A quick scan of the Lewis men’s lacrosse roster will tell you a few things. No players from Maryland. Or the Tri-State area. Or burgeoning hot beds like Florida or Texas.
Instead, coach Joe Perruzzi has built the program from the ground up with a majority of its talent coming from Minnesota and Illinois. There’s a couple of Canadians, someone from Las Vegas and even a midfielder from Nebraska.
“We’re trying to own our backyard,” Perruzzi said Monday, one day after a program-defining upset win over then-No. 7 Seton Hill. “In next year’s class, we have players from Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ohio and Michigan.”
You can forgive yourself for not knowing where Lewis’ backyard even is. The Division II school is roughly 30 miles outside Chicago and offers 85 majors, a key selling point for Perruzzi and his staff when recruiting in the Midwest. Known as the Flyers — a fitting nickname because of the airport behind campus — Lewis offers something for everyone. A handful of Perruzzi’s players are pilots. There are another couple guys studying Unmanned Systems — or drone flying, for the uninitiated.
Few could blame Lewis for flying under the radar. The team went 5-2 in its inaugural season (the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign), then went 5-7 in a conference-only 2021 season. Under .500, sure, but Lewis held late leads and finished within four goals against the likes of UIndy, Lindenwood and other ranked GLVC contenders.
“You either win or you learn,” Perruzzi said. “You only lose if you keep making the same mistake. As the year went on, the games were tighter and tighter. Sometimes the scores didn’t reflect it, but we flipped the switch.”
Perruzzi expected the hard work to turn into wins. Others might not have. He encouraged belief among a team that had 25 players in 2021 and couldn’t even scrimmage against itself. The roster’s up to 41 now, and the depth has improved.
That depth was on display against Seton Hill. Every single attackman scored a goal, and every player on the first or second midline scored, too. By simply taking what the defense offered, Lewis left Greensburg, Pa., with a 14-13 win by scoring the final two goals of the game — the dagger coming when Baden Boyenko assisted Drew Kask in a man-up situation. Nolan Dalep led the Flyers with three goals.
“The reason we beat Seton Hill is because we followed our game plan, and we did it to a ‘T.’ We didn’t always do that in Year 1 and Year 2,” Perruzzi said. “We’re trying to act like we’ve been here before, but the truth is, we haven’t.”
Next up is a home date against Wheeling, and after seemingly flying under the radar since Perruzzi was named head coach in 2018, Lewis is an unknown no more.
“We’re seeing a shift at all levels of what Midwest kids can do now that there’s elite coaching,” he said. “We’re not just athletes anymore. We’re athletes that can play ball.”
UINDY UPSETS LENOIR-RHYNE
There was another Division II upset last weekend, and although it’s much less surprising than Lewis’ emergence, it was notable all the same.
No. 8 UIndy took a late two-goal lead and withstood a goal from No. 2 Lenoir-Rhyne with a minute to play, hanging on for a 12-11 win on the road. Drew Billig led all players with six points (two goals, four assists), and Ben Foster scored four times with one assist.
Billig assisted Foster with 1:09 remaining for a 12-10 lead before Mitchell Linklater scored nine seconds later for LRU. Caleb Parker won the ensuing faceoff for the Greyhounds, who opened their season with a statement.