the other sports at the university.

"We got a different coach before our first year even started. I thought it was a step back trying to find a new candidate for the team. Coach Murphy is a great guy to play for, gives great speeches before the games, but more importantly he knows the tools to win."

Murphy spent three years as an assistant at Catawba College, which was a perennial Deep South Conference contender each season. He brought that same blueprint of success to UMO.

The Trojans finished 7-7 their first year.

The next two campaigns ended in double-digit wins and runner-up finishes to Conference Carolinas rival Limestone, which eventually won the national championship 2014 and 2015.

Murphy's 2015 squad ended the season ranked in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association national poll.

So, the mission this season was clear.

Yes, a conference tournament title was important to the seniors.

The bigger picture, though, was reaching the NCAAs.

"Our first goal was to come together as a team," Bowman said. "We had a huge freshman class. We sat down together. We had our sights set on the NCAA tournament because we knew that we had a big group of seniors who had put in all of the hard work to reach that goal."

The Trojans faced a challenging road.

Seven of their opponents spent time ranked in the USILA poll at some point this season. Murphy's team upended Mercyhurst (Pa.) and lost a close encounter to Le Moyne (Pa.), the national runner-up a year ago.

Overall, UMO fashioned a 4-4 worksheet against those teams.

"I think we handled it (the schedule) pretty good," junior attack man Brett Kingston said. "We play Limestone every year and they're the No. 1 team (in the nation). Other teams really don't scare us the way I look at it. I just want to play all of those teams."

The Trojans completed regular season play 13-4 overall and are ranked No. 4 in the USILA South Region poll. Bowman and Kingston attributed the success to not only the seniors and juniors, but a bumper crop of underclassmen who stepped into roles designated by Murphy -- a master who knows how to put personnel in the right places to help notch a "W" on game day.

Bowman collected 144 saves in the cage -- the third-best, single-season total in program history. Kingston has punched in 31 goals and is the second-leading scorer behind four-year starter Matt Shields.

The Trojans have tallied 196 goals as a team -- the second-highest, single-season total in program history. They set the single-game record for goals (23) in a victory over second-year Conference Carolinas member Emmanuel (Ga.).

Those numbers are significant.

Still, they can't measure up to Bowman and his teammates becoming the first-ever UMO team to appear in the NCAA D2 lacrosse national tournament.

"I think we definitely deserve it and we're finally starting to get the respect we didn't get the couple of years before," Kingston said. "We are a good team and will compete with you every single minute of the game. We grind out teams until the end."