Men's Lacrosse ready for long-awaited 2021 season

The Muskingum men's lacrosse team is ready to get the 2021 spring season underway after a long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Muskies begin the year at Ohio Athletic Conference rival Marietta on Saturday, February 27, at 1:00 p.m.

The Coach: Muskingum is led by fourth-year head coach Alec Chisholm. Under Chisholm's guidance, Muskingum has set program records for wins in a season, most goals scored, most assists, most groundballs, and most faceoffs won. Chisholm came to New Concord after serving as the defensive coordinator and assistant coach for the Oberlin College men's lacrosse program.

The Captains: The Muskies will be led by senior Josh Fletcher, junior Hazen Powell, sophomore Maxwell Pezzot, junior Douglas Gorski, and junior Drew Iarussi. In the 2019 season, Fletcher, a two-time captain, led the Muskies with a record-breaking campaign. He led the way with most points in a season (58), most assists in a season (21), and most goals in a season (38). He was also recognized with OAC Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week honors. Powell played in all 16 games and notched 16 goals with nine assists, while Iarussi started all 16 games and grabbed 22 ground balls. Gorski competed in all 16 games and registered three goals while also grabbing 53 ground balls. In Pezzot's freshman season in 2020, he secured two goals and one assist.

The Players: Players to watch out for the 2021 season are junior Zachary Westmeyer, junior Spencer Durso, sophomore Michael Honeycutt, and junior Brock Hudgins. In 2019, Westmeyer registered 12 goals with two assists, while Durso won 81 total face-offs and snatched 15 ground balls. Hudgins played in 10 games and grabbed six ground balls, while Honeycutt, in his first season in 2020, had a hot start scoring five goals in the first four games. The Muskies will also look to a strong recruiting class to make some noise in the Ohio Athletic Conference during the spring campaign.

The Schedule: The schedule features a 13-game slate and finishes with the OAC Tournament. Muskingum will play a mixture of official OAC games and unofficial division games that includes all OAC schools on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Game times will be 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. The Muskies begin their new season on Saturday, February 27, at Marietta, while their first home contest will be on Saturday, March 13, against Ohio Northern at 1:00 p.m.

Broadcasts: All home games will be played at the North Athletic Turf Field and will feature an HD video stream accessible through the OAC TV app and on fightingmuskies.com.